And Sailing let me be clear on why I bring this up, the eyeball test says 2 pilots (A+B) fly transcon and go to hotel. Two other pilots (A+B) fly the jet back. 4 pilots required to do the two turns (2 A and 2 B).

If you can augment then you fly 1 crew (A+B+B) on the transcon and then they fly it home. (1 A and 2 B). You see 7 flights (ATL-SFO example) where you have 3 pilots. I see a decrease in the need to stage fewer pilots for an overnight.

Yes it absolutely is more block hours. But not all block hours are equal. NWA flew 4 man trips with 1 CA and 3 FOs and then swapped to 2 CA and 2 FOs requiring a lot of new 744 As. Big difference between the two and my hunch is the unique network scheduling issues with transcons means more (as you said below) double crews.

We double crewed by overnighting a second crew vs CAL who flew 737s down with a 3 man crew. I had friends who did it. Hated it. But if I understand you correctly double crews means 4 pilots required to do something vs 3 with an augmented crew.

 

For anyone who knows, that includes you Sailing , what is going on with the ER?

The crew resources newsletter said "As we stated in the April AE memo, we will selectively not backfill 7ER positions in DTW, NYC and MSP. The future block hour plan shows a decrease of 7ER flying from these stations."

The JSs I have on the ER say it's international is decreasing.

Is it?

 

I read the article in the USA Today fish wrap. The commentary makes me sick. Same with the columnist who bashes anything airline related.

Does anyone know how to paste the article on here? It should be required reading for our future, if we choose to do nothing.

 

I still think you would need at least 7. If the top 4 As in the 7ER bid these and top 8 Bs, then there is 12 pilots required to make an average ALV on each one of these particular flight numbers (say 3pm out to SFO and 6am back every day for a month). Multiply by 7 a day and you have 84 pilots to fly this route, 28 As and 56 Bs.

What is it currently?

See previous post about double crews to see what I am thinking.

 

Don't know either, part of my problem is I don't know much about reserve, thank gawd.

But, I think where our rub is, I don't mind coming up the night before if I'm already on long call for a short call day (already working IMO). Or, give me an early availability on the second straight day of short call. If I'm coming off a X day, a late assignment or long call isn't unreasonable.

However, we have gone beak to beak on commuter vs non commuter issues before

 

Yes. Because "commuting is a choice," right?

 

Agreed. The comments are maddening. It's a reminder of what the general public thinks about pilots, i.e., overpaid / under worked. Below is just one of the comments:

"Don't pilots only work a few days a month? I assumed they only get paid for the time they work not for the days off. My next door neighbor was a commercial pilot and he worked about 10 days a month. He had hour restrictions he could work, I on the other hand have been required to work 54 hours straight at times."

 

Instead of using the fascinating "possibilities" to sell this TA, lets get specific and spell out the routes that need turns to operate. Then see if this pilot group wants to allow just those routes via memrat instead of opening a lot of other unforeseen possibilities which reduces staffing needs and cause more stagnation please.

If management wants even more later (assuming the first ones get passed by memrat), they come back to us and ask nicely. This type of scenario prevents things from quickly getting out of hand while keeping some potential leverage in our pockets.

 

No it's not but within a year commuting to reserve will be for most. Only new hires will be forced to commute to reserve.

I am all for issues for commuters, i.e. making trips more commutable on both ends but a 10 versus 12 start is not an issue for me. Before you start your tirade that I don't care I will be a commuter in the next year or so and I have been in the past.

 

What If there was 6 hours between flights, but they only published 3 hours of "rest"? Like get in at 11pm, depart at 5am. The rotation shows 3 hours rest. So, you are notified of your rest that can't be below published (3 hours).
If everything goes right, you get 6. IROPS, you can go to 3 hours.

Look, I have done more split duty trips than I can count. WE DO NOT WANT THESE KIND OF TRIPS. They are terrible. We fly for the big boys. Naps are for other airlines, not DAL.

R1