ATL/DTW 717 are full at the moment growth for the 717 is in NYC. I think we are near 70-75% of fully staffed 717 system wide

 

A quick way to check what's going on in any category you are thinking about bidding into, is to go look at their open time daily in iCrew, see which trips are there (if there are any at all).

Also look at their daily reserve staffing, see if they have plenty of coverage, or how many days they are short, and even look at the "Reserve Availability List".

Then go look at the last month's schedule awards, look at the Wide Reports, see who's flying what. See how many senior guys are bidding reserve, that will tell you if they are getting used, or sitting around a lot.

There you can also see which trips go senior, and look at the bottom line holders to see which trips are the least desirable, also scan to the bottom of the wide report to see which trips were left in Open Time, that will tell you something about those trips.

Lastly, bid what you want, but want what you bid! And remember, bidding something as "Regular Line Only" doesn't mean squat, because you might be the bottom line holder at the time of award, but in the next bid, senior guys might bid in and push you onto reserve.

Good luck men, we're all counting on you!

 

I got a Manual Check from Delta and the description is RECOG. The Paycheck codes has nothing on it. Anyone know what this is for?

Also if I add up my FLT ADV and my FLT PAY and multiply it by 5% it comes out to a number that is LARGER than what was paid in the October Profit sharing payment. I take it the FEB will be whatever was missed since the OCT one was just a guess?

 

Still trying to learn the ropes and assess the battlefield, but that's a tall order.

Cases in point:

There are good arguments for a raise being disproportionate to pre-BK pilots to address earnings and benefits lost in concessions. There's also a pretty good argument against such disproportionate raises, by those who argue all have lost through those concessions. We can guess the majority demographic of both "yes" and "no" voters pretty easily.

I'd argue that for pilots who bring their own health/dental insurance to the table, whether from spouse's employment, mil retirement, or other sources, ought to be paid a percentage of the amount the company is saving by not paying for those benefits. I imagine a lot of people would disagree with this idea, for good reason.

As you know (from this board and in discussions with other pilots), we have pilots who want to transfer PS to other forms of pay and/or benefits, others who want to do the opposite, and all flavors in between.

And the contentious topics continue. Aircraft "family" vs "type" pay. Night override pay. Holiday pay. International pay.

I challenge you to find 100% consensus on these topics in a group of 100 pilots, much less 12k+.

 

I'd say you assessed it pretty well.

It's not possible to please everyone all the time. Btw I love some of your ideas, and dislike some of the others, which I believe is your point

 

People get used to flying with nothing but experienced FO's for years and years and years. Especially when they themselves are high time in seat. We're hypnotically trained to call the airport or (any) traffic in sight ASAP. Immediately. Now. Do it. Do it now. Even at night in terrain. Call the visual! Do the break maneuver! What are you waiting for?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Its intimidating to be a new hire in that environment, particularly a low time (in general) one flying with an ultra high time in seat CA that never calls for checklists and and knows how to (and expects) flight idle from descent to 500' on every approach, etc.

No training program can produce pilots with 20 hours in type that are as proficient as pilots with 10,000 in type. Its not the biggest deal in the world. Its just one, of many, CRM threats that's all.

WRT this discussion, the moral of the story is we probably shouldn't be writing up most new hires or snaking them on their probie reports because they're not as awesome as the pilots some may be used to flying with for many, many years. And we should never snake someone behind their backs after shaking their hands after the trip like nothing happened.

 

What a TOTD.

I think they know to throw out the French Judge's score, etc. Sounds like that guy wants to give OE without getting paid for his wisdom!

 

No idea what the RECOG check is.

The 5% differential is likely because of how it was calculated. I think they used your Jan-Jun earnings, then doubled that amount (or some form of estimated calculation for the full year) and then paid 5% of that. Since hardly anyone will earn exactly the same Jul-Dec as they do Jan-Jun, the number will almost always be different than 5% of your full year Jan-Dec number.

It'll all come out in the wash in Feb. Any over/unders on the first check will be accounted for.

 

Of course it's unrealistic to expect 100% of pilots to vote for a contract, or even a strike.

But I'd much rather have a "union" with that lofty goal when negotiating a TA, than the absolutely pathetic goal of 50% + 1 voting "yes."

 

Too bad you missed the N/E F/O upgrades on the 727,"You're a little high"..... "No problem, I'll just do a little slip here".......