Certainly an interesting data point. Hard to differentiate causation from correlation, though. Any chance you live out of base? My hunch is the assignments are going faster and more frequently providing commuters adequate time to make sign in. From an unscientific viewing of daily trip coverage in my category, it seems I see way more #1s and fewer #4+... perhaps ARCOS is spreading the love a little more, which I think is just fine. I like the upsides of ARCOS but don't dig the way it is being implemented with batch size exceeding green slips available. Before ARCOS, I had no calls for green slips that weren't mine for the taking, and after ARCOS I've probably had 30 or more (flying perhaps 4).

A simple tweak of the software could find a happy medium... only notify one at a time (or batch size=trips available), automate the system to step to the next candidate at receipt of "decline" (or 10 minutes of no response). Scheduler is notified when the process is complete with an acknowledged assignment. Split the difference between old and new processing time, but never interrupt a pilot who won't be awarded a GS if he chooses to accept the proffer.

 

I live in base, I am happy that more people are getting a chance it’s not perfect but it works

 

The contract requires 10 minutes after you are called before moving on to the next pilot. ARCOS sends the alert and then dials the pilot so they set the time to acknowledge at 15 minutes. The contract also requires that the trip coverage report being used not be more than 30 minutes old so ARCOS would have to be rerun from the start after two attempts. If you limit ARCOS to calling one pilot at a time you defeat the purpose and in fact could probably get the coverage done faster by simply calling.

 

Can you provide the PWA Section 23 (contract) references for your statement?

 

When awarding a GS or GSWC the Company will: a. attempt to contact the pilot using at least two telephone numbers listed in DBMS, b. allow a pilot in a non-time critical assignment (i.e., a rotation that is scheduled to depart three hours or more after attempted contact) no less than ten minutes to respond from the first attempted contact, and c. afford the pilot accepting the award the reporting time ability of a short call reserve pilot.

GS and GSWC will be awarded under Section 23 N. or O., subject to Section 23 Q. 8. 35 and the following: a. Open time awards will be based on the Trip Coverage Report (TC) generated for such awards no earlier than 30 minutes prior to the commencement of the award process.

 

I think you made similar comments last time the subject came up.

1. We're in negotiations; the PWA can be changed

2. LOAs can modify/ improve/ modernize language and we can all weigh in by memrat

3. Scheduling needn't wait 10 minutes if someone declines. If you watch a batch of 30 pilots responding to arcos while repeatedly refreshing, you can see declines and nominations happening at a rate of 5 or more per minute. The logic could look like this:
Scheduler Gets the report. Build the pool of 10 pilots. Hit "start", goes to get coffee. First pilot contacted at 1200 with phone call(s) and ARCOS. First pilot declines at 1203 after referencing details. Second pilot contacted instantly when pilot 1 hits decline, declines at 1205. Third pilot declines at 1208. Fourth pilot doesn't respond. 10 minutes after 4th pilot contacted at 1218, fifth pilot is contracted and accepts/acknowledges the rotation at 1221. Pilots 6 through 10 are never bothered about a GS they weren't going to get. Scheduler returns from the bathroom. ARCOS processed 5 pilots in 21 minutes - way faster than old school, 5 unanswered phone calls and an hour of labor. This scenario is also faster than current implementation of ARCOS, which uses the separate 15- and 10- minute response windows for a minimum completion of 25 minutes (and unnecessarily bothers 5 pilots).

In such a scenario, the software could also be programmed to give pilots an option to opt in if they have been placed in the bucket, prior to them getting their actual solicitation. Then those who want the extra lead time to consider, even knowing it isn't necessarily theirs, can have it. Those who don't want to deal with the head fake needn't do so, and they just don't opt-in for that feature.

 

I would bet 90% of pilots who don’t want the trip will simply not reply.

 

I have more faith in our group than that. Even presently, when you help no one whatsoever to decline instead of ignoring, I see roughly half of pilots declining. If they knew it could speed up coverage and get others flying green slips they don't want, i think we could better than number a lot.

 

Pretty sure you can't swap trips out of base on the swap board but can you pick up out of base trips on the swap board?

 

No. You can only WS out of base and even that won't be awarded until the 0700 PCS the day prior.