I believe that if you have flown all they can fly you, you are able to opt out of short call. If you tell them when they call, they will go to the next person.

It's been my experience that A330 FO's (and 744 FOs) are there because they DON'T want to be DC9 captains. That is certainly my motivation, lifestyle beats slightly higher pay. I have no desire to be a DC-9 captain at any seniority and very little desire to be a junior A-320 captain as a commuter. Historically, the break point at FNWA seemed to be 755 captain. That was when the pay raise was finally enough to offset the one commute with great layovers on trips, or the month of 3-day Rome trips. Now that block and reserve are no longer separate categories, I suspect there will be a trend towards more senior wide body FOs in DTW. SEA got more senior with the closing of ANC. MSP is starting to get some nice longer trips finally so not sure what will happen there...

I had to deadhead on a 4:30 flight to the Caribbean recently in a middle seat to then turn around and fly it back. We should fix that in our contract. I like Southwest's philosophy. Take care of employees first, then customers. At NWA we used to use a 3 man-augmented crew. The nice part about that was we rotated into a first class seat. The nice part about the Delta way is that it requires more staffing. Even if we don't get first class. The captain and I should have been given an empty middle seat between us. Instead, I was in the middle seat for 4 and a half hours to then fly over 4 hours back. This is a safety issue.

I agree. There's too much discretion left to the gate agents when crews are deadheading. Most of the time, they'll take care of you...but they don't know, really, if you're going to be operating or not on the other end. Apparently, there's no mechanism to prioritize crew members who are deadheading. It is a safety issue. I had a similar experience a couple months ago where my CA and I were deadheaded on back to back legs, in coach, in middle seats, and then flew two legs. Not a fun day.

You can always so "no" and that you'll be fatigued when you get there if you don't get a decent seat. You're the one operating the flight... you're a big boy.

Exactly, just flew with a very senior 330 MSP FO, asked if he was going to make the jump to 320 Capt....very empahatic no.

The contract does specify a business seat for deadheading Int'l pilots. If there is a problem, you should have brought it up at the gate. Also, the definition of international is specified in the contract.

That part of the contract doesn't apply to these segments which is why I'm bringing it up. It needs fixed. I pasted the contract sections so you can see for yourself.

D. International Deadhead
1. A pilot who deadheads on an ocean crossing flight segment, as scheduled or rerouted,
will be provided business class accommodations. If the aircraft is not configured with
business class, such pilot will be provided first class accommodations.

167. “Ocean crossing” means a flight segment:
a. across the Atlantic Ocean, or
b. across the Pacific Ocean, as follows:
1) between the North American continent and the Hawaiian Islands,
2) between the Hawaiian Islands and any point west of the 160 degree meridian,
3) between the North American continent and a point west of the 160 degree
meridian,
4) between a Pacific Rim airport and Australia and/or New Zealand,
or,
c. to or from an airport in South America, as follows:
1) between the United States and any point further south of the equator than 3
degrees, 30 minutes south latitude on the South American continent, and
2) any flight segment scheduled for greater than eight hours to, within or from the
South American continent,
or,
d. to or from an airport in Europe that crosses latitude 36°N. and/or longitude 45°E.,
or,
e. to or from an airport in Africa, as follows:
1) between the United States and any point on the African continent, and
2) any flight segment scheduled for greater than eight hours to, within or from the
African continent,
or,
f. to or from an airport in Asia on a flight segment scheduled for greater than eight
hours to, within or from the Asian continent,
or,
g. across the Arctic Ocean, between the North American continent and the Asian
continent.

If you're going to play that safety card, you better talk to the commuters among us....:D Congress would sure be interested in your point of view that traveling on an airplane and then flying is a safety issue.

The Caribbean doesn't count (should, but doesn't) for international. Same applies for pay. In fact, fly to Quito, south of the equator, and Delta pays you domestic.