Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?
Banned
Joined APC: Jul 2010
Posts: 793
We are talking about after PBS awards you a line. What you request in PBS is not what you always get. If PBS can build it and we can request it when bidding, we should be able to move X days using the same rules. The big three are one day off between blocks, more than a block of six on call days, and creating a block of two reserve days. PBS does that all day long when building lines, yet we can't do it after the schedules are published by moving X days.
PBS is getting very good at building reserve lines that virtually prohibit you from moving X days due to these requirements. For December it gave me three blocks of three days reserve and one block of two days reserve virtually locking up my ability to move 11 of my days regardless of coverage. It then gives me one day off after the block of two then 6 days reserve. Kinda be nice to move one of the FOUR days left I can move due to these rules into that one day off so I don't have a single day off, but I can't create a block of more than 6 even though PBS does it. So for December I have a total of 6 days in one block that could potentially be moved, but they are the ones that PBS unstacked on me so the coverage won't allow it. I'm not a consipiracy theorist type, but it's been uncanny the last couple of months how efficient PBS is getting at building lines like this that prohibit you from moving days even if coverage is good.
PBS is getting very good at building reserve lines that virtually prohibit you from moving X days due to these requirements. For December it gave me three blocks of three days reserve and one block of two days reserve virtually locking up my ability to move 11 of my days regardless of coverage. It then gives me one day off after the block of two then 6 days reserve. Kinda be nice to move one of the FOUR days left I can move due to these rules into that one day off so I don't have a single day off, but I can't create a block of more than 6 even though PBS does it. So for December I have a total of 6 days in one block that could potentially be moved, but they are the ones that PBS unstacked on me so the coverage won't allow it. I'm not a consipiracy theorist type, but it's been uncanny the last couple of months how efficient PBS is getting at building lines like this that prohibit you from moving days even if coverage is good.
Rocky;
Yes it has. They have realized that most reserves fall in to the bottom 50 or 60% of a category, and therefore they can unstack as needed. I have seen in myself a few times over the last couple of months. I request certain days get unstacked, and then when I look at reserve coverage for that day, I can swap right in to it. Of course that is until they stick the PCS multiplier at 1.5!
Also the reserves required that you are seeing change, changes for a few reasons. One is someone swaps with the pot, does an APD, or goes on LTS, disability, sick leave etc. It can also go down when someone that is predicted to be though training and singed off is delayed.
Ina nut shell there are many reasons for it. This month especially, there are a lot of guys that are getting a paid month off because they did not train before the end of the conversion window, which further complicates things for those trying to get days off. Busy month all around.
Yes it has. They have realized that most reserves fall in to the bottom 50 or 60% of a category, and therefore they can unstack as needed. I have seen in myself a few times over the last couple of months. I request certain days get unstacked, and then when I look at reserve coverage for that day, I can swap right in to it. Of course that is until they stick the PCS multiplier at 1.5!
Also the reserves required that you are seeing change, changes for a few reasons. One is someone swaps with the pot, does an APD, or goes on LTS, disability, sick leave etc. It can also go down when someone that is predicted to be though training and singed off is delayed.
Ina nut shell there are many reasons for it. This month especially, there are a lot of guys that are getting a paid month off because they did not train before the end of the conversion window, which further complicates things for those trying to get days off. Busy month all around.
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,619
We started with a system where you did not get any pay protection for trips prior to the 24th of each month. If they took your trip you had to find something to pick up or face a low hour month. Eventually we got to the point where you were pay protected for the entire month. What quickly happened is that senior FO's figured out how to sharpshoot the system especially on the international. I had a friend who took a 5 year vacation from Delta. He bid great trips and simply swapped to the senior position on any trips with line checks. The junior FO who was going to have to work the trip anyway so would always swap for a better trip. The company got tired of paying guys for years who never worked. The other thing to keep in mind is that when we had the system junior guys never got removed. Line check trips were highly sought after and swapped for as I mentioned. I don't like our current system and it needs to change. I am not however in favor of a system that allows pilots to never work and draw full pay. In effect the flying pilots have to subsidize that pilots salary. Recovery needs to be cleaned up and it will be in the next contract. Recovery pilots should come after all reserves have been used. I don't mind working for my pay but the rules should be reasonable.
Now is the time to start looking at some of those hard choices that had to be made in the tough times and the MEC will decide which problems need to be fixed and in what order. It is a marathon and not a sprint.
It is actually more basic than that. The company was going bankrupt and the MEC decided to give concessions to try to prevent bankruptcy. (didn't work but at the time they decided to try) The first areas to look at were those where pilots got paid for not working. That was the reason for the change to recovery flying. Same reason why the reserve system is designed to equally apportion reserve flying to minimize reserve guarantee paid. That's how you save the trip rigs and quality of life, especially for narrow body pilots. We came out with narrow body pilots flying 13-15 days a month rather than 18-20 like at some other carriers.
Now is the time to start looking at some of those hard choices that had to be made in the tough times and the MEC will decide which problems need to be fixed and in what order. It is a marathon and not a sprint.
Now is the time to start looking at some of those hard choices that had to be made in the tough times and the MEC will decide which problems need to be fixed and in what order. It is a marathon and not a sprint.
It is actually more basic than that. The company was going bankrupt and the MEC decided to give concessions to try to prevent bankruptcy. (didn't work but at the time they decided to try) The first areas to look at were those where pilots got paid for not working. That was the reason for the change to recovery flying. Same reason why the reserve system is designed to equally apportion reserve flying to minimize reserve guarantee paid. That's how you save the trip rigs and quality of life, especially for narrow body pilots. We came out with narrow body pilots flying 13-15 days a month rather than 18-20 like at some other carriers.
Now is the time to start looking at some of those hard choices that had to be made in the tough times and the MEC will decide which problems need to be fixed and in what order. It is a marathon and not a sprint.
Now is the time to start looking at some of those hard choices that had to be made in the tough times and the MEC will decide which problems need to be fixed and in what order. It is a marathon and not a sprint.
Bankruptcy was unavoidable, I still dont understand how ALPA missed that.
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2006
Position: Starboard Side, weekends & holidays.
Posts: 845
ahh. nevermind. Already covered in the 5 pages I missed while I was out being productive (my wife's word for randomly driving around town doing stuff)...
Last edited by FmrFreightDog; 12-02-2010 at 08:06 PM.
It is productive to her. She got out of the house!
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2008
Posts: 4,921
This is the single reason why our profession is not what it used to be. This lead to scope concessions, our ridiculous pay cuts, lost pensions, etc. If ALPA would have told the company that we have contracts and are not willing to negotiate, we might have taken some pay cuts and still lost some pensions, but we would undeniably be in a better spot than we are now. We would have our highest paying contracts in history as a starting point in bankruptcy. It would have been at all carriers including US Airways. I put this solely on ALPA national as all the legacy airlines were in the same spot. ALPA's strategy was the same at every carrier and it failed miserably.
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