You can use them to add days onto vacation periods for the current year or when bidding vacation for next year you can add them onto the front or back of vacation for next year.

You can also drop them onto reserve days in future months if the coverage is good. Kinda like using a personal drop except you get the pay for the day you drop the PB day on.

The one thing I'm not sure of is adding them onto vacation for next year while bidding. If you bid for a week in the summer and request to add a day or two onto that week of vacation I think that the following week also has to be available or it will not award you the vacation. Anyone have any info on that issue?

Most guys use them for vacation.

Fixed it for you.

If they were banked last year then I would take a look at the vacation bidding menu for the next vacation year and see if they have been added as supplemental days for you to bid with next years vacation. I think the company does this at the end of each year. If this has been done, you will get a value of 3 hours for each day.

Denny

Trip parking doesn't hurt the company, it hurts other pilots and violates seniority. Frankly I think the whole idea of being able to give one of your trips to a buddy violates seniority. We should get rid of this in the next contract. If you want to get rid of a trip you should have to try the QPD route and give the pilots a shot at it in seniority order. If your buddy is senior enough, then he/she can have it.

Guys parking trips are not giving them to their buddies they are using their buddies schedule to park it then they pick up a trip from the pot. If a guy senior to him wants the trip in the pot, then they get it via the PCS process. If nobody senior to that guy wants it, he gets it then "unparks" the trip back on his schedule. I've not heard of anyone getting a senior guy to give him trips that they otherwise could not have held. Not saying it hasn't happned, but I haven't heard of it happening.

I don't see how trip parking violates seniority. The pilot "parking" the trip is only temporarily taking the trip off his line so he can white slip another trip he would otherwise be unable to pick up, then get his original trip back from his friend. If a pilot senior to him had also wanted the open time trip he could have white slipped it at any time.

As in any contract, pilot's learn to legally "work the system." While I'm all for fixing this loophole, I'd like to see a better way to pick up flying time. In my category I can have a 65 hour line, but because of the high time trips be ineligible to white slip any trips.

Looks like the final (5) DC-9-40's flew out of the system and to Sanford today. I believe that's it for the NW colored jets.

And "but for" parking his trip, the pilot would have been unable to pick up the trip from the pot. That means he is circumventing the intent of the monthly max while taking trips that contractually would allow folks junior to him to improve their schedule, pay, or trip quality. They are the ones harmed.

There are other means to circumvent monthly maximums (swap board), but they're transparent and available to all. Parking limits the load to a few and provides those individuals with super premium seniority rights. :D

I think one (DC-9-40) is still in MSP, I was scheduled to do the ferry flight this morning, but it was canceled because the airplane wasn't ready. Maybe tomorrow, but you are correct they are getting parked.

Farewell DC-9-40's. You will be missed. :( :(