Just skimmed the SOT recommendations. Lots of good stuff in there that fnw will recognize. Lots of good new stuff too.

So far my only word of caution is DO NOT LET PS Front End Deviation mutate into SATELLITE basing. PS on front end is a good deal. Satellite basing is NOT.

Otherwise it looks like a job well done, assuming we can write new pwa language without holes.

 

You just have to file a 1040X for the year you are amending. It is really a very simple form if you have your 1040 form for that year. Should take about 10 minutes to fill out and mail if you have the old 1040. You don't have to redo the entire return to amend that year.

The IRS could very well create a simpler form for the process, but I doubt they will do it because of the relatively few people who will be effected by the change. If you didn't put the claims money in an IRA when you got it, you may have to fill out an 8880 form along with the 1040X. Still a very simple process.

 

Assuming 23Y doesn't define rare any further than what you quoted, then the policy redefines it as "a few times during a pilot's career".

Which disciplinary trigger would you want to be subject to, "a few times during a pilot's career", or "a pattern"?

 

I think it's simply a policy, but I would suspect ALPA was consulted/involved.

 

Thanks! No idea why I couldn't find that in the PWA.

 

The Reserve language is a little weak. 5 points is too small a change to the RAW score for a SC (I equate 1 hour of flying to about 2 points change in RAW score). Letting the company float RAW "bucket" sizes is equivalent to letting them float anything, such as the Reserves Required vs. Available. It rarely works well for us.

If a lousy trip is coming up, and I'm the senior-most on Reserve, and there are two of us available, the junior guy might have flown 1/2 hour more than me, and be in the next lower bucket. If 35 points was the size of all buckets, it means that, at the most, the next guy below me would be about a three-day trip away. If they have smaller buckets, it means that I might be up next if I've flown anywhere between 1/2 hr and maybe one two-day trip, less than the junior most guy. As you get closer and closer to the end of the month, if bucket sizes don't get bigger then I might have to go out on a lousy 4-day trip, over 1/2 hour differential, and hit 67 hours for the month, while the guy directly behind in RAW score sits tight at 45 hours (for example).

It's still a long, long way from a purely seniority-based Reserve system.

Still, it's step in the right direction. The return of the high and low yellows would be welcome. The problem is that there is still no meaningful penalty (to the company) or reward (to us) for overusing SC assignments.

 

Yea I am not familiar with the reserve system at all and I'm trying to keep it that way.

The old bidding high time and low time at fNW seems like it would be a nice addition too, but not sure how to make that work in conjunction with RAW.

 

Where do I find these SOT recommendations?

 

We had such a system (high and low yellows), and RAW is the animal that was specifically trained to tear that sytem apart.

It's a shame that many plan to avoid Reserves, because it introduces a hurdle that we all need to jump before we want to upgrade. It's a penalty on our advancement.

Under the old rules, some worried about being senior enough to hold Reserve...

 

Partial month move-ups.
Bid a reserve line with all the X days in half the month and "move-up" to a regular line with all the trips packed in the other half.

Now THERE was a cash cow.