I think that is all any of us have ever asked for.

When you think about it, a commutable schedule actually hoses the commuter to a certain extent and why you can't focus on JUST late departures and early returns. As I said in another post, most of us look for the biggest bang for the buck, ie the highest value trip in the fewest days. To do that, you lose out with a late departure and/or an early arrival. OR, you have to have an extra day out like the old NWA schedules did it. I'll take an early departure with the corresponding hotel if it's what I want to do and it's got good "worth".

All any of us want is balance. Ok, and beerable layovers:D

I'll catch the rest of the debate later, got to take momma for anniversary dinner.........35 years with the same woman, how is that for one of the bigger Narcissist you've ever met.

Ferd

Anyone else confused by SD's update? He actually made the Crew Resources letter even more undecipherable, but now he wants us to change our preferences based on 8 MD-90's in the summer of 2013?

Seems like trying to encourage early-outs to me.

Wouldn't it be simply astounding if such a program was announced very soon?

Ferd,

That's a great phrase!

Absolute truth. I've seen the results of them trying to do this in the ATL 320 category- the majority of the pilots want 1-3 days, and that's what they've done (along with a handful of 5 days that the commuters wanted). Granted the flying is pretty junky, but it's a new category, and I don't think they really know what they want to do with the plane yet.

There is a balance between giving some to the commuters and otherwise running an optimized operation. Nearly everyone wanted to be productive on the rotation survey... it would be nice to see the amount of well built rotations increase drastically.

They want to reduce the amount of credit in rotations and very commutable trips tend to have that. That part is what ends up costing everyone in the long run.

Has anyone seen any official word on this? I thought I saw a print out from a Q&A sitting in the OC III sim break room that confirmed they are working on an early out program which will provide healthcare.

Then what do you propose? Doing nothing?

That might actually work.

Personally, I thought the unintended consequences of the rotation surveys would include the inability to agree on what a good mix would be, the fact that Carmen probably can look for a certain outcome, but probably not a "good mix", and the probability we'd end up fighting among ourselves, over something we can't agree on, or change.

I think the rotation survey is probably going to make some people feel good, and not accomplish anything.

The best outcome could be to get rotations in a base to remain as consistant as possible, so that we can make semi-informed decision about the categories we're bidding, and leave us the hell alone otherwise. What's killing many of us is the uncertainty. What's the point of running away to be senior in a junior category, if you don't know what people might or might not lobby for, or whether they might or might not get it done?

So maybe doing nothing is OK, if the company would respond in kind, and not mess with categories as comprehensively and ferquently. Then we can leverage our seniority intelligently, for the best personal outcome.

The funny part is this entire debate began because I said the reserve system should be more commuter friendly. It had nothing to do with rotation construction.

I was behind them on ramp 3 this afternoon after they pushed. It was kinda funny, they called for taxi and added power, only to have ramp say, "standby, wait for the opposite direction AirTran on the left then go around the RJ in front of you, behind the Maddog call ground". They hit the brakes kinda sudden.

There will be a learning curve I imagine.

I don't commute, but I agree that the Reserve system is not commuter-friendly, and this is an area that can be fixed far easier than rotaion construction.

I think you could incentivize availability, and make everyone happy. What if you got the ability to bid ultra-long call (at home), but got paid a little less for each, or got less time off, than the guy who bids short-call? I'm not saying take something away from what we have now for the long-call guy, but I think you could weigh availability and pay/time off pretty easily, to design a system where everyone is bidding according to their commute (or lack thereof), and getting rewarded accordingly.