Reserve is also not the junior senior issue its made out to be on this board. Its a junior in category issue which can apply to every pilot at the airline unless your seniority number is 2 digits.

But, if u make reserve better, more senior people in category will bid reserve.

(No real point intended. Just something to think about.)

I checked, but nothing... I normally get all the stuff they send, or so I thought!

Shhhh! Don't tell anybody. That's exactly why I like sitting reserve :D

I'd like it to stay that way.

A lot of guys on here seem to harbor some sort of resentment against reserve pilots that get paid "70 hours but only work x per month." They sound like my neighbors.

As a reserve pilot you are paid for your availability and lifestyle flexibility NOT for the exact number of block hours you fly in a month. Additionally, I'd add that in the slow months we are paid to (as professionals) remain plugged in, mentally engaged, and ready at the drop of the hat to go fly a challenging flight even if we haven't had 3 landings in the past 89 days. I know that sounds like grasping at straws, but it is a very real threat/challenge that reserve pilots confront in the slow months to remain sharp.

There are some of us that sit reserve because we do not want to vd down to another category and take a two year seat lock. I am not going to vd a position when this company is evolving and as a result be frozen and miss an opportunity. My choice and reseve is not that bad. The months I have had six sc's or eight before the change have been horrible, especially on 24 hr callout. 14 hr under the FTDT will still be less than I have now.

Pilots screaming about wanting all positives must understand that there will be quids. The seventh sc sucks but is a quid for those that will be directly effected by the better pay because of a better rsv guarantee. The positives will probably be enjoyed by all of the group, not 11% of the group. That's the brutal reality within this nnp and possibly the whole TA.

We will vote yes or no accordingly. Just business and this fact may change in the final TA. I will wait and see.

Well I am not making it up.

As a permanent reserve, I never had a problem with working 8-10 days per month and getting paid 70 hours. What bothers me is when I work 16-18 days per month and still get paid 70 hours. If I was getting credit like a lineholder for the exact same schedule, I would have gotten over 90 hours one month that I did not break guarantee. It's frustrating getting a 4 hour 2-day on reserve while the guy you are flying with picked up a white slip worth 10:30. I would be perfectly happy with leaving reserve status quo as long as the credit is changed to match the lineholders. These changes from the negotiator's notepad are concessions. There is no way to spin it. I would also like to add that reserve in the winter months is not the same as reserve in the summer months. We need the most protection in the summer months because that is when the company pushes us to the max. This negotiator's notepad is relaxing restrictions in the summer in exchange for tightening restrictions in the winter. We are losing this negotiation badly.

Regardless of whether pilots are giving an accurate portrayal of their life on reserve, it can be a good option for pilots and better than alternatives in a given situation. The past several years since the merger we have been overstaffed due to "capacity restraint". That will not be the case in the future.

If we allow the rules to be changed in the negative there will be a lot of pilots being abused with no ability to reduce the amount they fly. Also, as mentioned by others, GS, and premium pay for those wanting to increase income for minimally more work lose that ability.

Lets not continually cut off the options to tailor our QOL or income objectives. A pay raise alone or working more hours with crappy work rules is not the answer.

You are kidding right? If you are refering to the $1500 that is in my HRA as a part of the ****ty medical program we have, it is a joke. I pay $400 a month for the Gold HRA and Delta Dental plan. For that I get a wopping, $1500 to cover the first 8 maybe 10 visits to the doc....if I'm lucky and no one got hurt or really sick.
Medical cost have run rampant, not only at DAL, but in the country as a whole. The only way to start to real this in is to make the companies themselves cover these cost. They are the ones that can supply the amount of "pressure" needed on Congress and each other to get this problem fixed!
Back on point...the money in our medical plans should never be considered part of our compensation.

NN Mindset
 

Guys,


We have a lot of very astute analysis of the NN going on here and as I read through the thread I am picking up on a few potential troubling misconceptions and or errors in logic:

Reserve Issues only affect a few Pilots, most who choose to be junior in category.


FALSE - Having the ability of reserves to fly more will result in less open time, less green-slip opportunity, slow movement to the left seat, slow advancement to bigger equipment.


Guys are saying, "I have been on reserve for years and never fly to ALV and never get more than 3or 4 short-calls – so the negative effects of this will be minimal."


FALSE – Do not make the huge mistake of extrapolating your last few years of experience (while DAL was almost always been over manned and shrinking) onto these new proposed work rules. Look forward to when the company tries to run us as lean as possible, we are possibly hiring, and we are always short pilots. There is a reason the company wants these efficiencies – they plan on using them.


Good times are around the corner as retirements kick in and we all advance.


IRRELEVANT – While I hope this is true it should not cloud our judgment. This will happen no matter what and has no place in this discussion. Also, lets not do anything to minimize and reduce this potential rapid advancement.



Finally – and most important. We as all Pilot groups, are at a severe negotiating disadvantage. Management is negotiating this contract with very specific future plans in mind. It is essentially putting in place the work-rules it intends to exploit in the future. We mostly, look at recent experience and say “I never hit ALV on reserve so this will not affect me. Wrong, wrong, wrong, as some on this board have said – Look at the work-rules as protection from a worst case scenario.

Management is negotiating these work-rules for a specific scenario that they intend to capitalize on. Might be a generic merger, or a merger with a specific airline, it doesn’t matter. All I can say is that when you make your decision on our next contract plan on operating within a continual worst case scenario for years to come because management has a plan for the airline. Whether worst case means no Green-slips or open time for line-holders or working your A$$ off on reserve, you can count on it. The plan obviously involves using these work-rules to get the most out of our Pilot group for years.


Scoop