Is that the grid was red even during TOWOP! I thought that was shady! And yes, I agree on the transparency. PBS/Flica is a tool for flight crews so what’s the point in having it if you can’t use it? Why do they have a different grid than us and how did THAT happen? Did Alpa agree to let them do that because if not, that’s a huge grievance IMHO.

I think we are all going to be working a lot harder. The pairings seem to be getting worse and the fire breaks are terrible. More people are flying longer days and fatigue is or will become an issue. While I know growth is desired but, at what cost???

Yes, I know we got 150% open time in return for giving up the grid. I’m honestly torn about that. It’s difficult to get the 150% trips because you can’t drop OR swap. Quite frankly, I’d like to keep my only days off I can get now.

 

I've asked the MEC about this. The company line is that they don't want to relinquish control of the grid because they rely upon it for operational integrity. Gaining control of the reserve grid would go far beyond just giving up 150% on open time. We didn't go into specifics, but the MEC believes we'd have to give up way too much in order to control the grid.

 

Reserve adds and swaps and drops had already been at “scheduling’s discretion,” that’s why when the company implemented the secret reserve grid, it wasn’t an LOA but rather an email from TW and the union announcing the change. The cost of trips being dropped by lineholders and picked up for premium time was cited by TW as a reason we don’t have true numbers on the flica reserve grid. The goal was for reserves to drop trips and pick up open time from the trade board.

 

Doesn’t the membership have to agree to any changes outside the contract language? We were sold a poor deal if some side agreement was done OR the company just decided to have a secret grid. Again, I am having a hard time swallowing that pill or anything the aformentioned person says. Oh, so we have a grid but, it’s not the real one. I wonder what they are telling new hires?

I also do not believe we would would have to, nor should we, give up much of anything to get the grid back or have some control over it. They, not us, have to attract, recruit and try to retain, for the expansion. Not to keep beating the horse but, the bidding system is a tool for crews and part of the foundations of flight and core principles. I wish more people would read those. So, why again is there a SECRET grid? If they need to have secrets then we should seriously be getting on them and Alpa.

Again, just my opinion but I am willing to bet a large part of the survey was about scheduling and we aren’t seeing any improvements. With the growth it will certainly only become more difficult.

 

That’d be fine. If only reserves could actually drop trips. I try every month to drop as many RSV days as possible. On average, I would say 4 actually drop. But that number has been decreasing. Earlier this year I was able to drop 6-8. Last month none got approved. We’ll see what October brings.

 

Well staffing has been decreasing as only 6 or so pilots a a month hit the line (the ones hired before recent ramp up) as we lose far more. No longer are there 50 reserves a day. It is more like 30-40 or so in the larger bases. And in some of the epic irops they used every single reserve available. I’m honestly not sure what people are expecting... the point of reserves is to be there as a reserve. We’ll never be like skywest that operates with 10 reserves for all of Chicago because they’re so short staffed.

 

Did we finally get rid of that dump of a hotel in MSN?

 

I tolerated that dump due to the location. Same with the CHO hotel, looks like that has now changed to the middle of nowhere too.

 

So you're ok with being in a dump of a hotel chain as long as there's something around it? The old dump in CHO was exactly that, a dump. There's nothing wrong with the new one in CHO, especially considering the van will take you places.

 

The problem is API moves us from one dump to another. Example: recurrent sim hotel.

We need to get out of all hotels that end with “inn” or “plaza.” That would solve a lot of issues.