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Where did all the Reserve lines go?

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Where did all the Reserve lines go?

Old 06-08-2018, 05:12 PM
  #21  
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FLT MGMT would never agree to a DAL PBS.
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Old 06-08-2018, 06:13 PM
  #22  
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The company put out the Bid processing info, which said, not less than 80% of the reserve lines would be in the bidpack ( not in secondary window)
We had 115 reserve lines in February and only 48 in July

How is that 80%
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Old 06-08-2018, 08:06 PM
  #23  
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Originally Posted by fdx10 View Post
The company put out the Bid processing info, which said, not less than 80% of the reserve lines would be in the bidpack ( not in secondary window)
We had 115 reserve lines in February and only 48 in July

How is that 80%
That's not what the FCIF or CBA says.

The FCIF which referenced the contract said, "The reserve lines published in the Bidpack will constitute 80% or more of all known reserve days."

My opinion on the example you use (115 R-lines vs 48) is that the large drop in R-lines (down 58%) has to do with the underlined language above. The part you left out is the subsequent increase in secondary lines. They went from 97 to 131 (up by 25%). Total secondary lines plus R-lines went from 212 down to 179. A 15.5% drop in the total number of "non-regular" lines in the MEM MD-11 Captain's bid pack between Feb and July. Same thing's happening over on the FO side and in every other fleet/domicile.

The R-lines they publish are based on historic factors the planners track to help them build R-lines with the R-days where they expect to need them. i.e. the "known reserve days". However, under the old system, they had to include a bunch of "unknown reserve days" in the R-line build. Because of what happens during the conflict window, there a A LOT more unknown R-days than known R-days. That much is obvious simply looking that the numbers fdx10 posted. R-lines went from 115 down to 48. A 58% drop in published R-lines. So they reduced the R-lines by almost two-thirds and they're using 80% of known R-days to make those lines. I'd say that means the known R-days are probably less than half of all R-days the company expects to schedule.

My guess is all the gaps in reserve coverage created during the Conflict window with vacation slides/extensions, training, trip conflicts (that now knock out an entire block of R-days), etc. are all considered "unknown reserve days". No way to predict a pilots vacation desires, training bid, trip conflicts. There wasn't enough flexibility under the old system to re-insert these "unknown R-days" back into the system once they got removed from someone's schedule. So, they had to take their best guess and shotgun out some extra R-lines to account for all these unknowns happening post bid award. The final option was to stick whatever R-days they could into the bottom secondary lines.

Now, they can publish less R-lines using 80% of those known days and are probably counting on 100% of the unknown days being covered by the new options they have. They can do this knowing some R-days will get snagged during the view/add. On top of that, they now have the 25% more secondary lines instead of R-lines which means there will be more room for R-days in the secondary lines. Not only can they use 20% of the known R-days to do that (by publishing blocks in open time) but they can now also publish blocks of the unknown R-days.

As I said earlier, the end result is an overall loss in the total of combined R-lines and secondary lines. On top of that, a large increase in the percentage of secondary lines when compared with R-lines. It's a more efficient system, so this really shouldn't be a big surprise. It was all there in the TA when we voted.

P.S. And I don't mean to sound completely negative about this. Some folks may appreciate the added flexibility and hopefully added transparency when it comes to secondary lines. In exchange, the company gets a more efficient system. That efficiency is a double edged sword. Less pilots is less pilots - I hope we get something pretty damn good for that give back. Kronan may have a point about comparing Feb to Jul, but there's no way that this doesn't decrease the number of non-regular lines in our bid packs.
We get better secondary lines (we hope) and in exchange a lot more folks are going to be getting them. Some locals in MEM who prefer reserve are probably not going to be real happy about having to wait an extra couple of weeks to get their schedule when they can no longer hold a regular reserve line. We'll see how it all shakes out.

Last edited by Adlerdriver; 06-08-2018 at 08:47 PM.
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Old 06-08-2018, 08:25 PM
  #24  
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Originally Posted by fdx10 View Post
The company put out the Bid processing info, which said, not less than 80% of the reserve lines would be in the bidpack ( not in secondary window)
We had 115 reserve lines in February and only 48 in July

How is that 80%
1st-VTO process has ALWAYS been a PBS system.
One difference so far, is I've yet to see someone in the New System asking why someone 15 VTO lines Junior to them somehow wound up assigned to a trip they had requested.

Now-to the 115 versus 48

MD-11 Capt bid pack in February had 266 Lines, 97 VTO, 115 Reserve (478 total)
July 266 Lines, 131 VTO, 48 Reserve (445 total)

Reduced manning of 33 would put the Reserve lines to 82, 20% down from that would be 66 while only 48 were published.

So, I'm thinking the 82 Pay only lines had to have some impact on the bid pack.
And I'd venture a guess that Vacation Utilization is likely quite a bit higher in July as compared to February which would lead to a greater need for VTO lines.
My guess is that there would be more Reserve Lines if the Company could still Involuntarily Convert folks...but that option's gone away.

Thanks ALPA
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Old 06-08-2018, 08:44 PM
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Originally Posted by kronan View Post
1st-VTO process has ALWAYS been a PBS system.
One difference so far, is I've yet to see someone in the New System asking why someone 15 VTO lines Junior to them somehow wound up assigned to a trip they had requested.

Now-to the 115 versus 48

MD-11 Capt bid pack in February had 266 Lines, 97 VTO, 115 Reserve (478 total)
July 266 Lines, 131 VTO, 48 Reserve (445 total)

Reduced manning of 33 would put the Reserve lines to 82, 20% down from that would be 66 while only 48 were published.

So, I'm thinking the 82 Pay only lines had to have some impact on the bid pack.
And I'd venture a guess that Vacation Utilization is likely quite a bit higher in July as compared to February which would lead to a greater need for VTO lines.
My guess is that there would be more Reserve Lines if the Company could still Involuntarily Convert folks...but that option's gone away.

Thanks ALPA
I’ve never been involuntarily converted. But I know some people have.

I have noticed the massive loss in R lines. I’ve always bid R lines on vacation months, but it’s doubtful I’d hold one now. If secondary line reserve honored carry in leveling or vacation leveling, I’d be ok with picking up R blocks in secondary lines. Also, I’ve always bid 15 straight R lines (or 19 in 5 week months) and conflicted them with training twice a year during training months. Practically impossible to hold since there are now almost none of these lines.

I agree that the VTO system was PBS. Now we’ve just increased the PBS lines significantly. They gave up involuntary conversion. Sounds like another terrible trade off.

Thanks Alpa, this contract really sucks!
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Old 06-08-2018, 08:54 PM
  #26  
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Originally Posted by kronan View Post
My guess is that there would be more Reserve Lines if the Company could still Involuntarily Convert folks...but that option's gone away.

Thanks ALPA
Thanks for..... getting rid of involuntary conversions? Talk about forest for the trees. How many pilots used to get involuntarily converted on any given month? I guarantee you it wasn't close to the number who are now going to be affected by a large decrease in published Reserve lines with a corresponding increase in secondary lines.

So we saved a minority from one issue by forcing another on a much larger group (that probably still includes the guys who were getting converted involuntarily ).
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Old 06-08-2018, 09:15 PM
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Originally Posted by Adlerdriver View Post
Thanks for..... getting rid of involuntary conversions? Talk about forest for the trees. How many pilots used to get involuntarily converted on any given month? I guarantee you it wasn't close to the number who are now going to be affected by a large decrease in published Reserve lines with a corresponding increase in secondary lines.

So we saved a minority from one issue by forcing another on a much larger group (that probably still includes the guys who were getting converted involuntarily ).
My point exactly. A few pilots have been involuntarily converted, but a lot of us are being impacted by the new system. It effects 6 months of the year for me ( 4 vacation and 2 training). Kind of a big deal to some of us...
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Old 06-09-2018, 03:56 AM
  #28  
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great analysis Adlerdriver.

The all known reserve is a gamechanger. I think number of r-lines used to be mandated by number of reg lines. "All Known" is now an unmeasurable huge hole to drive the scheduling truck through and allows scheduling to insure there won't be any days with excess crew on reserve. Looking at a given r-day will go from "Looks like I'm ## of ## on reserve today so I probably won't get called" to "Hmm, I'm # of # and I just got assigned an airport standby".

It is very unfortunate that there wasn't some cap or ratio to regular lines limit of the amount of VTO lines. So in order to gain a few possible advantages for the few who bid VTO lines we we forced half or more of our r-line bidders into the VTO bucket.

Wish our negotiators would start to realize when the company shows up with proposed changes they aren't just being nice.

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Old 06-09-2018, 05:09 AM
  #29  
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Checkers vs chess. In the 07-08 contract we aimed to get true bidding for recurrent training days. That way you could bid a RSV line on a month where you might have a kid graduating or a friends wedding and have some control or say or hope in being off on that day. So the company answer to that was if you could bid for Recurrent Training you’d lose, without pay, all training conflicts where in the past were paid.
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Old 06-09-2018, 07:18 AM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by gatorhater View Post
Ding Ding Ding. PBS is a system you negotiate. It can be good like ASA has, it can be crappy like Continental had, or somewhere in between like Delta. It doesn’t have to be the devil many here think it is, but you’ve got to have control, transparency, good negotiators and a crew force willing to learn and educate themselves. Currently we are 0 for 4.
Every once in a while an "I used to have PBS and it was great" post shows up. The underlying message I'm receiving from your post is that the anti-PBS sentiment prevalent at FedEx is the result of unfamiliarity, incorrect assumptions and an unwillingness to seek knowledge about it.

At least you appear to understand the limitations we face if we ever go down that path toward PBS (0 for 4) - Control has always been held close to the vest by the Company. That will not change. Transparency is allowed reluctantly and is rarely complete in any area. The negotiator issue has been beat to death - there is absolutely no way we EVER come out on top (or even at parity) of a PBS system negotiation.

Finally, the only thing a willingness to learn and educate ourselves about PBS (beyond what many already have) will accomplish is to further entrench the crew force to resist it at all costs.

One of the great things I discovered about working for an airline when I left my previous life was the amazing amount of flexibility. Trip trades, outright drops, chase QOL, chase $ or a balance, bid conflicts and leverage that into a better trip, roll the bones and stay home on reserve for weeks at a time, etc.

The reason that level of flexibility exists is because of regular line bidding. Conflicts, vacation, training all end up creating massive disruptions to some of those lines. Reserve lines have to be built to protect the flying and that requires guesswork to some extent. It's educated guesswork but the planners still need to cast a pretty wide net of reserves to ensure they don't get caught flat-footed. The bottom line is that it's inherently inefficient.

With that inefficiency comes opportunity for a large portion of our more junior pilot population to benefit. An intentional or simply lucky conflict on the initial bid may give a junior pilot access to trips he might not otherwise get. Same thing for training months. Others who are willing to wait can get trips via secondary lines that more senior pilots couldn't hold and weren't willing to pursue via their own secondary. Finally, anyone willing to spend some time hawking open time can (but not always) find opportunities to massage their schedule. Why? Because life happens and people drop and trade trips or R-days, trips get disrupted and revised, etc.

Control, transparency, the best negotiators on the planet and an educated crew force don't change the FACT that PBS removes most of those inefficiencies.

"Oh... but I always got what I wanted with PBS." - Usually spoken by someone who had pretty good seniority. New flash - at some point down the list people stop getting what they wanted and start getting what they can hold - Just like bidding regular lines. The difference is that the senior get what they want under either system. Those further down the list lose ALL opportunities to exploit the inefficiencies and use out current system to their benefit. They simply get what they can hold. A less flexible system that locks everyone in where they fall on the seniority list month after month with little to no opportunity for the junior folks to get the occasional "birdie chip shot" that keeps them coming back to the course with some optimism.

Vacations are scheduled around - no conflicts. Carryover is scheduled around - no conflicts. Recurrent training is scheduled around - no conflicts. No conflicts means little to no open time. Going down the list and scheduling everyone for all the trips means no open time. No open time means no trip trading - so whatever you get is what you got (so it damn well better be "what you wanted" - because it ain't changing).
On the reserve side, no conflicts means fewer pilots on reserve. Since all the trips get built into lines, the planners get to surgically schedule reserves exactly where they're needed. We've already seen what the new PBS... I mean Secondary line system has done and will do to the Reserve lines many who live in domicile have bid over the years in pursuit of QOL and time at home. That will only get worse with full PBS.

Then there's vacation. I don't care how good negotiators are, how much transparency and control the company offers, there is no way that we walk away from a PBS negotiation with a better vacation system than we have now. Most likely it will be decimated.

So, please stop with the "If we only were more enlightened and willing to learn and be educated, we'd understand how great it could be". PBS would be the biggest, most colossal error in judgment this pilot group could make - even bigger than voluntarily getting rid of our A-plan.
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