Has anyone else submitted a question for a particular section that still reads, "There have been no questions asked & answered for this section"?

One question a day submitted over three days requesting amplification for the SLR LOA with no response. Was this item addressed via phone conf today or is this a section that the union will avoid comment on until it is more fully developed? Perhaps no written Q&A words can adequately capture the tap dance planned to sell us PBS as the secondary line replacement vehicle.

 

You might want to give them a couple more days. I heard they were snowed under with questions, and they probably have to run the answers by the lawyers. I asked a question the first day, and it has not been addressed yet either.

 

Helpful feedback--thanks. Will hit one of the web events tomorrow as well although I suspect an hour would be consumed by some of the more complex aspects of this TA.

 

Here's one for you......

Why are there pay rates for B737s alongside 757s?

 

Well, I don't know what email you have been reading. I can only go by what my rep has said and he stated they are not part of the show!

To answer your question: I am unable to provide you with insider information - sorry.

 

I think you really mean why is B-737 in the list of NB aircraft at the top of the NB pay rates. You make it sound like you're seeing a separate 737 pay rate.

Well, the easiest explanation that I can offer you is: it was in our current contract and they chose to keep it.

When I saw it back in 2006, I assumed it was basic contingency thinking by both sides. There are only so many possible aircraft types available for use as a freighter.

The 737 is one of the most prolific narrow body jets ever produced and there's already an "F" model. It's doesn't seem that far out in left field that the company may decide they could work in a system form of the future. 5 extra characters on a few pages of the the contract versus having to deal with putting out an LOA and jumping thru lots of hoops later.

What's actually more interesting to me is the fact that the DC-10 is still in there. We still own enough in the desert that some zombie apocalypse lack-of-lift scenario has the company bringing that out of retirement to fill the gaps? Or, did they delete B-727 and just forget the DC-10?

Also, it would appear that the A330 rumor is dead. I was half expecting that to make the WB list just to cover other future contingencies. Looks like we're on our way to a pure Boeing fleet someday.

 

Honest question-

How is PBS different than our current secondary line system? We put in our preferences and are awarded that by seniority (ha!- supposedly). I understand and agree with the angst that we don't trust the company and never want this for our primary bidding, as often our requests aren't met and junior guys get our picks. But how would PBS be different for secondary lines?

 

We had no confidence it would be different based on the company's secondary system. That was one of many reasons it was a non-starter.

The airlines that use PBS have a more transparent and easy to understand system of inputs. I assume their actual computer program probably has a "2" in the first digit of the date it was created. I think ours dates back to the green screen only days. I believe the schedules produced are closer to what the requester expects (assuming expectations match seniority). Still an incredibly bad idea for us, IMO, and I'm happy that's not on the list of reason to vote "no" on this TA.

 

Thank you Adler. But my question wasn't in general asking how PBS would be different for our primary system (hell no!, and also glad it isn't in the TA)- I was asking how it would be different for secondary lines. You partially answered, talking about the transparency and closeness of the result- but is that the whole answer?

 

I'm sorry if I'm still not getting it - but I think you're asking how would secondary lines work under a PBS system?

With PBS, there are no secondary lines. In simple terms, everyone gets our current equivalent if a secondary line. Everyone inputs their desires and lines get built based on them. No need for secondaries since there are no vacation, training or other types of conflicts that create the flood of open trips we currently see after training is bid, vacations are slid, etc. PBS builds the schedules around those known conflicts.