FedEx-new contract-baseline/established fare
 

In the old contract, I would always wait to deviate the front end until the email came saying that Global Travel had issued the ticket. That way in case the flight they listed in the pairing was sold out, they would possibly rebuild the trip with potentially more pay. For the back end DH, I would wait until I landed at the final destination to deviate. That way if something went wrong, I'd still be on the trip. For example, a few years ago we ended in EWR, a nor'easter moved in and pretty much all commercial flights were cancelled the next day. Capt. was stressed because he had already deviated. I didn't, so I got additional pay and I was covered for the extra hotel since the pairing was extended. But now with the new contract, if I'm reading this correctly in 8.C.2.b.i-I, if you deviate before the month starts, you get the higher of the baseline and established fare. If you wait, you get the established fare, which may be lower that the baseline fare. So potentially you might have a lower deviation bank than you thought when the month started. So I have 2 questions; am I reading this correctly? And if this is the case, is it better to deviate before the month starts or roll the dice and wait for Global Travel to issue the ticket or until you land and the final destination on the trip? While it is rare to deal with a nor'easter or other weather at the end of the trip, it does occasionally happen and in those instances, I'd be glad if I didn't deviate.

Do both, I plan on deviating front end early and back end late.

keep in mind, that the ticketed fare is not necessarily what the pairing gets (X pairings aside). The baseline/established fares are an attempt to minimize the disparity with a closer snapshot of the actual travel dates.

This fact is yet another example of a nugget that (we) thought this contract fixed, but in truth, just papered over our legitimate issues, regarding DH fares with yet another bogus number.
Before we had a BS fare published in the bid pack that we used to plan and balance our deviation travel. We asked for and expected that the fix would allow us the same money that the company would have spent had we used the scheduled DH. What we got is just more numbers based on airfares that someone in travel came up with that, surprise!! :rolleyes: , still don't necessarily equal the air fare the company would have spent.
Other than making things more confusing for the user and more work for someone in corptrav and crew travel audit, the company once again got the best of our NC. We bought it and now this non fix is the contract.:mad:

In the winter, I would surely wait till the last minute to deviate, established fare or not. The potential for a deadhead to get revised is just too great. And as far as the backend, think of those guys in Europe who got screwed during the volcanic eruption. Not worth it.

Shack! Between this, cutting our remaining travel bank in half before carrying it to the next month, crediting us with about 30-40 cents on the dollar for cancelled hotel rooms and absolutely nothing for all the GT $ we save them every month, it's pretty clear the company had no desire to halt the gravy train we've been offering up year after year via our deviations.

One thing the early deviators haven't mentioned is the trip-trade restriction for international DHs (including HI and AK). If you've got the trip you know you want to fly then it doesn't matter. Otherwise, you lock yourself into that trip once it's less than 14 days from show time. That's no trip trades, drops or pdo bumps. I realize it used to be immediate in the old contract, so this is an improvement.

Personally, I've been burned by the trip trade restriction more than once. As a daily open time checker when it suits me, I've said my "never agains". I haven't seen a significant difference between the established and baseline fares since it started. Personally, a few bucks one way or the other isn't worth losing the ability to improve my overall lot in life with a lucky X-pairing grab or being able to say yes to a PDO bump or swap. Maybe I'll eventually see something in the fares that make me change my mind. Until then, I'll be deviating 60 hours prior to the DH and keep my options open as long as possible.

Sorry but contract 2011 solidified the stealing of deviation banks. Before that our refusal to grieve the higher of bank or actual ticket provision is what really cost us. Minor gains on the last contract are minor gains not loses. I don't change the way I schedule or deviate because of anything that happened on contract 2015. The lesson learned should be to fight when the company cheats us, not when we try to get it back 10 years later.

FedEx-new contract-baseline/established fare
 

So far for me the difference between established and baseline has been ~$4. So I would keep your deviation technique. Same as mine.

The new "system" does nothing for us. It just sounds/sounded fancy. I still had both fare quotes be much less than actual ticket price.

Adlerdriver is right on.

259$ for me this month,
and joining a scheduled DH leg so that should eliminate a limo expense

YMMV

A little thread creep, but seemed better than starting a new thread........

Does it make sense for someone living in the Memphis area to deviate? It drives me crazy to have deadheads each month on 5 different carriers (VTO line). Seems to me to make sense to deviate even though it's out of Memphis in order to try to narrow it down to at least maybe 2 carriers and thereby getting the perks of being in the loyalty programs. On the other hand it seems like it's taking on more risk than its really worth.

Opinions?

It depends.
Traveling on the scheduled DHs is stress free.
I am relatively stress free on my deviant travel because when things go wrong, I pass that stress on to CRS or the DO. I have missed the 8 hour domestic check-in 4 times now, no issues since I passed that stress on. A bit more stress of will I make it now (and get paid) since the load factors are so high when the travel plans crump.
But losing the pay for one trip isn't that big an issue for me.

The bigger difference is that if you're taking the late, scheduled DH and the connection breaks...CRS will put you in a hotel. Don't make it, you still get paid. Plane's break, CRS and GT fix it.
Deviate-hotel isn't a bankable expense, you work with the airline-and maybe GT to fix it. IF you've got a weeklong pairing, another 300$ fare to get you there is worth it

If you're doing it enough to actually benefit from the FF activity with specific airlines, would say it could be a good idea, depending on where you're trying to go. It sounds like you're probably talking about domestic deadheads.

I think whatever "risk" is inherent in deviating can be mitigated with a good plan. I do it almost every month and the thought of taking a risk doesn't even cross my mind. However, I live near a major hub for two legacy carriers and can get just about anywhere in the US with one flight.

The problem with MEM could be that it's difficult to come up with a "good plan" without jumping through some hoops. Many times you're not one leg away from where you need to be. So, you'll frequently be reliant on getting to an airline hub and connecting (unless your desired destination is the hub). With a limited numbers of flights to make those connections, a cancellation or wx event could really put a wrench in the works.

If you're talking about a Monday morning departure to make a flight that night, you have a pretty tight window before you hit the 8 hour check-in deadline. There's only room for so many back-up options. If you are comfortable with your options, great. If not, you may have to leave Sunday which may not be worth whatever FF benefit you're getting by deviating.

My guess is that you might not be able to make it work every deadhead but it can't hurt to see what your options are and go from there.

I agree with Alderdriver. If you have plenty of backups (particularly direct FedEx jumpseats, not on Mondays), and the weather is good, you are leaving yourself plenty of time, go for it. Who wants to deadhead two legs across the country on Frontier, or an RJ, when you could be sipping wine in first class and getting status on your favorite carrier?

But if the weather is crappy and there aren't many options, don't do it.

In the bad weather months (snow/ice - thunderstorms) I wouldn't deviate on the front end. I'd definitely deviate on the backend if you could get home quicker.

Kronan, what do you mean when you say pass the stress on to scheduling and DO? Sorry, I'm still kinda new.

When you are on a scheduled DH and you miss the connection or the first leg cancels it is not your issue to solve. Sit back, relax, and call scheduling and ask them what they are going to do to get you in position.

Actually, from the context of his reply, I think he's talking about issues that arise while he's deviating. He's just saying he 'fesses up early and gets CRS and/or the DO in the loop rather than keep pushing a bad situation. They either try to salvage things and get him where he needs to be even if he doesn't make the 8 hour limit (likely since a reserve probably won't be any better off starting from scratch in MEM) or they take him off the trip. Either way, it is what it is - stress gone.

Missed the original post. Either way both are good plans. The one where you haven't deviated is totally stress free.

It is also liberating to show them their tight connections sometimes just don't work and watch them scramble to fix it while you sit back and relax. It's not the schedulers fault but it gets dumped in their lap.

Adler is correct,

I usually build my deviation plans such that if I miss my connection there are alternatives to get me there in time to depart, but not necessarily 8 hours prior.

When things go wrong, or things might go wrong (ie delayed departure such that I'm scheduled to arrive 8:01 prior to show) I call CRS.

Scheduling doesn't care, in the slightest, whether you make it there 8 hours prior when you're deviating because the FAA doesn't care what you do to yourself. The 8 hours prior is an FAA required legal rest when the company schedules you, because all company scheduled transportation that's not local in nature is part of your duty day.

So, when things go awry, I call the company. Typically my arrival\final check-in has been in the 7-7:30 prior to my show. Most importantly, I'm not lying about whether I'm in place, and I'm creating the opportunity for the company to make a decision, or start thinking of a backup plan should I not make it. Moving the freight is all the company is concerned with, and if need be they can take me off the trip and do a same duty period DH to a Reserve pilot. Operational JS a pilot into the trip (seen some AM out&backs for Reserve guys to make that happen). Or grab the FedEx biz jet to get a Reserve pilot in position to move the freight.

The absolute worse thing you can do is say you're in position....and then call to say you're not going to make it. Well, the one thing worse might be to call in position and then call in sick 30 minutes prior to show when you realize you won't make it.

I'll make a pitch for calling in honest. A few years ago after the passenger bill of rights law, airlines would just cancel banks of flights rather than face fines for delays when weather got squirrelly. I was trying to go MCO-EWR on a trip when this happened. It was a winter storm and most of NYC was shutting down.

First thing I did when flight was cancelled was check backups, then I called CRS. Kept them in the loop. Decided to go to ATL and try to connect to EWR, JFK, or LGA if it was an option. When I got to ATL...everything from DC to Boston was cancelled. Chatted with duty officer, who pulled me from the trip. I told him I could NOT get to EWR, but since MEM was screaming for help (lots of open time) I did offer that if I could just get to MEM I would fly something for them. DO replied that once pulled from a trip, you could not be put on another except by waiver of ACP. So--I called my ACP, who said "thanks for letting us know, get to MEM, and get to work..."

Point to the story is I kept folks in the loop the whole time, stayed honest, and not only was I not disciplined or chastised but instead still got paid that night. They were drafting that night, but no--I didn't ask for draft--I just said if you will let me fly I'll go to work. And it worked out...

I think the key to deviating is have a back up or two, and if/when those look shaky be honest. I'm sure some EWR local got some draft that night, but the freight moved, the DO did his job, and the schedulers were happy.

Had a similar situation on the 727 years prior with a similar result. Didn't get paid for the trip, but that was all that happened.
No discipline, just an email going "what was your plan?" I had about 4 backups on Delta (to FWA from ECP...small market to small market) but all were weather cancelled with storms across the midwest. Got a reply thanking me for "good headwork" for keeping them in the loop and having a few backups, even if they didn't work that time.

Back in 2014, it was a different environment, and I quit deviating. I had an AA trip to Paris fall through when the MEM-DFW connection was late, and wouldn't allow me to make the turn in DFW. I ended up going First Class on Air France through ATL that night, and it was rather nice. It was also, as pointed out...."stress free" as it was not my problem.

So--deviate or not--you can make it work. Just keep everyone in the loop and shoot straight.

Here's how I learned a lesson about not deviating on the front end in the winter, unless you have to.

I had a deadhead to EWR, I happened to coincidentally be in Memphis, but I deviated anyways. I figured I'd go out early in the morning instead of late in the evening.....nicer to get upgraded on Delta than fly a USAir commuter flight, that's for sure. The scheduled flight was the last one of the night, really poor planning by the company.

Some talk about possible snow on the east coast, not a big deal, but I was going through ATL in the morning, tons of backups to several airports in the area, no risk, I thought. After I landed in ATL, my flight was cancelled, and EVERYTHING was cancelled to the east coast. Finally found one flight to my destination that was two hours late, but still going, and boarding, right then. Frantically ran across the terminal to the gate, begged for a ride, everything full. At the last moment, they said they had a jumpseat. The captain was getting an IOE and he was a real dick about it, but let me ride. Taxi barely made it to the hotel because of all the snow.

The fo never made it, his trip was cancelled, because he deviated. They pulled someone off another EWR trip to fill it, and might not have found a captain, had I not made it.

So what did I gain for going through this stress? A couple of Delta miles? Yep. Appreciation from the company for my effort? Uh, no (I wouldn't expect that for just doing my job, however). Working for a couple of days instead of getting paid for going home? Yep. Stupid, stupid! I hope I don't forget this.