NoDeskJob

All,
I've heard several F9 guys say something along the lines of, "the pay is not industry leading, but the work rules/ability to manipulate your schedule are great."
Can any F9 guys elaborate on this please?
Thanks.

zoooropa

Our Scheduling section isn't earth shattering or industry leading, but we managed to protect our Scheduling section during our journey through Ch. 11 back in 08-09. Not one word was changed in the Scheduling section and that is rather unusual in the world of BK. (It also happens to be a huge target for our new masters at Indigo).

Our reserve rules suck. The current CBA was written in 2006-07 back when very few pilots remained on reserve for any length of time. My class didn't bid any reserve. We were hired, completed training, flew OE, and then bid a hard line. Since that time we have some guys and gals on RSV for 3-5 years.

Our line holder rules do not suck. After the line holders are awarded a line they have three different periods available to modify their schedule. Monthly open time is a drop and add period. Daily open time is another drop, add, split period. Daily open time also has a period within 72 hours of report time with more restrictive limits. The add,drop, swap process is live with the exception of splitting trips.

The short description is one can drop basically anything as long as it is more than 72 hours from report time. You do not need to pick up something equal to what you drop. You can split pieces of your award off and you can add pieces of open time trips.

You can trade with other pilots and you can add trips from other domiciles (we have CHI based pilots that can't hold CA in Denver but they can build their own Denver CA schedules subject to a few restrictions).

The overall process is very flexible. We have pilots increasing their pay by flying over 82 hours or by volunteering for Junior Assignments. We also have a Junior Assignment process where the company leaves you a message with a specific assignment and you have the option to pick up that exact assignment. They can't trick you into calling and then tag you with something you don't want. VJA and JA premiums add up. If you don't want to VJA or JA, you don't have to participate.

Again, none of this is particularly special when compared to legacy and other LCC's, but the scheduling section of our CBA affords us the ability to create lemonade from lemons.

I should add we have a trip/duty rig that was designed to create more efficient pairings. That doesn't necessarily work due to our fragmented route structure so we have a nice allotment of lengthy overnights that pay o.k.

We also have the ability to deviate from scheduled deadheads if they appear at the beginning or end of a pairing. Commuters may not want to ride in the back to their domicile and then commute home so they can go straight home or straight to their assignment and not lose pay credit.

We can also slide our vacations forward and backwards to cover more flying. This is pretty big today since many of our 4 and 5 day sequences do not return to domicile. Once a sequence is dropped for vacation you have the ability to pick it back up and get paid double time or more thanks to the premium, or you can do something crazy and actually enjoy vacation.

NoDeskJob

Thank you. Can you elaborate on why the reserve rules suck?

zoooropa

We have three different types of reserve, short, medium, and long. FAR117 basically negated our medium call so we really have short and long.

Shorts have two hours to report. We have three different windows AM, Mid, and PM and different duty periods within those windows. They can move your window with some restrictions.

Longs remain on call continuously and have 12 hours to report.

Probably the best reserve rule is aggressive reserve where rsv pilots bid for open trips. This way they have "some" control over their schedule. If you are awarded a sequence in aggressive reserve you are no longer on call prior to the report time.

The least popular reserve rule, or lack thereof lies within the company's ability to repeatedly add flying to your schedule after you complete an assignment.

I guess a more accurate statement would be "reserve sucks and our reserve rules really do not help alleviate the suck"

F9 Driver

Or even:
"Reserve sucks and our decent reserve rules really have been manipulated by the company to wring every operational advantage out of them, without the effected pilots filing grievances." (or those grievances being pursued by our past bargaining reps.)

I've never heard a pilot commuting to a reserve assignment for any airline compliment their reserve system.

FAULTPUSH

I'm pretty happy with reserve - I've been reserve for 8 years now (the last 4 months by choice). However, I live in Denver so I'm pretty content to be gone about 130 hours per month on average, for an average pay of about 80-85 hours per month this year (a few VJAs in there), and a total of 330 block for the year. I could bid a relief line, but they are typically 260 hours away from base for 75 hours and 13 days off.

But if you commute, it would suck.

NoDeskJob

130 hrs, as in 5 days on the road???? That is nice. If hired (big if), I would be living in C Springs.

FAULTPUSH

130 hrs, as in about 35 hours away from base each week (on average).