I am 100% for the improvements to the reserve grid system. I will go to the hill alongside you and fight that battle, for the benefit of all 9,000+ JB/NK pilots. And with this management, it will be a battle like you aren't yet prepared for.

But, I want the benefits of that beautiful new reserve grid to be distributed as equitably as possible, as we will all be using some/much of our negotiating capital to achieve it.

Where as JB's current reserve grid is mostly black, with a few green days, by 1 or 2 reserves, I'm hoping the new rules will create a grid that is green by say 10 reserves, as an example, on many days. Those extra 10 reserves per day can be used by a large proportion of the group to drop/swap 1-2 trips, or they can be used by a much smaller proportion of the group if in seniority order the top is allowed to drop ALL their trips.

If the top 15 guys drop all their trips, no more net reserves. If there are more industry standard guardrails (or even industry leading, say DT40-50), then the top 60+ guys get to drop/swap a trip. The benefits would be distributed much more widely, for a benefit we ALL paid for. I also think it prevent more "gaming the system", where the reserve grid would be utilized more for QOL improvement, or at a minimum more widely dispersed premium, vs allowing the top guys to concentrate the benefit into premium for themselves.

I want guardrails and widely dispersed benefit, to be enjoyed by most of the group, in return for the negotiating capital we will all use to achieve it.

I understand guys wanting to remake their awarded line, sometimes. But frankly that can almost always be done using the "swap" function, especially with a modest yet still industry leading DT40-50. I want the best of JB, DL, UAL, SWA and even the best of NK, but that doesn't mean we can't take the best of what NK currently has and tweak it slightly to make the benefits more widely equitable, while still keeping most of what makes it great.

​​​​​​

​​​​​​

I’m not saying your heart isn’t in the right place Bluedriver, I just think you are making premature conclusions with inadequate information. And in fairness, NEITHER of us have adequate information because the decisions are at least a year off and management hasn’t laid their cards on the table yet. I’m not hard over on ANY DECISION but think we need to see the offers first and talk more to really understand costs and benefits. You may in fact be right in the end, but I think you need to be more knowledgeable about NK issues just as we need to be about B6 issues before we make assumptions.

My mind is still blown that everyone can just easily drop to zero, the grid is always green! "Junior, senior, it don't matter." And the planes magically take flight even though everyone can drop to zero! The company employs so many extra reserves (who can't drop days like JB reserves can) that all the grid stays green for all line holders to drop everything. The fact that we haven't heard about any other "good" work rules in the Spirit CBA suggests to me that... there aren't any. And some guy up thread claims JB has shttyy work rules. Must be why Delta copied some of them for their AIP. Would love to hear about the good work rules in the Spirit contract but I haven't heard any of them yet.

That's a good point.

On this we can agree to agree. 😁

Don't forget holidays. Spirit pilots don't have to work those either. Even the junior ones, they just drop the holidays along with all their weekends.

I was able to drop Christmas Eve, day, and the day after all in one swoop! Once, as a junior FO... But, it is possible.

Trips were snapped up for build-up lines for new hires, which made those days green, guess what I did…

Yup, years ago, when I was junior, I did that as well. Same reason, they kept hiring newbs and adding them to the grid.

Management notes
- they will easily cave on drop to zero
-JB already has great work rules in pilots mind

I’ve been at spirit almost 1.5 years. The good of our contract is reserve grid must be 75% green every month, we are required to have 4 days off after working up to 6 days which is waivable, and we can drop to zero as line holders. Extra 5 hrs pay for overnights over 24 hrs, rescheduling has to go through reserves then OT lists before it hits a line holder on a trip. Reserve is seniority based by days left available. A lot of our trips have nice soft pay and you can work sometimes one leg each day for 3 days in a row.

The worst is probably getting paid by duty period not by calendar day and having average daily credit with no leg by leg pay (offered in TA 2024). They stopped reserves from dropping before I got her because guys were “checkering” the grids and no one was legal for 3 day + trips. IMO reserves should be able to swap days around but dropping them will keep lineholders from adjusting their schedules. Biggest thing here is we actually use our reserves. They want 14-20 a month usually and by the time the day comes it drops down close to it.

I was on reserve for 9 months and the 3rd one in I had every weekend off. I’m now a line holder getting minimum 3 weekends off with 14-17 days off total. I was supposed to be on a 3 day trip today but dropped it last week as I would have worked 12 days with 1 off. I’ll either pickup tradeboard stuff or X list for 200% at some point. If you want time off then drop trips you want to work then pickup or xlist. Last month I was down to 22 days off at 55 credit and they called for a 3 day that paid 30 hrs. This month I have 19 off and 61 credit. Wanna take a vacation next month? Drop to zero and do whatever.

Overall I like our contract. There’s a very hands off approach here from management also. If I’m late starting a trip I’m not going to be hunted down and asked why. We have no occurrences or marks for sick calls just don’t abuse it. It’s also hard to abuse sick time when you can drop trips coming up without calling out.

Our negotiations together for a JCBA I think can take the best of both if we stick together on the vote. We have QOL without the pay of other airlines and personally it works for me. Keep some of ours with some of your contract plus your pay rates and well actually be an airline people leave to come to.

as of right now there’s 3 days red for the rest of the month for MCO FOs and it’s one day on each of the next 3 weekends. The rest is green