I might've missed something, but I'd think that "takeoff and climb" are not included in the "cruise, descent, or approach" autopilot restrictions. But I could be wrong....

 

Schedule flexibility IMO is the number one way to keep pilots happy. It's to bad ALPA and the legacy boys can't seem to figure this out! I am either stuck working crappy unproductive 89 hour months with 12 days off and flying a S.L. of all nighters or I am stuck at min hours and can barely pay my bills.

What I'd give to actually be in control of my life and my pay check!! What a concept.

 

Unfortunately, it's a completely different type of flying/profit center. Productivity and hub/spoke flying don't speak to one another. If you had one blended pay rate across fleet types, you might get closer to the QOL you are looking for, however, most senior wide body Intl pilots at the majors would never go for flying MD-88s, 737s domestically while taking a small pay cut.

 

I hate to think what Elton's scratch and sniff scent would have been. Bet it didn't smell like swimsuit model.

 

Question, how many block hours is a typical 3-day trip at SWA? I get the impression you go to work you fly as much as possible while there and you come home, such as 24 hour 3-day trips. Is that right?

 

FTB, depends on what kind of trip you want/bid. For me, a high productivity burner is what I bid for because if I'm away from home, I want to make as much as possible per day. Those lines aren't quite as fat this time of year because of schedule "optimization." Others bid lowest block time per day with higher rig pay so that they can pick up on their days off. It varies a lot, you could have a 3 day that pays 26 "trips" or a 3 day that pays 19.5 trips (minimum contractual is 6.5 per day). I guess that means a minimum 3 day would pay about 17.2 hours flight time, but we have some three days that block less than 13 hours and some that block around 23 hours.

The more aggressive players bid low block/max rig pay or give away their bid lines and wait by the phone for a trip that pays time and a half.

I'm sure that's all as clear as mud.

 

Here is an example of an average 3 day from when I was an F/A at SWA. The pilots and F/As had different pairings since we had different duty days (ours was 10-1/2 hours max contractually) but the makeup of them was similar. Three day trip with 18:35 and it paid 21.5 Trips For Pay.



FLT DEP ARR EQ BLK GRN TFP
1956 HOU 1735 SAT 1830 700 0 55 20 100
1956 SAT 1850 PHX 2120 700 0 230 25 S 290
1956 PHX 2145 SMF 2345 700 0 200 1505 230
SMF 1405 Rls 0015 525 DUTY 740 620

1096 SMF 1450 LAS 1610 300 0 120 30 150
1096 LAS 1640 MCI 1930 300 0 250 30 S 330
3159 MCI 2000 SAN 2340 300 0 340 1450 S 430
SAN 1350 Rls 0010 750 DUTY 950 910

339 SAN 1430 LAS 1540 300 0 110 25 130
339 LAS 1605 TUL 1840 300 0 235 20 S 310
339 TUL 1900 HOU 2035 300 0 135 0 180
Rls 2105 520 DUTY 705 620

TTL 1835 BLK
2435 DUTY
2150 TFP

 

It's all good

 

Where did you guys go?

 

We're too busy voting on 8 different ballots to post right now.