ok,
The rumor going around, probably mistakenly, is that under the DAL contract reserves are only required to be base six days, stop laughing,(as the rest of the reserve days are long call) and reserves can pick up trips off the open board like pilots holding a line (in seniority order).

Any truth to any of this? Thx

 

As i understand it Thats the case if the the JCBA is voted in. I believe the current DAL system has a MAX of 8 days short call days a month. IF the agreement is voted in that will drop to a max of 6 short call days making the rest be long call, 12 hour call out.

 

This is true. Short call days drop to six a month. Keep in mind that if you can't get into base in twelve hours, you are going to need a place to stay if you commute. For example, say the first departures are at 0600. Sign in is 0500, which means they can call you by 1700 the day before. If there are no flights that depart after that time, you are hosed.

 

It will go down to 6 days of short call with everything else defaulting to long call. Short call is also for only a 12 hour stint on domestic side. However, you can't pick up trips like a line holder. The best you can do is put in whats called a yellow slip to request a specific trip if they need you. It does go in seniority order though. Everything is in seniority order. Which is good because the way they assign trips is predictable. You can get good at figuring out when they are going to use you and when they aren't. You can request days you would like to be on short call and also put in a request to reduce your raw score (the number that determines who flies) so you can fly more. When I was on reserve for the regionals you could bargain with the schedulers. I would see a trip in open time and call and try and get it. Delta puts everything through a computer program that spits out the proper name, either highest raw score for the same day bucket or whatever request it is in seniority order gets the flying. Overall it's a good system. 12 hour callout is nice.

 

Nice summary, just two small points.
1-The yellow slip is what you use to lower your RAW score by 15 points, not to preference flying. There is a different function to do that.

2- The lower your RAW score, the sooner you fly, not higher, (see yellow slip.) Reserves are ranked by days of availability. 1, 2, 3, 4 or more. Within each day grouping, pilots are then ranked by RAW score, lowest to highest. If there is a 2 day trip, then the pilot with the lowest RAW score within the 2 day grouping gets the trip, unless a pilot with a higher RAW score, but who is senior specifically requests the trip, (see preferencing flying.)

So what the heck is a RAW score and how do I figure it out? All I can say is that there is an equation to figure it out which takes into account how many hours you've already flown among other things. I've seen quadratic equations which were easier to figure out.

You will either like or dislike the reserve system. I personally like it a lot and use it to my advantage. I have a buddy who hates it and feels that he is always getting screwed, yet he won't take the time to learn and understand how it works. Some guys just like to complain I guess.

 

One thing I'd like to see in our reserve system is how we have no control how Short Call is being assigned. I know there's some logic they use, i.e. SC on first day of a work week, but sometimes it amazes me how they assign short call for the next day.

 

Ya thanks. Thats what I was trying to say. Your right though the preference for flying is separate from a yellow slip. They just are grouped together on the PCS. One other good thing is the ablility to move reserve days around. I've had alot of luck with that to help get certain days off or a more pattern like schedule. It's all automated and it uses the bad day worse day to reward these requests.

 

I agree, At NWA it's very frustrating for commuters to be assigned long call one day, then short call the next, then long call, then short call, etc. It'd be nice to have some idea in advance (you can request long/short call on a daily basis but who knows what you'll get). I wish we had a system like CAL where you bid long call or short call for the whole month and that's what you get (long calls get a reduced guarantee however, which is well worth it IMO). Speaking of commuters, what's the commuter policy going to be with the new contract?

 

Can someone explain rolling thunder @ DAL?

Thanks

 

When a reserve flys a greenslip on an off day, those hours are added on top of reserve guarantee, plus, you get the off days back. So, fly two 20 hour 4 day greenslips, plus say two more 4 days on a regular reserve day.

70 hours guarantee + 40 hours GS pay = 110 hours pay for actually working 80 hours, plus you get 8 off days back.