Only 1 that came to the FO side in IAH.


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Quick question. Is their any way to tell if I am in cass with out going to the airport first. Like a online login

 

Call FedEX jumpseat hotline and ask them to check for you.

 

Thanks.........

 

Reserve buffer just dropped from 30 to 18 for PHX FO's.

 

Forgive my ignorance as I'm not out of training yet, but what are the implications of that?

 

It's a staffing thing. If the reserve buffer is at, say, 18, that means on any given day they want a surplus of 18 reserve pilots working. By surplus I mean... If they have 2 trips that have been unassigned (so they're in "open time"), they want to be able to have enough reserve pilots to cover those 2 trips, and then still have 18 extra, meaning they'd want 20 reserve pilots working that day.

The implication is: the higher the buffer, the more reserve pilots they need. If they have less than the buffer, reserve pilots can't swap that work day for another and line holding pilots can't drop a trip that includes that day.

Basically, it's awesome when the buffer is low and the staffing is high because then all the pilots can do whatever they want. It's sucky when it's the other way around.

 

There are various reasons why they do this from time to time.

The amount of block hours is not always constant throughout the month, and other things like historical absences, changes in route structure, etc. can shift what they do with that number.

Personally, I think it is totally insane how autocratic and unscientific buffer-setting is--it would make much, much more sense to algorithmically determine those buffers based on historical absences and reserve utilization relative to block.

It would be very easy to develop a formula that takes into account all of the variables affecting reserve utilization, and spits out a weighted number for every day of the month, but try telling that to anyone in Crew Line and VV will just say "no...bye."

Additionally, I find it insane how they determine swaps based on this "difference of 2 or greater" concept...if there are 9 reserves on one day, and 10 reserves on another day, who the eff cares if I swap out of the day with 10 to the day with 9? They're going to have 9 on one day and 10 on another day--why do they care which day has 9 and which day has 10 (assuming equal buffers)? It's a wash on their end!!! But nooooooo VV's rules say I can only swap from a day with 10 net reserves to a day with 8 or less net reserves, because they will only approve swaps if it the difference is 2 or greater. That policy has always made me think they can't do basic math.

 

With refence to the buffer mentioned above. How long is it taking fo new hires to be able to hold phx as a base?

 

Well, they are about to displace at least 10 FOs out of PHX, so I wouldn't expect a new hire to hold it for quite a while, especially if there any Captains that downgrade to stay in PHX.