Originally Posted by PSA help

It may seem complex, but in reality, it is pretty easy.

You will learn about it from the people that you fly with. There will be a little trial and error.

We have a "Guide to SAP" that is available, and it will help you get the schedule that you are looking for.

Once you hold a R1 line, PSA has the best quality of life in the regionals.

Our scheduling is truly what sets us apart from the rest. You can book a cruise 9 months out, and be sure that you will get the time off without the need to use a vacation.

If you want 10 days off in a row every single month, you can do it.

It you never want to work a weekend, you can do it.

If you only want to overnight at cities that you like, you can do that too.

If you don't like the Captain that you are assigned a line with, just swap out of the trips.

Originally Posted by FlexNinja

All of this is true. As a 1st year FO at a regional, I had Halloween, my birthday, my kids birthdays, Christmas and New Years OFF. I could have had thanksgiving, but I needed the following week off for something else. I dont think any other 1st year FO's can say they had the same.

Also, as it relates to Reserve days. When you get your reserve line, you will typically have 3-5 day stretches of reserve duty, with 2-3 days off between. It really just depends on the line. Well, when the seniority based and first come first serve comes out, you can go in an swap your reserve days around. There is one major restriction to that, and that is the reserve grid people keep talking about. The reserve grid must be green in order to move a reserve day. Its really not a big deal though. Typically, I would just stalk the grid and the second that day when green, id swap out of it and bam, good to go. I could run a 6 day stretch of reserve and easily have 6-7 days off. I was very impressed with that ability and it came to the rescue several times when I was on reserve. I went straight from short call to a round 1, so then life got REAL good. Now, instead of 11 days off, I routinely have 16-18 days off and still credit over 70hrs most months. If I feel like picking up more flying, I do it as SDO (Scheduled day off) and its 125%, plus, I can pick up flying out of base, for an easier commute.

I will say, the only thing I didnt know going into SAP, is that you cant SAP between the bases. You can seniority based and FCFS, but you have to have a green reserve grid, and honestly in 5 months, thats only worked out once. But, like I said, I can drop my line down to 65hrs and come back and pick up better trips in other bases that are easily commutable. I dont think any other regional offers anything even close to that level of flexibility.

edit: Oh, and as he mentioned above, ive had almost every weekend off since I got the round1 line.

Originally Posted by PackPilot

Where are you based? And do you live in base?

PSA sounds pretty awesome for schedule flexibility, however for the bases where you can be a R1 line holder sooner, it's a 2 leg commute for many folks (CVG has direct flights for where I live but only 2x a day, and DAY is definitely a 2 legger). CLT is where it's at (only a 3 hour drive for me), but I see it's about 18-20 months to become a R1 line holder there. Ouch! Hopefully DCA will help this, which for me isn't a bad commute. I'm curious your opinions on getting a quicker R1 line in a place like CVG or DAY, which is a difficult commute, vs. getting a build up line or LCR at a place like CLT, which is a much easier commute. I'm assuming with a BU line & LC/SC reserve you can expect to just have 11-12 days off per month. At least those are the things I would personally be weighing.

Hopefully this doesn't sound too entitled...I'm aware there are plenty of FO's that commuted to reserve for years and years back in the early 2000's.

Thanks for all these responses...very helpful.

Originally Posted by PSA help

How lines are built and awarded:

Step 1: AAG gives PSA a large pile of flying that we need to cover. Our scheduling department takes the flying and creates as many lines of flying that they can, meeting contractural obligations (min/max credit, min days off). Union reviews it before it is sent out to bid. Any leftover trips are put in a pool.

Step 2: Pilots bid on the lines that are built. You pick what you want, starting at your #1 choice going to however high you want to go. There are sort features so you can find what you are looking for. If you have the seniority to hold one of these "round 1" lines, then you get one.

Step 3: The company goes through the lines and removes flying from your schedule for any vacation, training, leave time (FMLA, Military), and from those that are scheduled to upgrade/flow/resign in the upcoming month. All of these trips get added to the leftover "pool" of flying.

Step 4: SAP. Schedule Adjustment Period. Anyone that has a R1 line can go in and swap with anything that is in the pool. You can trade 2 of your trips for 1 of the pool trips. You can swap a 4 day trip for a 1 day. Or, you can fly as much as you want, adding trips. The only rules are that you can't violate part 117 duty, and you can't drop below 65 hours. (There are a few rules around medicals due, or training due, but there are ways around all of these). There are absolutely no reserve buffers. ie. Every line holder can drop Christmas if they want to.

Step 5: All of the flying that is in this pool after the SAP closes are used to build as many Round 2 trips as are available. These R2 lines can be strictly flying, or flying with a few reserve days mixed in. These are published for bid.

Step 6: Everyone that does not have a R1 line is able to bid on their schedule. This will contain R2 lines, long call reserve, and short call reserve. You are able to get whatever your seniority holds.

Step 7: After everyone has a schedule, then "Seniority based" trading opens. Everyone can choose to try to swap trips with anything left in the pool, but unlike during the SAP, minimum reserve numbers are now a buffer.

Step 8: Pilot "first come, first served" opens. You can swap for whatever is in open time pool, but again it is subject to reserve grid minimums.

Step 9: Trades between pilots. You and another pilot can mutually agree to a swap of a trip between your schedules.

Originally Posted by MaCrOs

Can someone break down training classes and duration. I'm trying to figure out why it is 3 month long.

Originally Posted by PSA help

It may seem complex, but in reality, it is pretty easy.

You will learn about it from the people that you fly with. There will be a little trial and error.

We have a "Guide to SAP" that is available, and it will help you get the schedule that you are looking for.

Once you hold a R1 line, PSA has the best quality of life in the regionals.

Our scheduling is truly what sets us apart from the rest. You can book a cruise 9 months out, and be sure that you will get the time off without the need to use a vacation.

If you want 10 days off in a row every single month, you can do it.

It you never want to work a weekend, you can do it.

If you only want to overnight at cities that you like, you can do that too.

If you don't like the Captain that you are assigned a line with, just swap out of the trips.