i wanted to see what the general consensus is on picking up open time. I was on a jumpseat of a legacy carrier the other day and they were griping about guys picking up open time, which meant they werent hiring more pilots to meet this demand and they were keeping all the narrow-body pilots flying something like 90 hours a month, destroying their QOL.

ive never had the displeasure or pleasure of picking up open time since ive been on reserve and i like enjoying all 10 of my days off. however i guess theres differing schools of thought on this. do you:

1) pick up open time to "help the company out" - company man

2) screw em - they should have hired more pilots instead of working us so hard - hard core union guy

3) pick it up - "i need the money" - everyone else out there


what do you guys think? this was kind of an issue at skywest and i imagine it will be a huge problem for most places as flying peaks this summer.

 

I think most guys need money. They took pay cuts and need to make up the loss. I got real mad when they did this with guys on furlough. If no one is losing a job because of it, I don't care if they pick up time or not. Even with guys flying 95 hours per month the airline is still short-staffed and every day they are below minimum reserve coverage. It's the airlines choice not to hire enough. Guys picking up open time is not the problem.

 

we don't have to pick up open time here at pinnacle, everyone is scheduled 100 hours a month!!!

 

If folks were furloughed, I would not pick up opentime.

Nobody at my company is furloughed, so I have no problem picking up flying.

If I didn't like my wife, I'd be a serious opentime *****.

 

My lines have been coming out of PBS with 90-95 hours a month ...Whats trip trading?

 

It also depends on what you mean by open time.At some company's you can change your trips every day on a bid board without going into what I would call "high time".High Time being over the contracted monthly max.This allows pilots to get a better trip or change days etc.

 

My guess is you were jumping on United. They still have guys on furlough. I think there are two times when you shouldn't pick up open time:
One is when guys are on furlough.
Two is when there is an open time ban, like during contract negotiations.

Other than that, I think you should be able to fly as much as you'd like. You could fly 100 hours a month if you'd like. Just not when guys are on furlough.

 

Just a personal choice, but if there is a pilot on furlough where I work, I'm not picking up open time. I know there are guy out there that have no problem doing so, but just not me. Will not picking up open time bring back a furloughed pilot? Probably not, the company will just keep extending/junior manning guys. I just don't feel comfortable being able to boost my paycheck when a friend of mine who is not working doesn't have that option.

I don't think there are many airlines out there that are staffed properly. If I'm not mistaken you are at SkyWest, who is hiring. Pick it up if you want.

 

I have too many other interests in life to fly any more than I have to, so I don't do open time.

However I don't have any problem with people who do, as long as there are no furloughs or gross management stupidity in progress.

Open time is really only a problem if a)the company relies on it heavily and b)people don't pick enough up, forcing junnior-man. Really our QOL should not be driven by who does or does not pick up open time...it should be cleary defined in our contracts. I think min 12 days off is a good starting point, with junior manning allowable ONLY during force majeur conditions.

Then if the company wants to go out on a limb and rely on open-timers instead of staffing up, the pilots won't be required to suffer when things go wrong. Another possibility would be for each pilot to commit to a certain amount of flying at the begining of the year...that way those that want extra time can get it, and the company can plan accordingly and rely on an appropriate amount of open-time flyers.

 

I pick it up like a fiend, because I am in category #3. We have no one on furlough. I have no problem with someone picking it up if they need the time/money.