I am wondering if some people can shed some light on how their company's scheduling system works. I have a bunch of buddies at XJT who have 6 months seniority (which I know is quite a bit with the hiring) and have schedules with like 18 days off a month and still getting paid for 85-90 hours and have another buddy who works for Skywest and only has 13 days off and is only getting paid 75 hours. I am the application stage and really don't have a clue of how each company does its scheduling. Are all the systems pretty much uniform or are there big differences between them? I don't really hear this mentioned much, but I would think it could either drastically improve or diminish QOL if you had a good or bad scheduling system. My buddies at express seem to be able to trade trips and arrange their schedules adequately enough to suit their needs (drinking), and my other buddy at SKW seems to never be able to get the days off that he wants. Any info would be appreciated. By the way, I already have my app in at XJT but have been hearing that they won't be doing any more hiring until Jan. I am going to be applying at RAH and SKW as soon as I meet the mins

 

I'm assuming your buddies at XJT are on reserve. If that's the case, they only get 11-12 days off a month. Now, they may not get called ever day on reserve so assuming they live in base, that's another day at home. If they're not on reserve, with 18 days, they are most likely getting relief lines, which are built from open trips. Relief lines can be very good but they don't always work out. What you do is send requests to Crew Planning for what you desire for the month. Then they build a relief line per your preferences. But it's all done in seniority order so if you are low on the list and there's nothing to meet your requests, they give you what's available.

Most regional companies have similar Crew Planning practices, with various minor differences. So basically, most companies build and assign lines in a similar fashion. I'm not sure any regionals have Preferential Bidding (PBS) which is essentially a relief line for everyone. The VAST majority of pilots don't like PBS. Once the lines are awarded, companies vary all over the place.

Trip trading at XJT is fairly easy, assuming you are trading 2 trips that start on the same day. If it's a trade for a weekend trip to a weekend-off trip, it can be very tough.

 

So are relief lines more desireable than reserve? It's good to hear that most regionals have the same type of system, but I guess what I am really wondering is how easy is it to get a day off if you have say a weeks notice. Do you put in a request to scheduling or is there a message board type thing were you can trade trips? All of these little "details" almost seem overwhelming when trying to choose a company that is going to be a good fit. It's like looking at an airplane from the outside and trying to figure out if has cool avionics. Not really the type of thing that you can just go try for a bit and see how you like it either.

 

Unless you end up out in LAX, you pretty much (with a few exceptions) fly the line you bid.

Your buddies must not be lineholders, or they are not telling you the truth.

 

The scheduling program used by an airline is one thing, but who the regional is doing the flying for is more the answer you are looking for. Unless the regional is doing branded flying, the hours are dictated by the mother-ship: Delta, United, American, etc. From talking to others I know one thing, Delta schedules are not great at all. That is why your Skywest friend has only 13 days off and a hard time moving trips. Ask any Comair or CHQ pilot flying DL trips and you'll find they aren't as good schedulewise.

Anyone care to confirm that?

 

Relief lines, in general, are more desirable because it is a line you just don't know what your schedule is until a few days before the upcoming month - so there are no guarantees. For example, if you want Christmas off and you know can hold a reserve line with it off, do you bid a relief line in hopes of getting it off or do you sit reserve for a month to get the holiday off? Also, relief lines are assigned to the more senior reserve pilots so newhires don't get them.

It can be fairly difficult to change your schedule significantly with a weeks notice. If it's a day one way or the other, it's easier but shifting a 4 days, it's hard because you run into 30 hrs. in 7 days (30/7) issues. Most of XJT (CAL flying anyways) scheduling is done online so you can view open trips or trips advertised by other pilots online.

 

yeah schedules can vary simply based on how things are organized by the airline your flying for. For example on the lga base for chq, it doesnt take much seniority to get 14-16 days off a month and fly for mostly usair or continental. Out in CVG, the trips are very very commutable, but are so ineffective. To meet the average number of hours that the lines are built at for the month, the most senior captain only has 12 days off for the month. Now thats could also be put on the PBS bidding system republic uses.

 

I certainly agree that your schedule will vary quite a bit depending on the codeshare partner, but I disagree with your statement that PBS is to blame for bad schedules. CVG has the lowest ADC (average daily credit) in the CHQ system at 4:27 vs. STL with the highest at 5:38. You can do the math. It doesn't matter if planning puts the pairings into a line or PBS, its still going to net less days off in CVG than STL.

 

Great stuff, thanks a lot guys. I think I still have a lot to learn, but this definitely helps. I am also still wondering what the process is for bidding, I am thinking you bid online, the company takes your bid and gives the higher seniority priority and if you are junior you get the leftovers. Then you have to check your designated schedule online and you have the chance to trade and pick up trips? Is the somewhat correct?