Hey JoeMerchant and select ASA pilots, you guys need to get on board. Globalization? Of course we want globalization! You guys need to play the game and help us maintain cost competitiveness. Once you realize that we don't have brand scope, we must all concede in order to succeed!

 

Good post. As an Xjt guy, I'm very suspicious of any PBS but am open to hearing the options.

As long as vacation drop is protected (3 weeks off for each week vacation) AND junior line holders can improve their schedule to get 15 or 16 days off like we can right now in the initial line improvement window then I MIGHT consider it (assuming overall pay will go up etc etc).

 

agreed.......

 

Let's see. I used 7 days vacation starting at the end of one month and into another. Got 30 days off straight and did 5 trips in those 2 months combined. Line bidding can't do that.

FYI jr guy on vacation getting a line don't skew the senior guy. PBS runs the senior guys bid 1st so he/she was going to get res anyways. I'm a line holder.

 

YES, it can.

 

Line building can only do that if company builds lines that workout perfectly. ASA PBS system lets ALL pilots senior AND jr do that. But that is just one example of our PBS system. Over all the system is good but I admit we can use some improvement. Not so much in the PBS program but in what company can and can't do. To be fair an example is flying extra on a vacation month. If we are awarded below guarantee and pick up stuff it's not added on top like you guys. Which I think is BS and why we don't pick up open time on vacation months. It's not a perfect system but for now with all the options out there currently in use, I think our system is one of the better ones. I tell xjet pilots that ask me about it in ORD to not judge and just wait till it goes on the roadshow and see for yourself. Hear what we pilots currently using have to say and look at it. Hear the flaws hear the good and test it. I was against it at 1st but it ended up creating more lines. Also after the roadshow see how it works out when you guy run a few months bidding PBS along with line bidding. That is when most of us saw the difference. If we are lucky the new ASA XJET MEC will get many of the flaws out by then. I will say if it goes to arbitration I think we ALL will lose and company will win. Lately it seems like it always goes their way in arbitration. So if company really wants it we may not be able to stop it. And like I said, it's not that bad. For us it was better. Many senior guys hate it due to crappy pairings. Our PBS system doesnt create parings. It's a bad misunderstanding in our part and it leads to misguided options about our PBS. I agree our pairings sometimes... many times stink and it seems like company and ALPA is working on that. Our system can only build trips with pairings that COMPANY dumps into it. Blah blah blah..... Again, if you read all this just wait till roadshow and ask questions, dont assume.

 

Nope, line bidding can do that because of the work rules associated with it.

That's ONLY because of the work rule associated with the system, vacation low

AGAIN, that's a work rule thing, has NOTHING to do with PBS or line bidding.

Sounds like a good plan. Any chance of reciprocity on that? Ooops, never mind, silly question.

Been beat to death elsewhere, it doesn;t work with the XJT contract. "Square peg in a round hole" is the way it gets summed up.

We DON'T want a system that's "not that bad". We want one that's the best out there and retains all the QOL provisions of our current contract, AT A MINIMUM. The ASA PBS software DOESN'T do that.

You're assuming it's already a done deal and set up for a road show. Contrary to what people may think they know, or rather are assuming, it's NOT. And like your last words, DON'T ASSUME. Don't assume that just because the PBS system is better than the crappy line bid system you used to have that the XJT line bid system is the SAME.

 

What is it about our PBS system that you don't like?

 

Nope, NEVER said that. Only that the XJT contract and the ASA PBS don't work together. As it stands now, using the current PBS would be a QOL degrade for the XJT side of the house. That's just a fact, but feel free to dispute it.

Really, who's going to buy them? Who wants a bunch of 50 seat RJ's? Who has the cash on hand to do that?

True, but like other guys that are educating themselves, I like the XJT contract better than the ASA one. There's only 1 or 2 things in the ASA that I like better than the XJT one. Again, feel free to dispute it. There's a guy that's made MULTIPLE offers to do a side by side comparison for the purpose of educating folks. I have yet to see ANY ASA person take him up on the offer.

Fair enough, but you did say that "line bidding can't do that". When it fact, it can do it. You went off your previous experience with your previous line bid/work rule system. In other words, you judged that just because it couldn't do it, NO system can. Which again, just isn't based on FACT.

 

What is it about XJT's line bid system you DON'T like?

Our MEC has taken the time to put together information to educate the pilot group on the ASA PBS. Has your MEC done the same to educate your guys on the XJT line bid system?