Quote:
Originally Posted by Brinary01
Can anyone clarify the reserve improvements outlined in LOA 11? Some make sense, but for those of us who don't have 121 background, it would be nice to see how the improvements listed in LOA11 will improve QOL on reserve. On the other hand what is a "bucket system?" When will line pilots start to see these changes? Are these improvements an attempt to make upgrade, and leaving a R1 line as an FO to a CA on an SCR schedule more palatable?
The LOA 11 is a concession by the MEC Chairman to increase the flow to 10/month. The Union did so without getting any input from the pilots whatsoever. Many are disappointed, including myself as you can probably tell. Only thing that remotely resembles QOL improvement is that you're no longer required to call on the day before starting a group of reserve days. I don't know of any other airline that does this; this shouldn't have been agreed upon in the first place. A major downside to this LOA is that the company can now assign trips 120 hours (5 days) in advance, meaning not all the open time trips are available for seniority-based trades for lineholders that happen towards the end of the current month for the next month. Also it made it more difficult for some reserve pilots to swap days and for lineholders to drop/swap trips. Our MEC Chairman during a conference call said this wasn't his intention. Sounds like he's claiming he got blindsided.
Before the LOA, pilots don't have a list of pilots who are sitting reserve on a particular day. The LOA forced the company to publish that list, so you can now see it on FLICA. That's the bucket system.
However, with all this being said, the MEC is still negotiating better reserve rules and pilots expect that to be published by summer. There are some line rumors as to what they're negotiating, and if those rumors are true, we'll see some good changes.