I thought they said they could never see an example of it being used?

I don't recall that being said, but I could have missed it.

That would be an odd thing to say about a paragraph they went to the trouble of crafting and including in the LOA. If it would never be used, why would they go to the trouble of putting it in there? What they did emphasize was that the Scheduling Committee Chairman would only do that with coordination with the MEC Chairman, and with the entire MEC.







.

I can think of one situation:

Let's say we acquire some 76F's from another airline and the company has a bid to cover the manning for them. But, everyone on that bid needs to be trained (came from MD, 777, Airbus). This would put the manning all out of whack. Instead of penalty R24 lines the company asks to put 76's in the 75 bidpack.

So, we would use that provision of the LOA to provide relief to The Company for their manning problem by sacrificing the seniority of our pilots.

How many current and qualified, without weather restriction B-767 pilots do we have now, or will we have when the first round dial B-767 aircraft arrive? Those are the qualifications for the round dial Special Bid Award (SBA). I guess we'll have to exercise that option so we can put that flying in the B-757 bidpack where the only "current and qualified without weather restriction" pilots now exist. That would explain some of the bidding behavior on the last 2 B-757 vacancy postings.

Like I said, Seniority reduced to a Soft Parameter.










.

just a swag, but they will not need an SBA until the time comes we have classic and round dial aircraft flying at the same time, correct ? It would make sense that the first 767 pilots will be flying round dials as part of the normal bid pack flying. If the time comes to separate the flying out then they will bid out an SBA and there will be 767 pilots off high mins.

How is that sacrificing seniority? Those that bid it and need to be trained are already collecting WB pay. I guess you would rather have airplanes sitting idle and not producing revenue!

You are correct.
However, that rule is there to capture WB pay for any 757 pilots that end up operating the 767. It's not there to farm out 767 flying to the 757 pilots during the bidpack construction by including 767 segments in their pairings. That wouldn't really be protecting seniority and planning to fly 767s with 757 pilots is sort of what this whole LOA/Discussion is about avoiding, isn't it? The rule Tony mentioned is there to ensure all 767 flying stays in their bidpack/open-time unless we consent to something different.

That's not the way I read it.

LOA Para 2. Special Bid Award (SBA)





.

Put it this way. If we purchase more MD-11s, we have to post more vacancies for MD-11 pilots. That means more opportunities for pilots to advance their careers by bidding a wide-body airplane.

If we could just put the MD-11 pairings in the B-727 bidpack and allow those pilots to fly it for a little extra cash, that would deprive a certain number of pilots the opportunity to upgrade to a wide-body seat.

That's how it infringes on seniority -- the right to participate in Section 24 Filling of Vacancies postings.


The B-767 flying should be accomplished by B-767 pilots who are compensated at the wide-body rate for everything, not by a B-757 pilot who gets only the Credit Hour override.





.

Exactly, and this LOA guarantees some amount of widebody paying 767 seats for all pay purposes. Section 26 does not.

Simple enough?