Idk. I dropped 5 days last month, and picked up a couple OT things. It is very sparse these days though. All the days I dropped were red when I dropped them. They have that super secret squirrel grid they use for reserve drops that's lower than what the grid shows. Remember people, the grid in Flica shows what line holders need in order to drop. Reserves can drop with a slightly lower threshold that unfortunately we can't see. So you just have to shoot and see what happens.

Anyone going to the MSP cage Marshall prep?

Yea, so much for the transparency we were supposed to have had years ago already

Oh, completely agree. That's one of the worst things here. Though my friends at PSA say it's not much better there. I've heard similar at RAH and Envoy. But either way. It sucks. Not transparent at all.

So a disclaimer first. This post is only my opinion and may be subject to much scrutiny. But... I think I’ve cracked the reserve grid code. I’m pretty sure after much trial and error that schedulings actual hard numbers are half the required for that day. I.e. 34 reserves required actually means 17 minimum. If the grid shows 18 or higher you can drop or swap. At least thats been my experience. Now that I’ve posted this it may change. Lol.

I miss Mesaba, only once in 6 years of trading around reserve days did I get denied (and after a phone call it was approved) I never had an issue rebuilding my schedule. Outside of the costs of faxes if I didn't want to bother going to the airport to make any shifts/trades. This is like the whole line bid vs. PBS... sounds great until the reality is half as good.

Interesting. I'd be surprised if it was that low, but it certainly is less than posted required numbers. I'll have to try this out

Is that the grid was red even during TOWOP! I thought that was shady! And yes, I agree on the transparency. PBS/Flica is a tool for flight crews so what’s the point in having it if you can’t use it? Why do they have a different grid than us and how did THAT happen? Did Alpa agree to let them do that because if not, that’s a huge grievance IMHO.

I think we are all going to be working a lot harder. The pairings seem to be getting worse and the fire breaks are terrible. More people are flying longer days and fatigue is or will become an issue. While I know growth is desired but, at what cost???

Yes, I know we got 150% open time in return for giving up the grid. I’m honestly torn about that. It’s difficult to get the 150% trips because you can’t drop OR swap. Quite frankly, I’d like to keep my only days off I can get now.

I've asked the MEC about this. The company line is that they don't want to relinquish control of the grid because they rely upon it for operational integrity. Gaining control of the reserve grid would go far beyond just giving up 150% on open time. We didn't go into specifics, but the MEC believes we'd have to give up way too much in order to control the grid.

Reserve adds and swaps and drops had already been at “scheduling’s discretion,” that’s why when the company implemented the secret reserve grid, it wasn’t an LOA but rather an email from TW and the union announcing the change. The cost of trips being dropped by lineholders and picked up for premium time was cited by TW as a reason we don’t have true numbers on the flica reserve grid. The goal was for reserves to drop trips and pick up open time from the trade board.