I did ask whether the mind days off protection is waived with SWP or SOF codes. I received a reply from CRSFutures, she said "it depends what you swapped with". I asked her to please explain further, no reply. So, I emailed again, still no reply.

Not being very experienced in this carryover trip thingy, I just learned something new (for me) on Min Day Off protection. Had three Crew Notifications today: I had a short 3-day trip dropped (the one I requested to drop), then a longer 7 day trip dropped (one I DIDN'T want dropped), then the original 3 day trip added back to my line. Hello?

Called Futures, and was told that because of carryover trip, and selecting Protect Min Days Off, I needed to have a total of 4 days dropped; the three day trip wasn't enough all by itself. So for a 4-week (28 day) bid month, the numbers are ON 15 days, min OFF 13. For a 5-week (35 day) month, numbers are ON 19 days, min OFF 16. Of course I can go in during View/Add and trip to pick up the longer trip, but the shorter 3-day is an unwanted gift. The devil is in the details.

Man, that sucks. I thought that you could select, in your example, only the 3-day trip to be dropped during the conflict/input window, and as long as it's not over a holiday, you would have that dropped, even if you ended up without min days off...

Anyhow, received a reply on min days off protection when swapping a c/o trip with open time, or even with another pilot (SOF, SWP) - the protection is WAIVED as they are considered voluntary changes to your schedule. Good to know.

Yeah, that sucks. However, it does make sense. If you select min days off protection, and you are eligible for it, that's what you will get, min days off protected. Plus, though you get to put in your requests for what you want dropped, of course they are only requests. If it is near a holiday or there are many trips in open time, they might just select something else to drop, unfortunately. Learned that one the hard way.


I think you are getting the runaround, or the person who replied to you didn't know the real answer. First you were told it depends upon what you swapped with, and then you are told that if you swap with open time or another pilot, that protection is waived, since it is voluntary. Okay, I'd like them to tell me what kind of trip coded as a swap is not voluntary, and gets the min days off protection? It's like you have to pull teeth to get a complete answer, and in the end, you get an answer that conflicts with their original answer.

I wouldn't give up on asking for the min days, though probably too late for you. It sounds like something they are very shaky on, and might apply the protections to, randomly. Apparently the super secret book that they work from is hidden from some of them, also.

Yep, I have received these replies from VS, although I had emailed GH about it, he's the actual expert (you might not know who I'm talking about in CRS Futures by the initials). In any event GH should be back from vacation next week, and I will email him again. His answers to my emails are always clear and unambiguous. As you said bd12, the answers I got were conflicting and don't seem to make sense.

I just received further guidance from the guy I fully trust to know what he's doing in CRS futures - "It doesn't matter how you got a c/o trip (any code). Any trip you are on when the bids are awarded, if you ask for min days off protection, you will get it". (paraphrasing)

Talk about confusing replies from the same department...

Earlier poster had the answer that I received. "unless the carryover was part of your previous month's line/vto, you will NOT be protected for min days off". Michelle V. Crew Resource Planning & Analysis.

Wish it were different...

Wow. The fact that we (I) have reached opposing conclusions from emailing the same folks speaks directly to the lack of clarity in the CBA. I guess then min days off will be protected if the right guy is working on your schedule after Conflict/Input window... Are you feeling lucky?

Is this confusion due to language changes in the new contract or has this interpretation always been in the mix?

Related question: Carryover trip from Nov to Dec (awarded on original bidline, since that seems to be a factor) is creating potential min day off conflict in Dec.

Will they always drop the shortest trip in December to fix the MDO? I'm looking at a line in December with two trips. The longer (by about 3 CH) is mid-month. The shorter is a carryover trip (Dec to Jan) with enough days in Dec to fix the MDO issue if it were dropped. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with such a situation and if there is some kind of restriction on dropping carryout trips. Which one would they drop?

I received confirmation from CRS futures, that no matter how you have the c/o trip on your line, min days off will be protected. Email/call GH to get the straight answer.