Crockrocket95

Oh I don't doubt that many do it. I didn't say it was rare. I just said the guys that do make that kind of money are working for it. Either sitting on reserve or actually flying a trip their actual off days are few.

Mozam

This pretty much explains it to an outsider asking . IMO

saab2000

I think it's become much harder but I also think it's possible. I know I flew with a local guy who is a huge player. We didn't talk about annual pay but I got the impression that he makes a ton. But he's also got every open time notification set up and maybe even the autobid. I forget. But he would get notifications in the middle of the night for MX ferry flights, etc. He loves it. That's not for everyone. I have asked two guys if they earned over $500K and both nodded in the affirmative.

Some of these tournament players I've flown with aren't a joy to fly with but the first guy I mentioned who bids all night long was great. He was relaxed and funny and low stress. I wish we had more like him.

I suspect it's become much tougher since they brought the number of pilots up. I was part of that pilot group growth, having been hired in February of 2017. At the time they indicated that they were hoping to start reaching into South America. We all know that none of that growth has happened and of course then the MAX fiasco and now Covid. So it hasn't really been smooth sailing while they continued to run tons of classes.

Anyway, I suspect it used to be like shooting fish in a barrel but I don't think it is anymore. I also live in base and have bid on things and gotten them. But to really get a lot you do need to sit by the computer and be proactive to make it happen.

I used to fatten my paycheck via ELITT and TTGA but rarely via open time.

Salukidawg

Cartel players can get those types of trip totals, most of the honest line swine can’t. The main reason is legalities and the cap kick in to limit what guys can and can’t do. If however you can park some of your trips on your “buddy’s board” and vice versa, you become legal for all kinds of sweetheart deals. I live in base and was approached by a few friends of mine in the cartels and I let them know that I wasn’t comfortable letting them park trips on my board just so they could return the favor for me down the road. In the heyday when Premium flowed regularly it wasn’t uncommon for me to average 120 Trips For Pay per month. Over the last 18 months or so, I’m lucky to get 100.

barabek

This exactly! Honest players can't get that high numbers, especially after Covid. Cartel members are still pulling huge numbers, even nowadays. They also work on their days off, and stay at home while on reserve. I've seen senior boards of 160+ month after month. I highly doubt any of these people would stop picking open time after furloughs hit the street.

RJSAviator76

I pull numbers ranging from 130-160 TFP per month and yes, I'm in a cartel which consists of me, myself and I. And no, I don't kill myself working either. I've flown less than 500 block hours this year. Living in base has been the key. Knowledge of the contract, a little bit of analytical ability, a little bit of flexibility, and some seriously idiotic scheduling practices, you don't need to be a rocket scientist or belong to a cartel to get your TFP up.

As to the second part of your post, if we all were to stop picking up OT after furloughs hit the street, watch how fast SWAPA gets hit with a lawsuit being accused of illegal job action and the company will scrape every board, FB page and the internet to prove their case, and they'll succeed too. Why? Because we don't have a moratorium on picking up OT in our contract in case of furloughs. Hence my recommendation for every SWAPA pilot not on ExTO to pay up to 10% in assessment to pay our furloughees up to their guarantee and cover medical insurance for them and their families. Yes, 10% is a big number, but if that's what it takes to take care of our people, so what? That's what Gary was asking for. I trust Gary, the Labor Relations and the middle management at this company to honor their word like I trust tap water in Tijuana.

That assessment would protect our contract, maintain status quo, take care of our people and tell Gary to go pound sand.

ZapBrannigan

It would still keep people on furlough longer than necessary. Every 88 TFP the pilot group flies above average line value is one more person on the street for for more month. I agree that there can't be a concerted effort, and certainly not one orchestrated by SWAPA.

So with furloughs on the horizon, I'll just quietly keep doing what I've always done. Fly my line and enjoy my time at home. It's only money.

RJSAviator76

Would it? Our company hates seeing pilots make more than VP's thanks to premium and open time flying. That's partly what led to this overstaffing.

At my old airline, we had a contractual moratorium on open time - it was covered exclusively by reserves. Everyone was making a guarantee. No deviations. No exceptions. Conversely, would you be willing to amend Section 22 to say that if any pilot on Southwest Airlines seniority list is involuntarily furloughed, the company shall cease all open time programs and exclusively use reserves to cover any uncovered flying? Also, no pilot will be able to give away an assigned reserve flying until the last furloughed pilot has been offered a recall. That would be the union thing to do. I truly doubt something like that would ever pass here.

That's just not how things are done here. Think of your captain with 3 ex wives, 7 kids, 3 houses, a boat and a plane who is distressed if he can't hit 170 TFP. Or how about someone who's putting their kids through college and they're picking up extra to make the tuition payments? What's better... saying screw everyone flying more than their line for whatever reason or realizing how our contract is structured, accept how things have historically been here and work off of that while at the same time making sure that the furloughees are also covered? If you can think of a better way to take care of everyone from top captain to juniormost furlough while preserving what we have top to bottom, I'm all ears.

Lostboys97

Some of you keep saying the open time bidding/flying trends cannot change if furloughs happen due to lawsuits. That's only an issue if you're in Section 6 negotiations. The union would not endorse the change of trend, but the pilots can choose to do what they want.

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