Nonsense. We want the best of both worlds in the JCBA. We aren’t going to get that with mutual ignorance of what is in the other guys contract and how it works. I don’t personally give the north end of a southbound rat about the SLI because it’s going to wind up within 5% of how the AS-VX SLI went in any event which if I recall correctly was something like 60% DOH and 40% RS.

And the last thing a combined pilot group needs is to not be able to present a united front to management on the JCBA because we are too damn worried about the SLI or too ignorant of the value of the things in the other company’s contract.

the argument cycle for the last year over a singular issue has been manic and delusional.

It absolutely is industry standard. JetBlue is the only major that doesn't have it as far as I know.

Just asked a good friend at United. He said no.

Waiting on a friend from Delta, but I already know the answer.

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I have a family member and like 5 friends who fly for UA and they can DTZ, the issue is they never can because there isn't adequate reserve coverage. Hence, why NK's grid rules are good.

Ok, here's where I'm at. I don't think you are correct that DTZ is "industry standard". But I'm also not sure, and don't give any farts either way. This wasn't really a discussion about dropping it or not. Whether it stays will be based on survey responses, and other factors. But that wasn't the discussion you chimed in on.

This is the same for AA. We can DTZ, but rarely is there ever adequate reserve coverage. I imagine being *allowed* to drop to zero exists pretty much everywhere, but whether you can do it in practice is the rub. I last did it back in March, but since then I've only been able to drop a trip or two per month - never all of it. The question I have is that clearly NK is still covering their schedule with these grid rules - are they just carrying far more reserves than everyone else? How does it work?

I think at all the Legacies you can DTZ, but at Delta at least you need to be able to either:

1. Be in a fleet/seat that is adequately staffed, ie reserves available have to exceed #required to drop a trip back to open time/company. This may ebb and flow seasonally depending on your fleet, hiring and overall manning.

or
2. Be able to build a line in PBS (seniority based) that consists mostly of desirable trips and/or 1/2 day trips that you can give away to other pilots after your schedule has been released. This does not require any reserve coverage, just a willing pilot to pick up your trips.

It forces the airline to adequately staff reserves. Plus, it creates premium flying opportunities.

Basically nobody goes to zero. You still have to make a living after all. But, the option lets people freely build/re-build their schedule into something they like. Which I think makes for a happy and productive pilot group.

I agree - I wish we could reliably do it! But I wonder why other unions can't find a way to work this level of flexibility into their contracts - I can't imagine Spirit is carrying more pilots for a given amount of block hours of flying, or maybe they are? But if not, it just doesn't seem like something that should cost the company a lot of money if the metal continues to move, and as you said it'd result in a much happier and productive pilot group.