This..
Keep in mind, while we were negotiating our (1st) joint CBA, Delta[ALPA] came in and shifted Scope under our noses.

That begs the question, what is more important-
Holding the Line as a National Union with regards to Scope(Big & Small), or
Doing what is best for an individual Pilot Group?

(Hint Hint, there is no right answer, just opinions)

Had Delta not made their deal for small side Scope relaxation for their B717 deal, would we have had to shift our Scope line further to the right? Who knows.

It will be interesting to see what happens with our current negotiations. Personally, I don't see us having a deal this year with what SK has been spouting off. So what happens when these talks slide into 2019 and Delta[ALPA] gets a deal deal before us.. that shifts Scope again?

Food for though~

Been saying this for years. Just look at our Total Pilot Numbers from the SLI and to today.
We have not grown very much.. but we have become leaner and more efficient. We have also had many pilots come back off of Vol Fur and mil leaves.
Not that there is anything wrong with that, but the reality is.. we should have been making more Profits that should have trickled down to the pilot group in Profit Sharing.

Use to be, if you got delayed into your day off (on the EWR 756 BES), you could get the 5hrs of add pay in lieu of Day Off Restoration.
Low and behold, they figured out that it's cheaper to give you the Day Off restored and save the 5hrs of pay. A reserve will fly the trip that gets dropped off your line AND maybe they will be able to put something on your AV days thereby utilizing the pilot group better.

Food for thought for our next Contract.

Always
Motch
(Fly Safe, Fly Professionally & Fly The Contract)

Sorry for the 2nd post.
Anyhooters, this is an interesting comment.
Would be just as interesting to know how we stack up with regards to utilization.
Keep in mind, we can't just do a pilot to hours comparison since Widebodies tend to slew things differently than narrowbodies.

I've always heard that SouthWest pilots work. Line pilots AND reserves! Then again, they are also very efficient and their paychecks/QoL reflects that.

Does Delta have as many guys (and gals) as us, that go months without flying on reserve? Pilots that have to go to the sim for landings?

But back to the subject at hand-
Better utilization might work when everything goes as planned.. but it usually doesn't end up going as planned!
That being said, there will be money to be made this summer, but don't forget to enjoy Life and take time off to be with the ones you love (or like..
lol)
IMSAFE (look it up)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMSAFE

Motch

Is increased utilization a bad thing? Personally I’d love for this place to be the model of efficiency. My opinion is that a very efficient (properly staffed and managed) operation would result in more consistent hiring and progression than the ever changing staffing model that we have now. It would also allow the company to better compete and be a long term success providing us with long term employment and more leverage to demand better contracts in the future. I’d love to see trips fly 6.5+ per day so I could get my hours in 12 days and go home. I’d also like to win the lottery and allow all of those junior to me to move up a number, but I digress. My guess is that either option has an equal probability of happening.

For your ulcers sake, hang your hat on your last statement and take up a few hobbies that have nothing to do with aviation.

When REAL trip and duty rigs left the property, the move was permanent. I can still seel the words posted on the original Boyle's by a few smart old retirees -

"Give them the money, keep the rigs at all costs. The money you can claw back, the rigs, never" Pretty smart guys.

My last few years driving the bus, 4-day trips at only 20 hours pay. All started early on day one and ended late on the last. Lots of quality of life, if you liked sitting in IAH and ORD. And if you like hitting the hotel on day 2 and 3 before noon. Rigs with real teeth made this job great. And a pension made it a career.

My problem is that I have lots of interest outside of this job that keep me busy and sitting in a hotel doing nothing cuts into my time. I just wish I could fly hard and spend more time at home doing the things that I enjoy. My ideal schedule would be 3 commutable 27 hour 4 day trips. This is just a dollars per day gig to me. With all that has changed over the years it is still a good job at this level, just hoping we can make it better.

2003 leaving TK on the van to the airport ... The details of the first consessionary contract had just come out ... One of the guys had downloaded the details on his computer and was reading off what we had given up to the guys in the van ... After about 10 minutes of reading off losses one guy pipes up trying to lift spirits ..."at least we saved the pension" ... Me and one other guy immediately turned around and voiced a little rain on his parade.

Some things you never get back.

Where to begin...

“I want more hours and at the same time more days off.”

A few years ago I went back and looked at some lines from the “glory days” of this business, you know when things were right and true in this world and the USA was a fair place to live.

The senior 727 lines had 20 days off and 74 hours pay, reserve guarantee was 68 hours and 12 days off, schedule cap 76 hours and max pay was 78 hours. If you happened to project more than 78 hours it required a trip drop, yes that’s right no overtime pay. (Or something really close to this, I don’t have a copy of the contract from those years anymore)

Then when tough times hit management came and got relief with a 78 hour schedule cap, effectively getting 2 more hours out of each line.

Now just think of no overtime, 78 hours max pay time (credit not actual), and reserves with 68 hours (fixed days off, none of that movable stuff) all like when we had real duty rigs (did I forget to mention HoJos hotels, 8 hours between debrief and check-in... you get the idea) the whining would be epic!

With the exception of losing the defined pension plans, these are the good old days. So let’s not give one penny up and bring back those pilots flying mainline who aren’t covered by the UAL Pilot Contract.

My 2 cents: I agree wholeheartedly with It'sajob. What's up with these god awful, crappy ass, unproductive, POS trips we're offered, that are almost all multiples of 5 hours/credit/day? (I'm on the 737 fleet). 75 hours/5 hours/day = 15 days/month at work. 75 hours/6.8 hours/day = 11 days at work. Give me the days off.

While I'm *****ing, here's another: It seems most of our 4 day trips have three 7-ish hour days with a long layover in BFE, and /or some god awful east coast departures and/or late finishes. Why do I want to sit in BFE for 30 freaking hours and go home after 4 days with 20-21 hours credit? Bleh.

Perhaps I'm missing a key component of the equation, such as how Part 117 affects us, etc. But, if possible, as a commuter, I'd love to see more productive 4 day trips offered and spend more time at home.

We had an opportunity to fix this. :D

Please expound......