two questions
 

1. Is the trip trade mafia still alive? I ask because it seems some pilots in particular are able to get and see the trips that pop up with great "efficiency." is there some sort of back-door into the trip trade system that we should all know about in order to make it more fair?

2. short term parking at terminal....If doing something for the convenience of the company in order to block out on time due to a last minute call from skeds, is short term parking authorized? Same goes for a reserve pilot? Same question for a SRM trip? I just wonder if different parking rules are in effect for different "status" of pilots and if that is even covered in the CBA. I had a scheduler decline my request to get short term parking for a SRM trip. But, said ALPA would be fine with it if I were on reserve.

Yes. I've seen trips that are not advertised for PP disappear for 5-15 minutes from open flying and then get assigned at 100% before anyone could reliably put in a pickup request. I've also seen trip numbers change to defeat my auto-pickup based on trip number (they added an A at the end even though it was the same trip) and another guy magically had that trip number and got it.

And don't bother to ask to audit the crew schedulers phone calls because I believe these are all happening off line (personal phones). Not sure if there is any compensation going back, but at least there is favoritism as far as I can see.

Yes! Straight from the mouth of a mafia member on the 756 in ORD. ***

I’d be interested in any way to stop this anywhere in the system. Is the company or alpa in on it?

I would like to see if we can level the playing field.

Is this behavior legal?

I am not sure here. But we either need to get ALPA involved, the company involved, or we need to find a way to police this as a pilot group.


If he has access to special tools, or inside information within the company that the rest of don't have access to that should be addressed.

I was denied a trip straight pick up with senior man pay. I noticed this particular pilot got it out of base and I was declined the trip. Scheduler didn't really explain the answer, only that the trip was covered. They built it out of Dulles for this particular pilot and he also got fake DH on both ends.

PDR these trips, and see what the union comes back with...
:confused:

Today there was a 100% PP trip that CS said had to be in open time for 10 minutes before they started down the SRM list. After 10 minutes, it disappeared and was awarded to the senior most pilot on today's SRM list.

So, for the pilots that are "always getting" PP, how senior are they in base, and is anyone watching the SRM list to compare?

The example I watched today appeared to be by the book.

I don’t think you know how the trip trade system works. When a trip gets modified, let’s say modfied with 100% ppu it goes through a run again, someone could have a pickup set for 100% ppu trips and it gets assigned to that person without you ever seeing it again.

I highly doubt it. PDR it, ALPA will get you paid if it was done inappropriately. I would assume the scheduler would be fired if taking a call off a recorded line (read personal phone), pretty sure that is an faa requirement as well.

There is no such thing as being denied a senior man pay trip, they call you when you get senior manned. You mean 100% PPU? The fakes are added anytime someone picks up out of base.

There is a lot of misinformation here folks. And many people are frustrated simply because they are uniformed. While the trip trade mafia is probably alive, there is also people who just actually take the time to read and understand the contract and also keep up to date on how everything works.

Per UPA, reserves can expense short-term parking if <3 hour call-out



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Thanks for providing facts.

The Mafia is alive and well!!! I’ve seen HKG trips that are SFO trip numbers get switched to EWR trip numbers. There are pilots that have access that the rest of us do not. I hope all of those pilots get found out and get fired because it’s theft!!!

But the contract doesn't say a line holder CAN'T. I know it says a reserve can....but it doesn't say a SRM or PPU can't???

Definitely in the wrong line of work then!

If they ask a lineholder to be there in less than 2 1/2 just ask for them to put a note on the pairing that parking is authorized and use a screenshot of that in the Concur submission.

Maybe just level the playing field.

How do the rest of us get this access?

Thanks for that info.

I was told by a scheduler that ALPA strictly prohibits this. Is there a contract reference. The scheduler told me an ALPA rep was on the floor one day and overheard a scheduler authorize airport parking and the ALPA rep didn't like it and "educated" the scheduler.

I see what you did there :D

Well, ok then. Hadn’t heard that one.

I saw it for a ORD HKG trip, 50%, then 75% then 100% in less than 10 minutes, an EWR FO got it. Who passes up 50% for a HGK? Waiting and knowing it will go to 100% in a matter of minutes?

I agree that seniority isn't honored by allowing those with shotgun requests first rights to trips that appear in open time. All trips should hit the open time window first then during the next run of the trip trade window it be awarded.

Ridiculous that our system operates this way as it transparency cannot be verified.

I just flew with a pilot that complained about how a trip was awarded. He was not awarded the trip as the thought he should have. He filed a PDR. Eventually the union got him paid for the trip as if he had flown it.


The company is having to pay "ghost pilots" to fly virtual trips from home because there are some issues with this in the contract. Perhaps the contract is just as hard to understand for schedulers as it is for pilots.


Hearing the "read your contract" crap is getting old. I read it, and then I have to have a PHD level discussion with my union rep on what it means, I read a 20 page summary of what our pay means, color coded and all, and then I compare it to the actual contract language, and then I argue with a scheduler, a scheduler supervisor, a pay clerk, and an assistant chief pilot.

I am changing my tune on this. Anything that I don't understand, I PDR it. Anytime I think the cba is mis-understood, or mis-interprted by management or a scheduler I PDR it. Whatever the response is with the PDR I am fine with. Just takes a few minutes to do it, and is less of a drain on my sanity than arguing with 3 levels of company goofiness.

If this pilot’s initials are (*in the alphabet*) then boy can I tell you how much I loathe *him*? Round and round with reports to ALPA..screenshots of shenanigans with proof time and time again of his deceitful ways. In the end, nothing happened. I’m sure he’s still at it. I left the *old jet* for the *new jet* a year ago and haven’t had to think about that pole *cat* until I read this thread.


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100 percent alive and well , every airline has em . Including the guy I met who knocked out 265 credit in July .. did 410 last year and will do more this year he claimed ... Fo 756

I would think there is some electronic trail on all their individual trips, how they were picked up and by whom they were awarded, etc. “Should” not be that difficult to track down the inside guy...

The company cycles through 0% 50% 75% and 100% add pay because people have automated trip pick up requests and it is the simplest/most efficient way to assign flying. There is nothing in the contract that says "trips must be posted for a long enough period for some guy on the golf course to finish the hole and call the misses before trying to pick up a trip.

That would be him. Currently on his way back from a SFO-HKG-HNL trip as we speak. He brags to captains about his mafia status and how much he makes a year. Pathetic.

Well he’s a real piece of *work*. He’s been screwing his buddies for 6+ years now. I hope karma catches up with the *upright citzen*.


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You would need supervisor log in credentials.

With the old CMS system, open trips used to be posted a few minutes before migrating over to CCS. Up till recently, anyone could access open time in CMS with the command /for cmptoc (as I recall). Now you need a higher level of login credentials than us line pukes have.

Picking up open trips could be done also on CMS.

What is really perplexing about HGK ferry flying is that is just shows up at the last minute, as if no one knew if that airframe was scheduled for heavy maintenance a day or two before.

** Thats the only partial match I could find on * He is not even that senior.

Does this indicate that he has an inappropriate login? If so, it should be easy to track, and if someone is an accessory to inappropriate action they all should receive punitive action. If it’s ALPA, then it’s worse.

I dunno about that.

However, the CMS open time page should be open to any line pilot as before. Don’t know why it is restricted now. That page provides a lot of transparency in trades and pickups. For any given day, it will show the trip, employee number, and time (to the second) of when the trade or assignment occurred of any trip in open time. If I recall correctly, it also had the employee number of the scheduler- if one was involved.

Drops all his trips and is always available to do the MX Hong Kong stuff . Your right he isn’t that senior but if always available and the senior guys are locked into their awarded Gucci schedule then they aren’t even legal to snag the MX flights . It’s a gamble but works for him sounds like.

Learn to use the information resources available to you to track trip ownership history, assignment time stamps, schedule histories, etc. You will see plenty of fishy stuff. PDR it all.

Yes, there are a couple of reason someone MIGHT block their schedule history, but I think it's fair to say USUALLY it's because they are pulling something shady, and not just once, but routinely. These individuals need to be held accountable if they are circumventing seniority to get deals or unethically screwing their compadres.

Yes that’s him. He was the guy when I was EWR 756 reserve who ALWAYS snagged 764 trips no matter what the circumstances. He’s always had his schedule blocked, which is hilarious because who among us needs to hide a damn thing from our colleagues? Luckily I’ve got some folks who can bypass the block and send screen grabs of this ********’s schedule. Month in and month out he’s all over the system (different bases) with PPU trips, and many with DH’s on one end or another. *****

Guys, he’s stealing from us plain and simple. How much larger will his profit sharing check be than yours? If he’s a 7 yr F/O making $300+ large a year, for flying a fraction of what you fly....you do that math. I don’t know about you, but I work my tail off for my cash. This ** steals, from all of us. He should be fired and his cohorts too.


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They can block their schedules from line pilots but they can't block it from union reps, status reps, and certain committee members. The union folks need to pay attention.

Yeah,

But who is accountable and responsible to track him and stop him?

Post his ALPA number. Lets spot light him and post all his trades and all his schedule enhancements in real time. All those in his BES need to protest and PDR every trade he makes.

So, If I read between the lines he used to have some sort of super access but is no longer in management or supervisory status, but still retains his log in. if our ALPA reps and front line supervisors can't put a stop to this then let Oscar handle it with HR.

I think one of the things that needs to happen is systemwide open access to all calendars, including schedule history. You would be surprised how many people currently have their schedule blocked (intentionally or unintentionally)

ChalupaBatman, how do you really feel?

Not defending the guy, but there are people who work the system and pick up/trade out of base with premium pay.

Again, if a pairing is picked up out of base a fake dh is added to both ends of the trip.

There are those that work hard for their money and there are those who work smart for their money. Being able to swap/drop a high hard time then pick up one with ppu or a dhd on one end is an easy way to make lots of extra money and or work less for the same pay. Perhaps it’s time you bid a BES that gives you seniority/ability to actually do these things.

For those that are frustrated with people getting good trips. I reinterate you to learn how our trip trade system works. I was blown away with what some guys could do and you know what I did? I didn’t scream bloody murder. I read, read some more, asked anyone who seemed to have an idea of what’s going on lots of questions. It’s complex but not rocket science.