That many reassignments sounds very fatiguing. As far as "making deals" goes, we have a contract which specifies what "deals" can be made. If you feel something isn't compliant there is a PDR to the hotline to get them involved. Also ask for an "order to fly". FODM has to issue that and if they don't it's because what is going down isn't UPA compliant and you don't have to accept the assignment.

That could be it… I haven’t flown at night in ages.

Here Here!

In the 121 world we work under a SEEE-BEEE-AYYYYY

Ridiculous. Our pbs sucks, certain sections of our contract are weak, but you are delusional to think we are anywhere near a regional. Rode that pony for a decade. Unfortunately many here don’t read the contract and rely on pdr for basic, easily searchable references. Every time the contract bit me it also benefited me somewhere else and if you escalate above scheduling when the holds are ridiculous you self help. Every “reasonable expense” has been paid. Airlines melt down and you are a professional that deserves to be treated as such. Read the contract, follow the contract, and when you aren’t safe don’t fly. Summer meltdowns, winter meltdowns, and reassignments suck but it’s part of the job. If you’re getting abused you probably aren’t fit to fly on some level. You don’t work deals with scheduling… that is telling them you don’t know/respect the contract and you will be their play thing.

This didn’t get the love it deserved. What a headshot

I know it feels like it was about 5 years ago, but the thing with Kirby and the private jet was just last year…

haha you’re absolutely right. I guess I’m trying to compartmentalize the whole experience as if it were a long time ago. Lol

Crew scheduling is not a minimum wage job.

As far as reassignments, when a flight needs a new crewmember on short notice, the company can assign a field standby, a short-call, or reassign someone already on a trip. Those are the only options. Which do we want the company to use? Do we want more FSBs or less? Do we want a longer SC call-out period or a shorter one? Do we want more reassignments or fewer? We can structure the contract to favor whichever option we prefer. The trend seemed to me in negotiations was to disincentivise FSB and, to some extent, short-notice SCs. That leaves reassignments.

That sounds like CAL.

Before leaving my house for a trip, I’ve had a 4 day turned into a 5 day due to a cancellation on day 2, and multiple times being reassigned into a day off. I wouldn’t say it’s a common occurrence, but the UPA gives the company the ability to take away your day off if they really need you (outside of WX and MX issues of course). Why do we have FDOs and RDOs? Last summer I was used nearly every month on my FDOs. Should I make plans on my first reserve day after my FDO because that’s what I usually end up getting off? The company has to pay out pretty big to work you into your day off, why not force that flying into open time and PP where it will get eaten up like candy by someone who actually wants to work on their day off.

In my experience FSB has dried up since they’ve had to pay us for it and I’ve been converted one time from SC to FSB. However, 50-60% of the time when I’m sitting SC they ask me if I can be there inside of the 2.5 hour callout. I say no because if they want short notice protection of the operation they can pay me to sit at the airport for 4 hours. They usually find someone else to cover it and I get an extra hour of add pay anyways for not getting used (changing to MPG in August).

Your analysis is pretty spot on though, because they have to find someone from somewhere and they don’t want to pay us for FSB. I think another factor has also been staffing. Up until recently the NBCA seat has been extremely short staffed, but in the past few months they’ve been able to at least get the number of pilots on short call mostly in line with the short call matrix. Hopefully that will help some with reassignments, but if it’s last minute coverage it’s probably going to end up in a reassignment.