Airline Pilot Central Forums

Airline Pilot Central Forums (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/)
-   United (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/united/)
-   -   UA Openers (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/united/152708-ua-openers.html)

rekatron 04-07-2026 12:30 PM


Originally Posted by worstpilotever (Post 4020738)
Thankfully it's one mans opinion.

Idk, you'd be surprised.

MasterOfPuppets 04-07-2026 12:31 PM


Originally Posted by rekatron (Post 4020727)
Honestly all I care about is more pay. They can even do whatever fuzzy math to trick the DAL snap-up, as long as whatever I make per hour effectively goes up.

QoL improvements are irrelevant to me. Just one man's opinion.

that’s the dumbest thing Iv ever heard

St Exupery 04-07-2026 01:56 PM


Originally Posted by CX500T (Post 4020742)
Just to give some information from the DAL side, the reason they are pushing to see if company will bite at quick/shorter term deal for us is because our trip coverage is horribly broken, and even with paying 300-400% for a lot of trips between 23M7 and GS/QS pay, we are cancelling hundreds of flights a day for lack of crews. Combo meal of running reserves ragged, using a scheduling software that went live June 1st 1988 (NOT KIDDING), and not even hiring enough to cover attrition in the last 18 months. Then they unilaterally changed how they use payback days (one of the best parts of our RES premium pay) and a lot of people who used to pick up Green Slips or Quick Slips, while on RES, just aren't doing it. I didn't even put in any slips for premium this month. I'm not alone in this.

Look at DAL vs UA and AA cancels. Even on good weather days.

Thanks for the helpful summary. I tried to get an idea of what was going on in your forum but the DAL specific terms made it difficult to parse.
It seems like you guys and gals will have a lot of leverage. I’m sure your pilot group will use it wisely and lift the expectations for all of our careers.
In unity!

ThumbsUp 04-07-2026 02:08 PM


Originally Posted by CX500T (Post 4020742)
Just to give some information from the DAL side, the reason they are pushing to see if company will bite at quick/shorter term deal for us is because our trip coverage is horribly broken, and even with paying 300-400% for a lot of trips between 23M7 and GS/QS pay, we are cancelling hundreds of flights a day for lack of crews. Combo meal of running reserves ragged, using a scheduling software that went live June 1st 1988 (NOT KIDDING), and not even hiring enough to cover attrition in the last 18 months. Then they unilaterally changed how they use payback days (one of the best parts of our RES premium pay) and a lot of people who used to pick up Green Slips or Quick Slips, while on RES, just aren't doing it. I didn't even put in any slips for premium this month. I'm not alone in this.

Look at DAL vs UA and AA cancels. Even on good weather days.

If I was getting 300-400% on a lot of trips (or any for that matter) the last thing I would be doing is renegotiating a deal that would end that.

CX500T 04-07-2026 02:30 PM


Originally Posted by ThumbsUp (Post 4020793)
If I was getting 300-400% on a lot of trips (or any for that matter) the last thing I would be doing is renegotiating a deal that would end that.

It's not one pilot getting 400%

It's like this:
Trip coverage gets bogged down somewhere.
8 hours to report.
They can go Quick Slip. Calls all eligible. Senior man with a yes in 12 minutes gets it.
Senior pilot on the step they skipped gets 100% (23M7 pay)
Pilot who flies it gets 200% if lineholder.

If they.skip QS and go right to IA (junior manning)
IA pilot 200%
23m7 pilot 100%
QS pilot 100%


rekatron 04-07-2026 02:32 PM


Originally Posted by MasterOfPuppets (Post 4020762)
that’s the dumbest thing Iv ever heard

cool story, bro

CX500T 04-07-2026 02:37 PM

RES get a bit more funky, and the company just "reinterpreted" how they do that, which led to a lot of us RES saying screw it.

I could've done 4 different trips that went as QS or Cancelled today due to lack of takers today. On a beautiful weather day. Tomorrow I'm on long call, but if they don't have anything on my sked by bedtime, I'm going to a motocross track to practice. (Englishtown NJ)

At a NJ Devils game currently.

https://i.postimg.cc/BZCPqxMX/20260407-183227.jpg

This is what they get.

Gone Flying 04-07-2026 02:37 PM


Originally Posted by ThumbsUp (Post 4020793)
If I was getting 300-400% on a lot of trips (or any for that matter) the last thing I would be doing is renegotiating a deal that would end that.

the company is currently paying 200% to the pilot flying and another 100% to a pilot who is not for many of our trips. This is a result of a very broken trip coverage system. The reason for this is we have a contractual way to make them stop at every single pilot who sets up their preferences a certain way for 12 minutes and wait before moving on to the next pilot for any “slip” ( which is a specific request to fly under certain circumstances). Imagine 100+ pilots doing this for a trip that reports in a few hours and you see the problem.

They have to offer a trip for straight time in base lineholders before they can use reserves and straight time out of base before they can offer 200% in base. if they skip these steps to cover a trip, they have to pay the most senior “affected” pilot. There are hundreds of pilots with requests to fly in every base hoping to snag some of that “affected pilot” pay ( also known as 23m7 pay)

The leverage we have is allowing them to cover trips more efficiently and not have to pay 2 pilots for a bunch of trips.

ThumbsUp 04-07-2026 02:43 PM


Originally Posted by Gone Flying (Post 4020807)
the company is currently paying 200% to the pilot flying and another 100% to a pilot who is not for many of our trips. This is a result of a very broken trip coverage system. The reason for this is we have a contractual way to make them stop at every single pilot who sets up their preferences a certain way for 12 minutes and wait before moving on to the next pilot for any “slip” ( which is a specific request to fly under certain circumstances). Imagine 100+ pilots doing this for a trip that reports in a few hours and you see the problem.

They have to offer a trip for straight time in base lineholders before they can use reserves and straight time out of base before they can offer 200% in base. if they skip these steps to cover a trip, they have to pay the most senior “affected” pilot. There are hundreds of pilots with requests to fly in every base hoping to snag some of that “affected pilot” pay ( also known as 23m7 pay)

The leverage we have is allowing them to cover trips more efficiently and not have to pay 2 pilots for a bunch of trips.

I get the leverage part, but If I were making consistently anything other than straight pay on my trips, I'd be doing everything I could to make that continue. And I'm single digit seniority in my base, so it's not as if I couldn't get whatever was available. We just don't have that in large quantities here so maybe it's just a completely different animal.

Gone Flying 04-07-2026 02:55 PM


Originally Posted by ThumbsUp (Post 4020813)
I get the leverage part, but If I were making consistently anything other than straight pay on my trips, I'd be doing everything I could to make that continue. And I'm single digit seniority in my base, so it's not as if I couldn't get whatever was available. We just don't have that in large quantities here so maybe it's just a completely different animal.

it’s not the premium part they’re looking to change, It’s the part about paying a pilot who didn’t actually fly the trip.

there is plenty of premium here to go around. We also have a leveling mechanism on most forms, so it is not all concentrated at the most senior level.

I’m in the 70% range in category and can still get some premium if I want it. if you are only flying straight time here at less than 10% in category, especially on a NB, that is because that’s what you choose to do.


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 01:05 PM.


Website Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands