SoCalGuy

Having flown through HNL-GUM-HNL quite a bit on the trip we have in the Pacific, you will see some GUM based pilots doing that. There are not A LOT, but then again, the staffing is not HUGE in GUM either.

If that is a commute you aspire to do if being GUM based, you always have the "Island Hopper" which will afford you the opportunity to have 21, 54, or 76 hr RON's at 'home' in HNL while being on the 'clock'.

For the UAL guys, the 'Hopper' is Guam 4 day trip (Guam - Chuuk 'Truk' - Pohnpei - Kosrae - Kawajlein - Majuro - Hono)......15:40 Duty Day, with 10:40 of block each way.....Obviously 3 pilots on the B737 with a 50+ layover in HNL. There's also a Fiji trip out of GUM through HNL that will give you time at 'home' if the HNL commute is something your shooting for.

To answer your questions fully (and by word of mouth from the guys I've heard talk about it).....Not 'easy', but very do-able when it comes to commutes these days.

Monkeyfly

So I see this idea for a CAL LAX base in the TPA. What's the word on that at CAL? I notice you already fly to the Islands out of there. Expect that to go senior? Any timeline? Who's flying those trips now?

LifeNtheFstLne

The company trained 737 pilots for Pacific ETOPS out of seniority order. This violation of seniority means that even reserves who are HNL qualified are flying the trips, when there are people far above them who are not able to bid it. Make sense? I think there's a grievance out there, but I'm not 100% on that. Right now the trips from LAX are very unproductive anyway, especially a 5 day pairing that is done by IAH or CLE based crews. Operationally, it has not been smooth.

EWRflyr

Huh? Trained out of seniority order? This is a joke right? I'm all for honoring the contract and seniority, but I don't see how this violates either to be honest.

When the company elected to ramp up Hawaii flying with 737s, they chose to do the trips out of the CLE base. Currently, they are all CLE pairings...they start and end in Cleveland. All the pilots in the CLE base have been ETOPS trained from what I understand, with the exception of the really senior guys that don't want to do unproductive Hawaii trips (?).

The company ran into situations where delays, sick calls, etc. left them looking to cover Hawaii flying. So, they have trained some of the reserves sitting in IAH in both seats as a back-up just in case they are needed when CLE runs out of qualified reserves.

So explain how someone in IAH who wants to be able to "bid" it as a lineholder can do so when THEY ARE CLE trips??? If these pilots really want to bid these trips, simple: bid for the CLE domicile. Until the company changes the pairings to something other than just CLE trips, there is nothing for these guys to bid for.

Based on your logic, is there a grievance because the company has trained pilots for Tegucigalpa and Quito "out of seniority order" then?

cal73

Agreed.
You want HI flying? Bid into CLE. Its really that simple.

CA Jimenez

Thanks for all the info guys. I live in IND but have a brother that lives in Jersey City, NJ. so I would probably crash with my Big Bro.

When I was working for United we had priority when Jumseating on United Express. Is that the same on Continental Express? The jumpseat was still on a first come first serve on Express ( Not Seniority based) but United guys had priority after the actual airline that was operating the flight. Is that the same over the Continental side.

Thanks and I hope I get the chance to fly for you guys soon.

Any news on the lates bid that was supposed to come out soon?

Have a great day.

SoCalGuy

CA J....

When JS'ing on CoEx, CAL pilots have priority after CoEx pilots. It is a 'first come, first serve' when multiple CAL pilots show up for the same JS. On CoEx, if the FA JS is open (and there's no CoEx, or CAL FA's and the CA gives the 'ok'), CAL pilots can also occupy the FA JS (on CoEx, NOT mainline) if the Flt Dk JS is already occupied.

Wish I had some news, but have heard nothing about the system bid

Hope to see you back ASAP......SC

CA Jimenez

Thanks SC.

I watched our MEC webcast last night and from what I got it does not sound that we will see any recalls this year at United until we have a JCBA. I hope that the system bid at Continental has a lot of recalls.

I was not gonna go back to flying because I have 3 small children and a beautiful wife and I am loving being home everyday and having all my weekends with my family. But money is very tight (Making 12.10 an hour)
and we do need to plan for the future.

I think that once we get this JCBA over with we will all have a solid place to call home and maybe being an Airline Pilot at United can go back to being a career and not just a job.

Here is hoping for the best for all of us.

Airhoss

WRONG WRONG WRONG....

You do NOT get paid for a short call. They can convert you up to 7 times a month but after 4 times they have to pick someone else if they are available. Picking up or being assigned short call does not pay ANYTHING. Your guarantee is 70 hours a month and the only way to get more time than that is to pick up open time. Period.

I know I've been living it for the last three years.

Airhoss

Here it is verbatim.


20-J-3 Short Call Reserve
Converting long
call to short call
20-J-3-a In lieu of a flying assignment, a Long Call
reserve may be converted to a Short Call window that is
up to fifteen (15) hours in duration. Short Call windows
may be aggressively picked up by Long Call reserves in
accordance with paragraph 20-J-4-c below.
20-J-3-b There is no pay credit value for a Short Call
window when the pilot is not used.
(This means that you only get paid for a short call if they assign you a trip)




20-J-4-d There is a limit of seven (7) Short Call
assignments per month (except as provided in Paragraphs
20-J-3-l and 20-J-3-s above); this limit can be exceeded
with pilot concurrence.
20-J-4-e If a reserve has reached four (4) conversions for
the month, the crew desk will bypass him and convert a
pilot who is below him in FIFO if in the same silo.
20-J-4-f RDOs will not be moved to assign a pilot to Short