Trip Drops
 

Trip drops--I did a thread search and didn't find what I was looking for. The threads I did find talked about folks not having success because the company said it didn't have coverage. Is this the norm? If so, does this violate the UPA (in letter or spirit)?

If you can't just drop, then I'd imagine we are able to drop if another pilot volunteers to pick it up? If you try to drop in crew companion, does it simply require another pilot to volunteer to pick it up or is there more to it? What have you found to work?

Thanks.

Hopefully this doesn't thread-drift into scabs before too long. :)

"At its sole discretion..."

It doesn't get any clearer than that. Union "shall" be able to share, review, consult and recommend, but the company "shall determine."

20-P-5 At its sole discretion, the Company shall determine the specific staffing parameters and metrics that govern trip-trading. The Company agrees to share the general methodology and variables with the SSC, and shall allow the SSC to review specific staffing parameters and metrics at least monthly. The SSC shall be given the opportunity to consult with and make recommendations to the Company on trade criteria, system performance, system upgrades, and error resolution.

Saw an AWESOME example of a Scab dealing with a maintenance delay yesterday. Didn't tell the flight attendants the jet bridge was coming back to the airplane, so they were NOT pleased. Then went out and HID in the terminal while the customer service agents and flight attendants dealt with the irate passengers for 3 hours. Hid, like standing along the wall, peaking around the corner at the gate to see if passengers were re-boarding.

Just kidding :D

Actually, I'm not, he really did that.... but you know what I mean

Dropping trips is REALLY hard at UAL, unfortunately. Especially if it's a 3 or 4 day trip. 1 day trips you have a chance.... if they are good. In order to get a straight trip drop there either needs to be coverage (which there VERY RARELY IS... at least according to the company), or someone needs to pick it up from you. They tend to always zero out the computer so it says "no coverage" even if there are 20 reserves that day. Every now and then you'll see a trip drop, so always put it in there. Your best bet otherwise is to advertise it in Crew Companion and hope someone else wants it.

You can TRADE your trip, but usually only if it's the exact same number of days (or more) as the trip you already have AND starts on the same day, or covers all the days of the trip you currently have. It's definitely onerous. Wish I had better news for you. If you really need the time off, and it's a life event, contact your CPO and ask for help. And then there is always the other option. *cough cough*

Good luck!

DaveDaveDave...

You already have your answer. You can't, because they won't. And they won't, because they don't want to. It doesn't appear to be more complicated than that. You are a widget, not an asset, so do as you're told (scheduled).

There may be a dozen guys on reserve on the day you want to drop a trip. Yet, "No coverage" is almost always their response. What ends up happening is increased sick calls, and then of course the ramping up of AMS harassment. Which of course will be followed up by Marvin's flying with snot running out of their nostrils, which will be followed by non Marvin's calling in sick a few days later.

Trip trade is a joke as well. Just add PBS and any control over your schedule is just about non existent, unless you're very senior in base and seat.

And we slurp it up like fat carp.

Welcome to UAL. How'd you like another two years of this contract?

I have been unsuccessful in dropping any trips since I got here 2.5 years ago.

Vacation drop is the same as a straight drop wrt to reserve coverage in that it still has to be there to drop it.

I wonder if all the Mil leaves are getting approved. My guess is they soak up all the trip drop opportunities for everyone else( at least for the narrow body jets). But after all, Mil Leave has the backing it needs because it is, after all, FEDERAL LAW.

You make this a united gig seem so fun!:eek:

What are the mechanics of vacation drop?

Correct, MIL leaves MUST be approved. This is not an attack on you krudawg, but if the MIL leaves are taking up all the trip drop opportunities, then it's the least we could do as a gratitude for their service. Those men and women have sacrificed more than civilian guys like me ever have and I'd gladly give them the break when they need it.

concise witty pithy accurate description of the whole pilot trade and sick leave programs. been here 26 years. flown with more fo's in the last 3 yrs wipin their noses and takin cold meds than in the prior 23 yrs combined. i call sick and go to doctor. it's a management decision to pressure pilots to come to work sick. not my problem man.

No attack taken, as a Vietnam Vet I appreciate your respect for those of us who spent time in a Combat Zone. I was just pointing out some possible causes for a lack of trip drops - not to attack my fellow vets.

No I don't think so. There aren't that many active military pilots that are dropping trips on a day to day basis. That would measured on a monthly scale. I base this on watching open time and seeing how few trips suddenly appeared to be aggressively picked up.

Thanks for your service!

You may be right. I don't think the company has ever really wanted the pilots have a free and open trip trading capability. If we had such a trading capability, it would most likely pay dividends to the company in a reduction of sick leave use.

Before PBS the bottom 30% were reserves. Now just 10% which indicates how much they're saving on labor costs by assigning every trip during monthly preferencing leaving little for trading.

20-P-4-b If immediately prior to the first run of the trip-trading system the pay value of all Open Trips in a Category is less than one percent (1%) of the pay value of all Trips available for awarding in Monthly Schedule Preferencing for that Category, the Company shall allow enough Trip drops in that first run so that the pay value of those dropped Trips equal that difference (between one percent (1%) and the current Open Trips). The intent of this provision is to seed trip trading.

UPA says 1% of value of all trips seeded but even this has been applied to our disadvantage. You might notice that often that 1% isn't there. I went forward with this issue shortly after UPA was implemented when I asked scheduling for a drop regardless of reserve coverage because there was no 1% seeding. They refused. Union said that one-for-one trip trades count as a drop and that scheduling also lowers reserve mins and that counts towards the 1% because it could allow an equivalent trade/drop.

Not sure. I've tried a half a dozen times to straight drop a trip on days I didn't want with the full intention of picking one up on days I did. No Coverage was always the response.

Mil leave approval? I don't submit mil leave approval requests. I submit military leave notifications.

I don't know where you're getting that military leave must be approved by the company.

I was responding to a previous post. You put it a lot better though. Mil leaves are notifications not requests.