Not very many Captains can fly in the right seat, only LCAs

 

Sorry, Captains can fly as Bunkie. When the crew desk is short on F/O's, they build Capt Bunkie trips for reserve.

 

With the pilots who are sitting reserve, getting paid as Captains.
The only change would be reserves could aggressively pick up both FO and CA trips, or be assigned such by scheduling, but the window to do so would not change.


Captains can fly in the right seat. Some can even do a good job from the right seat.

I can't remember off the top of my head if its a FOM or UPA restriction, or both. Either one can be changed with the stroke of a pen. I think you also need a right seat check out periodically. I'm not sure if that has to be accomplished in recurrent or as a line check.


At a previous gig a lot our trips required double augmentation. Sometimes (not often) there would be three or four Captains operating the flight.



The biggest drawback I've thought of is for FOs who are too junior to hold holidays or weekends off as a line holder, but can as a reserve. I'm benefiting from that this month, holding Christmas off as a reserve, and I'll go back to being a line holder working weekends in January.

The other downside I forsee is that CAs will sit reserve longer. But that's really a feature, not a bug. As more total CAs will be needed, more junior pilots will have the opportunity to upgrade earlier in their careers, at the cost of sitting reserve longer if they do so as soon as they are able to hold the seat. The number of CA line holders will not change.


What other drawbacks am I missing?
Other than it will cost the company a bit more money. Which ought to inspire them to be more efficient with reserves.

 

Interesting concept. It would cost a LOT more money for the company. You'd have to staff twice as many Captain reserves as you have now because you'd have to cover both seats. I'm sure the company would be willing to do it.... for the correct negotiating capital. I don't think you'd like what we would have to give up for it.

The other downside is this: as an LCA going back to the right seat after 16 years in the left was a humbling experience. It felt like I had never flown a plane before. After a few IOE's it was fine, but honestly there is a real challenge there to flying from a seat that you have had minimal to no training in for 15 years or so. I'm guessing that's why we never allowed Captains to fly in the right seat at LUAL. I'm sure many pilots would be much better than it than I was, but I definitely felt like I was a threat over there for awhile.

 

The company is wasting boat loads of money through the crew desk. Unused short calls are rampant. Capt's flying as F/O's. I'm all for unused short calls, stay at home and get paid for it. I have that option. I just wish there was something for the guys that commute to reserve. I want short calls, commuters don't. Many times the crew desk gets it backwards. If we had some latitude on that it would help both sides.

Next contract. Yeah, maybe. That's what we said last time.

Sometime soon the company is going to wake up to this fact. Then the crew desk will get adversarial again when they can't staff the airline.

 

This isn't that hard. The main issue is the SC/FSB conversion and the fact there is no metric behind it. What is amazing about this is that correcting this issue saves the company money, lets locals pick up short calls for the money, and lets the commuters have some predictability and control of their lives.

This is an easy fix in the next contract. Call your reps.

 

Why not have every rsv have one stretch of 4 or 5 rsv days per month strictly short call and the rest of the days for the month be long call? We all know at some point each month we will be on SC. Now you can bid which stretch you want and then you can plan your month accordingly.

For extra coverage the crew desk could build a few optional extra SC for the AM/PM for anyone who wanted to shoot for extra pay for an unused SC. Would that idea stick possibly for a low cost enhancement?

 

It's interesting how they want to make the short calls a sore point, ignoring them for the 1100 window, building them in the evening, assigning them after midnight, always in a crisis, when the UPA describes short call "lines." It's like they want to be in crisis mode. FSB was going be rare, but it's routine now. Short call lines were going to be routine, but they're nonexistent.

3-C-1-b-(2) Notwithstanding Section 3-C-1-b-(1), a Reserve who is awarded a pure Short Call line shall receive an MPG, rounded to the nearest minute, of four hours, thirteen minutes and twenty seconds (4:13:20) for each reserve day.

20-K-1-a A Reserve begins each period of reserve days as a Long Call reserve unless he is awarded a pure Short Call line...

20-K-6-i The Company may offer lines consisting of a Short Call assignment on each work day. These pure Short Call lines shall be awarded in seniority order only to those Reserves who have requested one.

 

I think most of the schedulers are in crisis mode... and they make last minute knee jerk decisions... don't think they are trying to do anything punitive.

 

In order to intelligently discuss SC's realistically, we must all realize that SC's means different things to different entities. The Crewdesk uses SC's as a "workaround" to the long-call dilemma - that is to say, SC's are "hot reserves" and can be used almost immediately. If the crewdesk had their way, EVERYBODY would be on SC. Building SC's requires no justification - "build em and assign em". To the pilot who lives in base, it's a minor bump in the road - no biggie. To the Commuter, it's a decision - do I need to fly up to SFO to get into position or can I realistically sit at home with bags packs ready to go to the airport and hope I can get on a flight in time. Like I stated previously, you will never be able to eliminate the "arbitrary and capriciousness" of SC use by the Crewdesk. The only thing the negotiating committee can do is try to put shackles on it - They come at a cost. All SC's are 1 hour of pay. At the end of a SC block, the reserve is RELEASED for 8 hours of rest.
Ever wonder why it is taking so long to get SC Lines?? My guess is that would require the crewdesk to do ACTUAL manpower planning. Why else do you have situations where you have 4 available reserves and they put 3 on SC?