Senior Skipper

Hi all,

First post here on APC. I've searched, but can't seem to find the answer. What exactly is this "disputed pairing" thing that FedEx guys talk about ever so often?

Thanks

Jetjok

It's bad. Very, very bad. It a series of flights that for whatever reason has been determined by a select group of pilots, to be a hazard, due to a number of pre-described criteria, such as a flight that historically always operates over some limit, but the company builds it showing that it's block time is under that limit. Day/night cycles with minimum rest, into or out of busy airports, very long duty days, made longer by flying in the middle of the night to a station then sitting there for a few hours, then flying another leg into a congested area, during rush hour. All of these could cause a series of flights to become disputed.

hotelmode

I've been wondering about these, too. I know what they are and why a pairing would be undesirable, but is fedex the only group of pilots who collectively figures out which pairings are bad? Is it something the union does for them?

pilot141

Yes, the union (or more specifically the SIG - Schedule Improvement Group) looks at every pairing.

The company can build a pairing that is legal under the contract but the union (ie SIG) can dispute it. This normally happens when the pairing is unrealistic (ie a 35-minute scheduled turn in BOS at 0730) or especially onerous (ie CDG-STN-MEM in one fell swoop).

When the union disputes a pairing it cannot be built into lines. The only way a pilot can voluntarily fly a disputed pairing is to specifically request it (either on a secondary line or via trip-trade or make-up). Ideally all disputed pairings would be flown by guys on reserve, and they might call in fatigued every once in a while.

What happens instead is that greedy clueless bastards see something that works for them (a disputed pairing that fits into their schedule) and then pick them up and fly them. This diminishes any leverage the union might have with that particular pairing, and after a few months of greediness that ugly pairing might start showing up on lines.

Purple Nugget

Another thing that may be helpful to the outsider, is that at FedEx, pairings are created by the company, but then they are given over to the union. The union's Schedule Improvement Group (SIG) then goes through the pairings, labels the "what the he!!?" trips as disputed pairings, and then will create our lines withholding the disputed ones. (Pilots create our own lines that we bid on.)

The company does change some disputed pairings after the union labeled them, and those changed trips are then dropped into open time, or given to secondary line holders with the union's blessing.

It is a big deal, as you have seen here, that by voluntarily flying a disputed pairing, you are in effect saying, "My union's input is irrelevant. I will fly this pairing, and I don't see anything wrong with it." Which then makes the union's power slightly lower, because the company then says, "We aren't going to fix this piece of sh** pairing, because, see.... it keeps getting flown." So in the overall aspect, if we want better trips, we have to stop volunteering to fly the disputed ones.

Jetjok

The vast majority of guys understand that if a trip is labeled "disputed", then, their union has found fault with that trip, and so most guys won't fly it. The issue is that some guys are greedy enough to fly anything, and when these greedy/uninformed/unenlightened guys pick up these DP's and fly them for 3 consecutive months, the trips then automatically become "undisputed" and will then be built into one of our lines, thereby forcing a "normal" guy to fly it, while at the same time, eroding just a little more control from our SIG group. Those guys are the watchdogs of our while-working quality of life, and as such should be supported to the Nth degree. Guys flying these DP's are doing the exact reverse, to the detriment of the entire crew force.

navigatro

Jet Jok,

What has been the response from people who are flying DP's, after they are advised, in a friendly manner, that they are not helping "the cause?"

Do they continue to fly DP's, or do they stop?


thanks.

MD11Fr8Dog

There are many habitual offenders. And they just don't care. Most of the time though, its "Oops, won't happen again," though there is really no excuse for a DP brain fart, if you ask me.

Jetjok

What he said. The answers are all over the map. Guys have mistakenly picked up these trips and when told about them, some have worked hard to dump them back into open time (so they can be flown by a guy on reserve). Others have actually had the audacity to basically say "tough, it worked well in my schedule." Others, who don't care, and don't get El Picture Grande, pick them up to enhance their bottom line, and regardless of what's said to them, they continue to do so. The good news is that no one over 60 years of age has ever picked up a DP (to my knowledge), but when they do, you'll not believe the venom that'll spew forth.

fedupbusdriver

Wow, I can see it now. A 61 year old nonmember flying disputed pairings, only after bidding back to the left seat of the maddog! (probably voted for the LOA as well as the CBA, and Hillary).

PS. He likes oreos from his jumpseaters, listens to old beatles albums, lives in Memphis and uses a pc instead of an apple computer.