Gunter

Traditional week on, week off without a day or even 13 hrs off between pairings seems to be the gold standard.

So I guess I would say lines that have gone the most senior for years.

Day off between pairings sounds like a trash line to me.

Daniel Larusso

Chicken v. egg. Besides the fact that most of the companies that produce also produce PBS/line generation software as a different 'module' to their products, if you optimize the pairings enough, they can pretty much only be put together in a very narrow manner to create lines that conform on credit hours globally.

MX727

It really bothers me that they can tell us to "work to rule," i.e. "it's in the contract," but if we start a "work to rule" campaign, that's illegal...

fecav8r

What the he11 does that mean? Noone but Memphis guys really mind being bent over without the benefit of a reach around. Where do you come up with stuff like this?

fedupbusdriver

That is pretty standard on APC. Didn't you know that it's always the Memphis Bubbas that are the root of all evil at FDX?

FDXLAG

I don't think it was an insult; I think he was just opining that mem bubbas are seeing more of a reduction than commuters in real terms.

MaxKts

OK - I'll jump in. Are they hurting because the commuters no longer have that "trash trip" to throw into open time or because skeds isn't calling for draft?

nakazawa

This is a pretty incredible thread, and tends to show me how little most of the crew members know about pairing generation, pairing review, line construction, line construction targets, city purity, circadian swaps, and commutable lines.

The optimizer generates the pairings. The program has all the 'contractual' limits, 13:30 max duty internationally, etc. It also has the FARs incorporated, such as 1 in 7. The optimizer does not have reasonableness incorporated.

The line generator has similar, and different limits. It has the 1 in 7 FAR limitation so the line builder can't put two short hard-time trips together illegally. It also has the 4-3-2 days off limit, min-days off limit, and other contractual limitations that aren't part of the pairing generation. However, what the line builder (PSIT) looks at is how the pairings will be placed on the lines, kind of a ouija board. They look at city purity - which has typically been a desired aspect of our flying. Crews can fly to a particular destination every day/night. Since we have pairings that start seven days a week, placing the pairings so they're suitable for commuters is an important benefit. In ANC, trips that start Wed-Sun are easy to commute into. Trips that end Mon-Fri are easy to commute home. If the line is a double departure (two trips), they try to put two of those kinds of pairings on a line - makes it more desirable. That technique is NOT in the line generator. The line builder will take many factors into account, depending on which domicile they happen to be building for.

The Company assigns a target - say . . . build to an average of 70 credit hours. With a LOW line credit of 68, the high is set to 81 (13 hour split). If the best QUALITY low line is built at say . . . 69:30, the high credit hour limit is set to 82:30. The line builders don't have to build that high, but they can't build higher than that limit . . . contractually. And, they're still targeting the Company's requested average of 70 ch. If the line builder narrows the split (technique), it might help target that 70 ch request the Company has made, but it might also degrade the quality of some pretty nice lines. That would be a quality of life affect of not having PSIT participation. Also, building to a LOW BLG (like this month) is infinitely easier when having to comply with all the contractual limitations, and lines will tend to 'look better'. Let's say the Company actually ended up undermanned after their next fiasco bid, and needed to build to a BLG of 80 credit hour average in a 4 week bid month. Grab the bid pack and try to put 80 hours worth of credit into a 4 week bid month, and still comply with the contractual limits (min days off, 4-3-2, 36 in 168 off). It'll be very difficult. Crews can do it to themselves, but the PSIT, or for that matter the Company, can not [violate CBA limits].

Circadian shifts are probably the biggest impact on our bodies these days, combined with long flight segments and optimized layover times. Domestically, it's hard to get more than a 3 hour shift (TZDs) in one duty period - though it does happen. Turn SEA-MEM then MEM-EWR. Or, any west coast through MEM to the east coast. The trouble with those - any delay getting into MEM causes the crew to not be able to do the 'early pull' to the north east, and the STBY crew is needed. I could turn to ATL, but then I'm trying for the city-purity. And if I turn back west, I might have an 8 in 24 problem. I could go north or south, but I might be building for the -11, and those segments just went to the Bus. Ugh - screwed. Without the SIG/PSIT and their very valuable input, not only will the pairings NEVER be scrubbed for quality and legality (dispute process), you'll never have any consistency on the lines. You won't be able to call your friendly line builder and say "Hey - ****". You can do that NOW because they're US. If you call the Company, or actually the Secondary Line Builder, they'll just hang up, because they've demonstrated that THEY DON'T CARE!!!

I don't care much about draft - but to address MaxKts - the Company will ALWAYS want the option to DRAFT. Regardless of manning, when a crew goes over duty because the optimizer (pairing generator) built too tight of a turn, they'll want to be able to recover the freight. Schedules isn't calling for draft right now because all the open time trips are being picked up at straight time. NO NEED TO DRAFT. Crews that don't live in MEM-ANC-LAX (in domicile) may get called for draft, but that's because a front end deviation allows the Company to build the trip and then have the crew member be responsible for crew rest. Those immediate need trips probably won't ever make it to open-time.

Bottom line is - WE need to retain control of the line building process. We are accountable to ourselves and each other. If we don't like what the SIG/PSIT are doing - we can fix it. When the SIG Chairman gets 1,000 letters (emails), trust me, he listens! If you're a secondary line holder, you know how hard it is to make an input with consistently favorable results.

I apologize for the long 'rant'.

Busboy

Trust me...I know about commutable lines.

That was an excellent rant. More like an educational rant. I think you have a green light on ranting here. Thank you.

DLax85

Ditto, on the "thank you" for the long educational rant ---- I'm sure most crews don't have your experience with line construction and greatly appreciate the primer.

OBTW...

My daugther thinks I'm ignorant when it comes to music.

My sons think I'm ignorant when it comes to entomology.

My wife thinks I'm ignorant when it comes to cooking.