busdriver12

I would definitely be enraged if this was going on in my seat, and I wonder if it had, if I would have been able to track this down and figure it out. True, I have way too much free time. But even if one is hiding their schedule, you can pull up a trip and figure out what is happening. Who picked it up initially, were they in the air at the time, who ended up on this trip, did it disappear and go into sub.

I can actually understand how someone could get away with doing this consistently time and time again, with a group of friends, in a way that is legal and by the contract (though sneaky and a lot of work). Any additional heads up by a scheduler would be a bonus. I'm not going to say how, don't want to give wolf pack wannabe's any new ideas. If this is a flaw in the system, it would benefit both the company and union to get rid of it. Honestly, for the company, this should be easy to track, if they desired to do so (which seems unlikely).

Pakagecheck

Sub'd, so now new OTP. A lot of these trips get cnx'd or revised to the point that you get sub'd. Another trump card to save for a rainy day. If he picked this up with OTP, it effectively just got re-hacked. If he used GMU, he just banked more OTP. See how this can add up.

av8npnut

To highlight why this is such a big deal I am going to expose one of the MD-11 usual suspects. This FO bids approximately 35% before the Pay Only lines are removed. He was awarded a line in Feb14 that paid 63:23 CH, receiving a buy up of 4:37 CH for a BLG of 68 CH. The line is as follows: 2 trips (1 domestic, 1 Europe int’l), 9 operational legs, 1 mid-trip DH from CGN-STN ($493), and 16 days off.

As usual, he was able to drop these trips and pick up 1 CHTR and 1 XTRA pairing. His new line now consists of 2 int’l trips (Dubai & Asia) paying 107:43 CH plus the original 4:37 CH buy up for a new BLG of 112:20 CH. The details are: 4 operational legs, DDH on both trips ($18,824), unfortunately only 9 days off for him.

However, this MD-11 FO has deviated on both trips. The CHTR has a 58 Hr Layover (LO) after the FDH, 1 live leg, and a 48 Hr LO before the BDH. The XTRA consists of 3 operational legs and has a 40 Hr LO after the FDH and multiple BDH's totaling more than 100 Hr LO following the last operational leg. Since he deviated on both trips, he could easily cut 4-6 days off his commute with the massive layovers following the deadheads. This means that most likely he has 13-15 days off instead of only 9 days off. Therefore for only 1-3 extra days away from base as compared to his original line, he collects an extra 44:20 CH at 12 or 13 year widebody FO rate. That is a nice paycheck boost, not to mention the thousands of frequent flyer miles. His deviation bank increased $18,331. Wow!

This happens almost every month to some degree for this MD-11 FO, and has been going on for years.

With so many crewmembers using iPads, smart phones, laptops, etc., I don’t believe one crewmember could consistently improve their line and quality of life each month like this without some sort of unfair advantage. No surprise, this MD-11 FO blocks his calendar. If you don’t believe me; check out these trips 2186/12Feb & 2242/19Feb. Understand that the second trip is currently in progress and could change, as these XTRA pairings are often very dynamic.

Don Raines

B1driver

My Simple Fix

Going forward if the Company suspects an individual of either using a BOT, or miraculously picking up multiple Charters/X-Pairings just as they "unfreeze," my suggestion would be the Company restrict the offender to only log on to the Pilot's website with a Company computer located on a FedEx property OR the Company issued iPad.

The Company can present the abuser with a choice of a 3 month restriction detailed above, if not they will continue to investigate and all other options are on the table if they are found to be abusing the system and their fellow pilots.

This would fix the BOT problem. Might scare the folks using any insider help to cease.

I highly doubt our Union would sign off on that, but who knows?

pilot141

The mumbling about this has been going on for a while on the Mad Dog. On the crew bus, enroute or especially on layovers after a few beers this subject comes up - and as an average Joe who flies with average Joes, the question is always the same - how do the same guys always get the good deals?

The frustration level is high, which I think is why when this subject finally shows up in "public" (ie here) you have so many hits. Everyone on the MD knows something fishy is going on, but until now it has been crew bus rumors.

This thread is a great resource - trip numbers can be posted, and the spotlight can be shined where it needs to be. Which is on the abusers who continually screw their fellow crewmembers.

Perm11FO

All that you have to do is volunteer to be on the SIG or a line builder.... Like magic, the doors to the trip system are opened for you because you see the full road map and can get the contacts necessary to get a heads up call.

pilot141

Negative Ghostrider. These guys are not SIG guys. Just flew with a SIG guy, and he has to hawk open time like everyone else for the good deals. The SIG guys do good work for no extra pay, so don't throw their names into this ugly mix.

busdriver12

Definitely. At least on my plane, I don't see the SIG guys getting the good deals. They work their butts off, and I doubt they have an advantage. I appreciate the work they do.

Purpletailed10

+1,

I have RFO'd with a SIG guy on the fleet I'm on, the same guy several times and he is flying the same crappy pairings I'm flying.

The SIG guys bust their humps for us and sure don't need to be lumped in with the self serving "Wolf Pack" jackasses!

The SIG guys should never buy a beer anytime they are on a layover!

freightpilot

I say lock them out of VIPS if you know who they are. Post emp# for the rest of us.