pilot141

Exactly - the "inside help" is assurance that no one else horns in on your good deal with (heaven forbid!) an earlier time stamp while you do the recycle.

And dropping and picking back up is actually believable - since you are initiating the drop, you can time the pickup. I have no problem with that. Although if it recycling OTP, then I DO have a problem.

Anyway, the biggest elephant in the room is the frozen trips that stay frozen all day, then suddenly unfreeze and miraculously one of the "Wolfpack" has submitted an OTP request for it. Bang! Another charter!

And since we are talking Wolfpack, I have to include this to lighten the mood:





This item has wolves on it which makes it intrinsically sweet and worth 5 stars by itself, but once I tried it on, that's when the magic happened. After checking to ensure that the shirt would properly cover my girth, I walked from my trailer to Wal-mart with the shirt on and was immediately approached by women. The women knew from the wolves on my shirt that I, like a wolf, am a mysterious loner who knows how to 'howl at the moon' from time to time (if you catch my drift!). The women that approached me wanted to know if I would be their boyfriend and/or give them money for something they called mehth. I told them no, because they didn't have enough teeth, and frankly a man with a wolf-shirt shouldn't settle for the first thing that comes to him.

I arrived at Wal-mart, mounted my courtesy-scooter (walking is such a drag!) sitting side saddle so that my wolves would show. While I was browsing tube socks, I could hear aroused asthmatic breathing behind me. I turned around to see a slightly sweaty dream in sweatpants and flip-flops standing there. She told me she liked the wolves on my shirt, I told her I wanted to howl at her moon. She offered me a swig from her mountain dew, and I drove my scooter, with her shuffling along side out the door and into the rest of our lives. Thank you wolf shirt.

Pros: Fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women
Cons: Only 3 wolves (could probably use a few more on the 'guns'), cannot see wolves when sitting with arms crossed, wolves would have been better if they glowed in the dark.

Unfortunately I already had this exact picture tattooed on my chest, but this shirt is very useful in colder weather.

Jetjok

Imagine. Wolves in Memphis. Who would have thunk it?

purpledog

The wrench in that plan is that the drop is processed at the schedulers leisure. I waited an hour for a trade to be processed last month and I was trying to DH that day. Finally, I called scheds and asked if she could hit the button so I knew whether or not I had to try to find a DH out that day. I was "time stamped" and wasted an hour of my life waiting for her to finish her coffee and FB updates.

Pakagecheck

OK,
So they don't process your request right away. You got something to do so you go back in and cancel your request and re-attack at a later time.

C17MooseDriver

Your theory only works with instant trip trade processing.

Once you put in a drop request, it may take minutes to hours for that to process. You can't immediately put in a pickup request until that trip pops into OT, which again is at the leisure of the scheduler. Otherwise you'll get a message saying trip is not available.

MaydayMark

Although I agree with your observation, that's really a different problem than the Charter and X-pairing issue we're talking about here.

You waited an hour? We must have different schedulers? I usually "hope" my schedule request will get processed in 3-4 hours.

This subject has an easy solution ... real time trip trades. It doesn't seem like it would be very hard to write a program that would automate the entire process?

AFW_MD11

....hence the obvious need for "insider help" - this entire SCAM is impossible without it....

FDXLAG

Sort of, part of the charter/x-pairing problem is unlimited/recycled OTP some pilots seem to have access to.

MX727

I understand all of the frustration and I want this fixed too. What I'm not sure of is what people think the union can do. Pro Stan can call the pilots suspected of cheating the system, but, unless one of them comes clean and describes the process and gives out names, there isn't much else that can come from those conversations.

The union doesn't have access to the part of a pilot's VIPS that shows the drops and pickups that are accessed by the Show Detail button on the calendar. Those screens also generally have the initials of the scheduler who made a particular line entry. The company is the only entity that has the information and access to the computer and phone records that are needed to prove any malfeasance.

The irony of all this is that if the company does take action and discipline the offenders, the union will be called in to defend these folks.

Zpig pointed out why OTP recycling is the right thing for the majority of the pilots. Unfortunately, a few have figured out how to manipulate that process. Removing the ability to drop an OTP trip and regain your eligibility would punish 98% because of the 2%.

Gunpig

First of all, great confirmation of the process

So Zpig, do you not find it ethical to consistently cut the line with the same OTP? It sounds from your post like you do!

OTP isn't a long term scheduling tool to screw your buds and only fly cherry trips. It's meant to be a one time good deal to correct a wrong against your previously awarded trip that was sub'd

And yes the general m/u swap is guaranteed if scheds processes the drop & pickup for you while you r on the phone. This I have confirmed from pilots who routinely do this.

Your #1-3 are not only unethical I agree, but they are also criminal in my book