NeoPilott

Hi all, can someone share sample schedules at C5? Are there many 1-3 day trips to choose from or are all trips mostly 4 day long? Also, how much control can a junior FO expect when it comes to choosing trips?

Boeing Aviator

What’s a typical duty day length and layover length in actual operation (not scheduled but realistic with usual delays etc)?

njd1

Most of our trips are 2, 3 and 4 days in length. We have a few 1 and 5 day trips if you like those, but they are clearly in the minority -- with day trips especially so, as the scheduling committee has realized we have a lot of commuters and they are trying to make trips more commuter friendly.

I bid min credit and am typically awarded 70-73hrs with an average of 15 days off, though it can and does vary from 14-18 days off. January was 18 for me. This month is 14, but that's still more or less half the month off.

As for the duty day length it's hard to say as it can and does vary. The majority of our trips start late and finish early, hence they are commutable. Most of time we get a 12 hour overnight and we have seen an increase in 30 hour overnights lately for some reason. I tend to hate 30 hour overnights as I would prefer to shorten the trip and have another day off at home but some dig 30 hour overnights if it means they can explore the surroundings. I just wind up bringing my laptop and running my business projects remotely.

I rarely get min rested (10 hour overnight) and when it does happen it's usually the result of IROPs rather than a pre-planned schedule. That said, there are times when I see "10.2 hours" as an overnight and know damn well I'll be sleeping at most 7 hours because it ALWAYS takes more time to get to the hotel, grab food, decompress, and then put your head on the pillow.

Biggest problem with the trips I've been seeing lately is that they are not efficient, but that may very well be because I'm not tweaking my bid to include a preference for average daily credit -- something I expect to change when I'm sufficiently motivated to do so.

Bahamasflyer

I’m one who would love 5 day trips and 30+ RONs. Longer blocks of time off and less commuting.

njd1

Feb trip length distribution (days:number of pairings):

5: 17
4: 145
3: 157
2: 82
1: 11

This is not really the place for 1 or 5 day trips at the moment. Three and four days are the bulk of our trips.

NeoPilott

Much appreciated! Can scheduling preferences (as to trip length) we set in the bidding system?

njd1

Absolutely. For example, I don't like day trips so I ask to award pairing with pairing length > 1 day and I've never received one. Of course we don't have many in our system to begin with, and there have been months without any at all, so the probability of getting one is low to begin with but I like to set the preference because I hate wasting time bidding. For me it's largely a set-and-forget thing.

NeoPilott

Thank you! 2-3 days trips (with some 4 days in the mixed) would be sweet for me living in base! Great to know.

njd1

I should also point out that you can even get fancier and create separate preferences that say something like:

Award trips whose length is 2 limit 1
Award trips whose length is 3 limit 2
etc.

Which means, "give me one 2 day trip and two 3 day trips ". Note, however, that if this particular combination does not result in sufficient hours (and it's probably the case in this example, as most people need at least four 3-4 day trips to meet even the minimum credit window), the system will go to the next line ("etc") which should probably be some default preference like:

Award trips greater than one day

...assuming you don't want day trips, as in my case.

Jeff90

are you able to preference overnights?