FangsF15

1 Million % this.

Whoopsmybad

Maybe for someone hired 12 months ago. But someone hired now?

iaflyer

Having been that proverbial of six, we don't plan European vacations hours before departure. What probably occured was some other flight that we were planning on went south, so we called an audible and switched at the last minute, and plan on taking a train to get to the original city. Personally I make listings weeks ahead of time, so that (a) I can easily check them in TravelNet and (b) so that more junior people can see there's a big family listed so..

As for S2.. I wish they had decreased them, not increased them. That would make them more valuable rather than people throwing them out, now with 8, I minds well use them almost all the time rather than hoarding them. I'd say other than pilots and FAs, most employees probably don't take more than a couple of trips a year where they need S2 to get on or not. And if they do, everyone just ends up burning an S2 and we're back to the original order.

PilotBases

Ive yet to use an S2. All it does it restart the listing process for everything. Only time I’ve had someone use it is parents to push Endeavor out of D1 and get dad a nice ride to Europe.

ancman

Agreed. This move will only result in more standby lists that are 100% S2, which I already see out of my home city almost daily. It’s the pass travel equivalent of a government printing more money and causing rampant inflation, all while pretending to be doing citizens a favor.

Reducing S2s to 4 per year or even 2 per year would actually make them a semi-valuable benefit.

PilotJ3

Im going to assume that you have to get “check in time before 20:00”, not start before.

I think your start is at LHR <20:00, not check in for your rotation <2000

I might be wrong though.

Gone Flying

not always. Knew a guy who lived in NYC but got the 717 on the drop (post covid). Took him over 18 months before he was not commuting. FWIW.


also as hiring has slowed, the movement from base to base has slowed down too. Not nearly as easy to say someone commuting is doing so because they want to.

Gone Flying

agreed. I think 4x one way per year would have been better.

Herkflyr

I don't think that there should be out of base swaps, for all the previously mentioned reasons. However I do think that there should be the ability for a pilot to try and get rid of a trip via the Swapboard, and after a reasonable amount of time where that pickup is limited to in base (72 hours perhaps) it should be allowed to be picked up by out of base pilots.

It is all about giving pilots who are trying to get rid of trips more ability to do so. I am ATL-based. There have been several occasions where I have tried to get rid of a trip via PCS PD, as well as trying to give it away on the Swapboard, and I was ultimately unsuccessful. It would have been nice to have allowed a FL commuter who commutes to NY the ability to pick up my trip (after of course only allowing ATL guys first choice for a few days). And who knows? I suspect that at least on a few occasions that I would have been successful, and the NYC commuter is able to pick up an ATL trip--did I mention that he would only be able to do so after ATL guys had a few days first crack at it, and none wanted it?

"But my base purity!"

Did I mention that this concept would only come into play after the in base pilots had a few days first dibs?

"But my base purity! And better that you can't drop your trip at all, than pilots from other bases be able to help you out--even though they would only be able to do so after your in base pilots decided none of them wanted it."

Any objections? And why?

BlueSkies

Here's what I've seen happening. Flights are so full that people nonrev less often, but when they do decide to nonrev they drop an S2. And why not? If you're only nonrevving 3-4x a year there's almost no reason not to. Adding 2 more just makes the problem worse.

To the poster (RAH RAH REE?) that says they use lots of Buddy Passes I think you are in the minority, especially among pilots. We all know the reasons why usage is so low. Yes, for that int'l trip they sometimes work but that's not the norm. I haven't given one out in many years.

I think giving buddy slots for FCFL is a good idea, just hampered by how expensive our FCFL program is. As someone already pointed out, a ticket bought 2 weeks out on FCFL is often pricier than a full fare months out. And because of the nature of our jobs/schedule timeline we usually can't buy tickets months out.

I was REALLY hoping there would be some kind of limited number of confirmed passes per year rolled out, or maybe a true discount program for tickets. I honestly don't understand the FCFL program. They are leaving a lot of money on the table by charging so much. If they provided a real discount then I think a lot more employees would actually buy FCFL tickets. As it stands now, most would rather roll the dice on nonrevving when the alternative is buying a ticket that is barely, if at all, any cheaper (taking into account time of purchase, etc). I know I would buy a lot more FCFL tickets if I felt like I was actually getting a good discount. Instead I just don't travel as much anymore because we don't want the uncertainty of nonrevving with a family and don't want to pay close-in ticket prices.

Oh and let's talk more about UAL. Holy cow! I got jammed up trying to fly back from LHR a bit ago and saw a UAL I could make. While on my phone I was able to easily list and pay. I then got text messages telling me where the gate was and where I was on the list...and about 30-40 mins out as an OAL nonrev got cleared! And I even got a text telling me! I didn't have to hover in the gate listening for my name to be softly called/hawk travelnet/watch the gate screens. I couldn't believe how much nicer the experience was.