forgot to bid

FWIW, until maddog brought up the issue of LOA 20 and that we shouldn't lose a day off for training, I hadn't looked through LOA 20 at all. I knew it was about MAC flights and so I moved on. There is some interesting stuff in there though.

As to the increased flying on the Airbus 320 side, I'd imagine that unlike the 9 that is undergoing changes in fleet size the 320 is the first plane we'll see the affects of NWA staffing formula vs the new PWA staffing. Would that be far off? I mean did they even drawn down MSP 320 on the AE as the planes headed to SLC? I can't remember if they did or not. Anotherwords, will Super and J29 be alive come Labor Day?

forgot to bid

That is 100% true. My issue was I went to the movies, put the phone on mute and forgot I did it. The call came at say 2:00am. I looked back the next morning and it had been covered within 30 minutes. I had 9 days off (line holder) and so imagine just plopping that 6-day right in the midst of a 80+ hour line. Of course, it was for first year pay.

keenster

Being form the north side (dark side) joke, it will take us some time to learn what is going on so be patient with us as we trying to figure things out. The funnel has been inserted into the brain and has been on full throttle. Our education on the contract, company union relationship, and the union's position on issues is pretty much left to the individual and there has not been a great deal of information coming our way. Sure it is there, but you have to dig it out on your on. That is a big reason I am on this forum. So if we seem a bit negative at times, it is because of where we came from and how we were used to dealing with our previous management. Thanks for the comments.

80ktsClamp

Yeah I should have clarified that... figured I'd already added enough caveats to it already. You complete me.

NuGuy

Heyas FtB,

How so? The 1.5X system was available to everyone through the open time system, and even changes far down the month would put you in line for premium pay. You could pick up trips at any time of the month, not just the day ahead, and not just the trips that CS needed covering. ANY credit, at any time, over 80, was paid at the premium rate. Heck, a lot of time your awarded line gave you premium pay out of the box.

What's overlooked quite a bit is that in addition to the over-80 premium, there were "premium" trips at NWA (very similar to GS flying) that someone under 80 could benefit from (get paid 1.5x), and if you were over 80, the multipliers stacked (1.5x1.5).

To say that GS flying is available to everyone is silly...it's really only available to those who live in base.

So really, even if the over-80 flying favored the senior (which is basically false), the "premium flying" has just been shifted to a different group, rather than distributed evenly.

I favor going back to the system that NWA had, which was an overriding premium for over-80 (which benefits everyone), in addition to trip specific premium (to encourage coverage) that can benefit those under 80 as well as those who are in a position to take advantage.

Of course, I'd also require the company to use their proper "caller ID" when calling your home, but I'm kinda fussy that way.

Nu

80ktsClamp

You? Fussy? Say it ain't so!

keenster

With my limited knowledge of GS flying, I am with you Nu. I think that the over 80 was much more equitable for the entire group. My take is that senior in base guys get the majority of GS flying. I have heard that the hightset paid guy bids a 737 sch out of ATL, drops his whole sch, and then fills up with green slips every month. That does not seem quite right to me and maybe this is incorrect information. Can anyone shed some light on this???

freightguy

I don't think it works that way. If you personal drop trips or reserve days, you are not eligible to be awarded green slips on those days.

80ktsClamp

THat can work when we're short. We're not. Greenslips haven't been handed out like candy for a little while now...come this summer, that will change.

The highest paid regular line guy in the history of Delta, from what I'm told, was an MD-11 FO out of PDX.

He would bid to fly with LCAs, get bought off trips..and then greenslip... thus getting triple pay.

Heard he brought in a good half million one year. Any truth to this, oh senior ones?

Sink r8

WRT to equality, keep in mind what was written above: GS are awarded in seniority order (makes sense), but one of the improvements that was written in is that you can't get your second GS if a junior (eligible) bidder has not yet received their first. This is to prevent senior pilots from hogging all the premium flying.

Another mechanism that helps spread the wealth is the IA, since it starts from the bottom, and a third is the Reserve GS. If staffing is tight enough, Reserve GS can actually be the best thing going.

I've never been senior in any category, but I've not missed on my share of premium flying during the summer, if it's busy enough. I rarely bother with GS as a lineholder, so in my case, it's been a combination IA and Reserve GS back when I was on Reserve.

I think this is a topic on which you can get more specific answers on the DALPA forum. While I don't like what that venue has become, there has always been a very good Scheduling section. Maybe you can get someone with some knowledge (maybe people from the North as well) to address the 80+ vs. GS. When it comes time to draft our proposal for 2012, I don't see why we can't craft a "best of both worlds" position.