Hawaii50

You're not the only one, I don't like it either. I think a monthly bid would be better for all involved. A couple things however.

- You are to be converted by the end of the 180 day bid window (or the one 365 day bid/year) or you are pay protected to your new position.

- Who benefits from having TDYs? Seems like the guys who are regulars in the base like knowing where they stand month to month instead of having senior guys from other bases come in and cherry pick the good/seasonal trips. Also with our seniority system if too many senior guys bid in a person could find themselves bumped to reserve. There's no way I'd want to go to a block/reserve system to fix that. The flexibility of bidding a regular line one month and a reserve line the next is too good to give up.

NuGuy

Heyas Hawii,

Actually, that is a really great observation, BUT, under the NWA system TDY bidders bid AFTER all of the permanent position holders in base. None of the permanent bid holders are affected.

I'm sure that if you are living in ATL, but are forced to NYC, you'd be ok sitting reserve as a TDY in ATL. Sure, you could say that it will just let the company staff a particular base less, but under the NWA system there was significant financial penalty for the company to do so (positive space TO/FROM work, not to mention free hotels).

I am ambivilent to the reserve/block thing. I agree with you that the flexibility is nice to have, OTOH, it's also nice to know that if you hold a block postion, you will have a schedule (which created a whole other set of mechanics for "blockholders without a block"). It's part of the commuter mindset. You can set your preferences up so that if you are displaced out of a blockholder position, you can't wind up reserve, and that you'll just get displaced to the next blockholder position.

Reserve is/was a fairly miserable proposition at NWA, and the negotiating policy at NWALPA was to maximize the number of blockholders at the expense of QoL of the reserve position. As a result, I have only ever sat 8 months of reserve out of 10+ years, but those 6 of those 8 months sucked high and hard (I was commuting those months). A cursory reading of the JPWA indicates that reserve is a little better, but you still aren't going to see a lot of commuters voluntarily sit reserve, and it will still be primarily a position for those who live in base.

Nu

newKnow

TDY's always bid after the regular blockholders. I think the NWA system is WAAAY better. You have to be a rocket scientist to get that AE system and even if you do, you still don't know exactly what you are going to get. With NWA's system you can see your award or displacemet coming from a mile away....

newKnow

What's clear to me is that by the time I figure it out, it will be time for me to retire!

New K Now

Dash8widget

Yeah, the more I hear about the NW system, the more I like it. Seems like it would be better for ALL parties - including the company. It would have saved us an LOA (that allowed a temporary increase in the 88 ALV to cover short staffing) and this massive adjustment bid. I would really like to see the new DL take the best practices of both companies, and is one system that should be adopted right away.

Hawaii50

OK, I see some benefits there but doesn't it cut down on the amount of open time available and the flexiblity of the guys to massage their schedules? There are provisions available for out of base white slip/green slips here now but they are pretty rare. Does having out of base guys get lines built in your base decrease the amount of overtime flying available? Maybe guys from your base bid TDYs to other bases and it's a wash?

I can see why commuters would probably like it but the DL system is pretty much set up for the majority that live in/close to their base. We do have plenty of commuters though. I can't really see myself trading a drive to work for a commute to do a TDY at another base but I'm open to things that would improve QOL for some as long as it doesn't take it away from others.

nwaf16dude

One more bit of info on TDY or TEMP pilots...The company decides each month how many TEMPs they need in each base. Typically there are only a handfull (less than 10) in each category. So, yes it is a good deal, but it doesn't happen often.

fishguy79

I was just curious. Our VP of Flight ops said that we had this displacement and the same thing is happening at NW. Not as big because the different systems used. Can any NW guys tell me if you are seeing any cutbacks yet or because of your system you will not see any for a few months.

tim123

Our next APA comes out this next week.We were notified that there might be 757 cutbacks/diplacements coming up.

fishguy79

I hope this is the last of it for all of us.