Originally Posted by MagPBS

Alright, lets try this conversation.

What exactly would you put in the contract? I'm honestly curious what you all think is language that can actually be utilized.

There's more behind unstacking than just staffing. While staffing played a big part in this months unstacking, it was followed closely by schedule changes by our partners.

DFW had a large drop-off (read 0) open time after the 20th of the month. So we were looking at 6-8 open trips every day 1-20 and nothing 20-30.

IAH followed sort of the same pattern but was much more exacerbated. There were 15+ open trips in the first 5 days with almost 0 open time once you get past the 15th of the month.

Additional pilots would reduce the amount of unstacking but wouldn't eliminate it.

Unstacking also results in more line produced.

Unstacking exists in pretty much all forms of line production, from paper to other PBS products. Some are out there in the open and point it out (NavBlue) some not so much.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that what is going on is right or wrong. What I am saying is it's impossible to say don't unstack, ever. That's not realistic.

Originally Posted by MagPBS

Alright, lets try this conversation.

What exactly would you put in the contract? I'm honestly curious what you all think is language that can actually be utilized.

There's more behind unstacking than just staffing. While staffing played a big part in this months unstacking, it was followed closely by schedule changes by our partners.

DFW had a large drop-off (read 0) open time after the 20th of the month. So we were looking at 6-8 open trips every day 1-20 and nothing 20-30.

IAH followed sort of the same pattern but was much more exacerbated. There were 15+ open trips in the first 5 days with almost 0 open time once you get past the 15th of the month.

Additional pilots would reduce the amount of unstacking but wouldn't eliminate it.

Unstacking also results in more line produced.

Unstacking exists in pretty much all forms of line production, from paper to other PBS products. Some are out there in the open and point it out (NavBlue) some not so much.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that what is going on is right or wrong. What I am saying is it's impossible to say don't unstack, ever. That's not realistic.

Originally Posted by MagPBS

Flica has always been closed from day one of PBS bidding until SAP for anything that touches the last 7 days of the month. Been that way since we brought PBS on 9 years ago. It's in the contract.

Originally Posted by calmwinds

Let’s start with more transparency. Which days of May caused the most unstacking? Does this vary by base? What else can/should be shared?

Originally Posted by MagPBS

Everything varies by base and seat, and by run. I draw my open time/stack information off the base run I do every month. But as far as more transparency, I'm not quite sure what to tell you. The unstacking report that the software generated won't really tell you anything useful. It covers the number of stacks and what seniority triggered what stack. But for IAH for example on the CA side there were 237 unique stacks.

Here's just the first 15.

Name Stack size Seniority triggered
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
T1. TripStack 2018-05-01 18:00:00 1 00589
T2. TripStack 2018-05-02 12:00:00 1 00548
T3. TripStack 2018-05-02 15:00:00 1 00548
T4. TripStack 2018-05-02 19:00:00 1 00493
T5. TripStack 2018-05-03 14:00:00 1 00489
T6. TripStack 2018-05-03 18:00:00 1 00502
T7. TripStack 2018-05-03 20:00:00 1 00502
T8. TripStack 2018-05-04 08:00:00 0 00519
T9. TripStack 2018-05-04 10:00:00 0 00497
T10. TripStack 2018-05-04 12:00:00 0 00554
T11. TripStack 2018-05-04 15:00:00 0 00503
T12. TripStack 2018-05-04 16:00:00 0 00551
T13. TripStack 2018-05-04 18:00:00 0 00579
T14. TripStack 2018-05-04 20:00:00 0 00554
T15. TripStack 2018-05-05 08:00:00 0 00723

So a trip on say that has you working the 4th at 13:00 actually resolves 3 stacks.

Originally Posted by calmwinds

Let’s start with what are the union’s goals with unstacking. Last month, I had 5 pairings unstacked onto my schedule. This month, I have only 1 pairing I stacked onto my schedule. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. The union should be focused on the best QOL for its pilots.

Originally Posted by MagPBS

What makes you think we aren't? Also, we don't get to say which run is used and which one isn't. I do runs concurrent with the planners. Best run from each person is submitted and Senior Management makes the final decision.

I am very good at finding a line between operationally possible and in the best interest of pilots. Up until a few months ago (i.e. when staffing got really bad) I won the majority of decisions on runs. Now not so much because I am still a pilot representative and will only push the run as far as necessary to operate.

Originally Posted by calmwinds

I am not sure you aren’t focused on the right things. I just don’t know what the union’s goals are with regards to unstacking.

Maybe, the next contract needs to focus on where you aren’t winning the decisions. For example, I question whether pilots should have 100% of their pairings unstacked. That may be a place to start.

Usually, there is a communications/ transparency issue when things are being done right and everyone believes it is being done wrong.