Squallrider

So far DTW is going pretty junior, what a shock!

Obviously not knowing wha the pairings will be like etc is hampering people bidding but still :P if you want DTW...youll get DTW!

word302

Be interesting to see how junior the captain bid goes.

disillusioned

Not that our opinion matters, but I am curious as to what we feel is an acceptable level of reserve staffing. Pretty disheartening to hear people defend the practice of sending SLC reserve CA out to every other base on TDY by saying that SLC is overstaffed and displacement would be the other option. SLC only has 15% reserve coverage this month and 19% last month. The company always says that it wants 15-20% reserve coverage, but then when they get it, all they do is transfer those pilots to every other domicile.

When we ask for a proper level of reserve staffing, we shouldn't be threatened by displacements. Especially by our own pilot group. We already have TDT setup and built into our standing bid software. There is no reason not to use our current setup. Other than it will expose a big hole in their current utilization numbers where we ship reserves across each others bases, just so we don't let those lazy pilots sit home and get paid for doing nothing.

amcnd

^ you obiously don't understand what TDT is. Its for temporary filling in for a pilot on leave.. Aka mil,fmla,ect. Not for shortness of staffing do to training backlog...

Ellen

Has skywest ever used TDT?

amcnd

Yes. But the way it was intended.. Not what the 99% majority think its for.. I was baffled by it before. But after sapa explained it was for LOA's. Then it was more clear.. Plus if they used TDT as a temporary fix. They would use it instead of fixing the problem..

Dashbro

Soooo. Where are the delta 175's going to be based? Lax? Sea?

peepz

Probably, but no word as of yet...

disillusioned

In the past 18 months they had only done it 4 times excluding the massive one done for the SLC CA in October.

So you are telling me that we had 13 SLC CA's that all went on LOA last October and that is why they used then? And as to fixing the problem, they have no intent to ever do that because they don't see a problem. It would be very simple to include something that made this option available to prevent a training bypass. But what are we willing to give up for it?

My intent was for the conversation to be geared around reserve levels. If each base at minimum had 12% reserve staffing, I don't think you would see the need for OBR. And the fact that last month we had 19% reserve levels in SLC CA, that is not an overstaff scenario where we should be acting like deplacements should occur. Is all the 175 FO's in ORD spending weeks at other domiciles since they are at 45% reserve staffing? Maybe a couple to SFO or PDX since they are in the low teens, but I'm sure it's more prevalent on the CRJ.

Simple fix. 15% minimum reserve levels for every base. 83 hour maximum forced for PBS awards. All flying over 83 hours is paid at 150% with the option to waive 83 hour min. If base is below 15% at the start of the month, all open time is 150% for the entire month. I would even settle for something that only made the 150% kick in after 2 consecutive months. We need a financial disincentive for the company to have 0 reserves in bases and use some of that extra money they are making on all the extra flying that is being picked up and give it to the pilots that are making it possible.

amcnd

Typical a large base like SLC will have 20+ pilots on some sort of leave. Whether or not they choose to use the TDT is another story..