cantflylist

New applicant to UAL, from a ULCC.
What is scheduling flexibility. I have combed past posts, and I know
Reserves:
get assigned to Short call or ready day prior
Globals get 6 days off, other 5 off days can be moved around
can aggressive pickup # days or # minus 1 from open time

Line holders: did not see much useful info.

how easy is it to for line holders to drop trips (unpaid)?
can one drop reserve? can one swap reserve days?

I will be in base EWR. 320/737 - whichever has best progression/flexiblity

Thanks folks. I did go through past posts

worstpilotever

You can drop to 0. It’s all based on seniority and staffing. The jr line holder in an understaffed base and fleet will not be able to drop anything.

GoCats67

Scheduling flexibility varies widely thorughout the year and across fleets and seats.

Technically, as a lineholder you can drop all your trips down to zero pay and a reserve can drop reserve days with the associated loss of guarnatee. All of those drops require that there be "coverage" for a drop. So, the company determines the manpower/reserve coverage for every day of the month and if they have "positive" coverage you can drop. If they have "negative" coverage then no drop.

We have a trip trading system that allows for line holder trades/drops within the constraints of the above manning. If you are dropping a 3 day and picking up an open 3 day on the same day, then no problem, you get the trade. Pilot to pilot trades can also happen within the system without regard for coverage as long as no new trip is opened in the process. We also have bad day/worse day trading, so if you have a trip over days that have negative coverage, you could still drop it as long as you are picking up a trip over days that have even worse coverage. I just got out of a trip over Valentine's day by picking up a trip over the weekend. Superbowl Sunday was extremely negative on the staffing scale, but the good news is it is a computer, so I picked up a trip that got back early Sunday and was home in plenty of time for the game and got out of the doghouse for today as well!! As a reserve you can swap days off around, but this cannot be done through the computer system you must actually call the crew desk and they can only be moved/swapped if the crew desk is agreeable. Theoretically they would use the same staffing numbers shown for the line holders, but I can't say that that will always be the case.

Also, your numbers on the reserve stuff is off. You will get 12/13 days off every month on reserve depending on the 30/31 day length of the month. So on a global fleet you will get 6 HDOs (not movable by the company) and 6/7 RDOs/FDOs that are movable by the company. There are restrictions on when the company can move those days (basically nobody else legal and the trip being assigned is intl) but the days can be moved. Any day off moved in this scenario is restored to you later in the month. (usually the next available day on call is changed to an RDO.

ThumbsUp

I can’t speak to other’s success in dropping trips, but I have only been able to drop a trip once. If dropping trips and minimizing your schedule is an important part of your QoL, there are other companies with much greater flexibility in doing so. Years ago I was able to drop a few days on reserve, not sure how easy that is today.

cantflylist

Thanks for the detailed response GC67

Global fleet int'l WB, or is it also 320/737 considering both can do Canada. IOW is Global referencing international, or global to the united system. Is the FNG put on global reserve, or is that a choice.
20 mins from EWR, reserve, even ready reserve, is not too bad.
Ready reserve - how many hours is a full day?

I absolutely understand that dropping is seniority based - that's to be expected. everything is.

GoCats67

Global is Europe, Asia, and South America (more than 15 S) So that means 777/787 everywhere and 756 EWR,DCA,ORD and IAH. 756 LAX, SFO and 737/320 everywhere are not global
Short Calls are for 14 hours (2.5 hours to the airport) Field Standbys are for 4 hours. Must be at the airport for that period of time and can be assigned a departure anytime during that 4 hour period. Assignment must happen within that 4 hours and assigned departure must be scheduled to depart within one hour of the four hour block ending. So, if fyou have the 0800-1200 FSB they can call you at 1159 and give you any departure before 1300. At 1201, you are off the hook for the FSB and you are back on long call reserve, so they would have to give you a rest period before any assignment

Living local takes a great deal of the pain out of reserve. You can use the aggressive pickup option to pick up trips, Short call, or Field Standby so depending on what your goal is for the month (more money or more days sitting around the house) you can chose your poison.

cantflylist

GC67 - thanks for the clarification. It seems fully clear to me now. That means I prolly have 50% wrong, but that's OK - I have a grasp.

Hopefully I get the invite, and can be NB reserve in EWR for a minimal amount of time - given the crazy hiring.

Thanks all

C11DCA

just a heads up that one of the 737 bases will become a global fleet for this summer with the flight to the Azores (either EWR or CLE will fly it). And then when the 321 Neo’s show up and they start doing Europe, those bases (IAD/EWR and possible ORD) will also become global as they replace the 757’s. A Category has to have global flying in order to be a global reserve. For example, in February there was no flying on the DCA 777 that was global, so it was just basic reserve rules for the month. In March, DCA 777 starts flying CDG so it becomes a global category.

F15andMD11

You get 12 days off. You can actually move all your reserve days off. The limitation is you can’t reduce below a 3 day reserve period. Which can be hard to accomplish. Also when you move your HDOs they become days available to scheduling in case of extensions. So if you move days around you could open yourself up to be assigned a 8-9 day trip. The global fleet has, from time to time, trips that are that long.

Bobos

Somewhat similar question but how easy is it to group your trips or reserve days to create a larger time off and reduce commuting? Thanks in advance.