Originally Posted by ThumbsUp

Most of the unfilled vacancies aren’t because of reserve. There are far more people who would be line holder NB CAs. Various reasons for that, but avoiding reserve isn’t it.

Originally Posted by nene

From what you read on here, it sounds as though reserve at UAL is TWO different animals depending on wether you live in base or not. Perhaps many are not willing to COMMUTE to NB reserve CA but would be willing to do it if local?

Originally Posted by nene

From what you read on here, it sounds as though reserve at UAL is TWO different animals depending on wether you live in base or not. Perhaps many are not willing to COMMUTE to NB reserve CA but would be willing to do it if local?

Originally Posted by DarkSideMoon

what they can’t do as a reserve is call you on your last day of reserve and assign you a two day trip into an HDO.

Originally Posted by ThumbsUp

Yes, that’s true, but my point was that most people who could bid NB CA (and are not) wouldn’t be subject to reserve at all, so the unfilled vacancies are also due to other reasons.

Originally Posted by Ace66

They can assign you a reserve trip into the next month (when you transition to a lineholder) and take away a day off. So while technically not a HDO (lineholders have days off but they aren't specifically called HDO), I will argue that it's essentially a HDO. Had this happen several times and had to cancel plans on those days off.

They can also take away next month's line awarded trips so they can work you harder as a reserve in the current month.

Originally Posted by Ace66

Sure there are lots of reasons why people aren't bidding NB captain, and one of them is because reserve sucks. The 20 year FO's aren't bidding CA because of reasons other than reserve as they would never sit reserve as a NB CA.

I would bet that if we got a contract with improved reserve rules, the unfilled vacancies will be filled.

Kirby has stated several times that the unfilled CA slots are impacting plans and will be a significant issue in the future with new airplane deliveries. He got a reprieve as Boeing has slowed down our deliveries. So to say that the unfilled vacancies aren't an issue just because the "TK is humming" isn't completely accurate.

Originally Posted by Zoomie

I agree. Reserve is part of the reason, but I also have kids that are as young as 3rd grade.
I could hold a line, but if I upgrade, I give up all weekends that are not vacation, so in essence I go from having off all weekends and holidays to working all weekends and holidays...for an extra 3-4k a month(but not really since as a senior FO I can get the premium that closes that gap). The senior people in a base also get it all if they want it. There are no green slips here at United.

Money is nice, but our PBS and scheduling sucks.

I think there is one thing that would "fix" the company's issues and vastly increase the QOL of everyone here, but most will probably balk at it because we have a bunch of old people that have been **** on and must exert maximum pain for everyone.

Make golden days off a monthly bid. Everyone gets 2 days they pick to have off. Make some rules that they can't touch a holiday or other days, but if everyone got at least 2 days to choose off each month, you can have your kids birthday off, you get your anniversary off, you can attend your nephew's graduation, etc.

This is basically a "no cost" item for the company. It doesn't give any more days off it just allows even Jr guys to pick a group of days off.
Yes, not everyone can bid the same weekend off so it's not perfect. But how many people can't get off for their kids birthday because they have to fly a ****ty 4 day?

Is it really "fair" in a union industry that our seniority means "everything"? Could we agree that it's important for even the junior guys to get one "bite at the apple" before the senior guys eats the apple to it's core?

This would actually probably help reliability and reduce sick calls which would make reserve more palatable.

This should be industry standard. I would argue to even go a step further and it should be at least a 3 day block for these GDOs as well.

Full disclosure, I'm a middle seniority guy here at 15 years. I would stand to benefit pretty good in the next few years when I can finally get to <50-60% in base and then get "all weekends and holidays" off.

Another fix for our UPA is to create a "green slip" type system like DL.
Why is it the top 10% in base can literally drop every trip they want and wait for the premium to roll in while mid to jr lineholders can't get jack? At DL, once you get one premium, more Jr lineholders get a shot at a premium prior to the Senior picking the bone dry.

We've got a problem here at United that's engrained in our culture, and it's basically a "SENIORITY TRUMPS EVERYTHING" culture.

Originally Posted by Zoomie

Even DL and AA realize that "booking" the jumpseat is a great QOL enhancer, but here at United, we want the Sr guys to be able to show up 30 mins prior to departure because they got in early and snag that jumpseat, even though there was another one 2 hrs later they had planned on.

Originally Posted by rickair7777

A few golden days per year is fair enough, and common enough. But two a month? Fairly senior peeps would very quickly get only one weekend off a month because most juniors would use their GD's for a weekend.... the b-day or soccer game on the third Tues of the month sounds nice but anybody without kids is going for weekends. And a lot of the folks with kids.

ME3 doesn't do nearly as much of that stoopid seniority stuff... for example EVERYBODY gets a month or two of reserve each year.



That's a bit different, it's not unreasonable to force seniors to show their hand in advance, not doing so is just laziness. Kind of like they have to bid in advance for those weekends and holidays off... they can't just re-assign their trip to a junior lineholder at the last minute.

Originally Posted by ThumbsUp

Yes, that’s true, but my point was that most people who could bid NB CA (and are not) wouldn’t be subject to reserve at all, so the unfilled vacancies are also due to other reasons.