DarkSideMoon

Of course it’s significant, we have a scenario where they are understaffed in the left seat enough that it’s hampering expansion plans. This is the time to cash in that chip. It wouldn’t have been valuable a decade ago and I doubt it will be nearly as valuable in a decade.

Andy

Reserves can pick up PPU trips.
1) APU if they're on reserve over those days. No premium paid.
2) A reserve can pick up open time on VDOs at 50% premium pay. See 5-E-8
I've had reserves pick up trips I've watched as PPU increased but hadn't yet reached 100%.

89Pistons

I don't think it's something we offered. It's something the company wanted. Why? Even though they won't immediately reap the benefits from that section.
In the future, pilot bidding behavior won't be as much of a function of section 5 and 20 as a result. Lessening the need for the company to improve upon those sections. They'll just force new hires into them, creating a pseudo up or out for those that get left with no other choice than to take the bid in the drop with all of the strings attached.

Regionals pay direct entry captains 100 G's in bonus money. I have a feeling we gave this to the company for pennies.

flyalear

This depends on your base and airplane. for at least the last year or two ewr 320 is not great. no LC days, either flying or on sc/fsb, not enough apu which makes it challenging to go over guaranty even though you are used 17/18 days, many rsv trips get back after 9pm, etc. in base life is just barely manageable giving you are on a perpetual leash. not sure how one commutes to this.

JTwift

As I said, no PPU on their reserve days. Picking up a PPU trip and not getting the premium is….not a premium trip. I’m not sure what your point 1 is, other than to agree with me.

For point 2, that’s pickup up stuff on your days off, and it vastly favors locals. So big QOL hit for working on one of your few days off.

And those reserves that APU trips are doing it so they can have some sense of predictability in their lives and, for those who commute, gets them out of the crashpad and earn some per dime. It’s certainly not because you have a great shot at breaking guarantee. I TRULY hope (and am cautiously optimistic) that this contract fixes that issue with reserve. Life is so unpredictable that our reserve system is (currently) a tragedy.

JTwift

I’m not on the 320, but having 40% of your trips be out of LGA…..woof. Constantly back and forth. That $95 doesn’t even cover half the Uber/Cab, and if you do the subway/train method, that’s several hours of your day.

Andy

I've seen a decent amount of commuters picking up with VDOs out of SFO. YMMV.

I have spent most of my career on reserve and frankly, I've read a lot of recommended fixes to reserve. A positive change for some reserves can be a negative for others.
I have no recommendations on how to improve reserve, but I do know that the earlier start time on day 1 in the Tumi was a huge negative. And having seen that may be one reason why many are waiting until they're solid lineholders to bid up.
Another reason why I think we're seeing people slower to bid a higher band is that current pay rates are good enough at the lower end that they'd rather have a higher QOL than a larger paycheck.

JTwift

I pulled my CA bid last minute because I really need to see the true language in the TA. After last summer on reserve, I just couldn’t stomach the thought of another day being on reserve with our current language.

Andy

I fully understand that line of thinking and do not blame you at all for being hesitant. And with as fast as things are moving, you can wait until the TA is out and have the pilot group analyze the language.

On the new contract, I expect the company to get more hours of work out of every pilot. How that translates to lineholders and reserves will be interesting to watch. The stick approach has cost them in that people don't want to bid into reserve.
One of the big problems with the Tumi TA is that we had FTFPL lifers negotiating on our side. If I had heard one of the more egregious UAALPA penguins say, 'we don't think the company will do that' one more time during the hardsell on the contract, I was going to pop a blood vessel. When this contract is done, I REALLY hope that Garth cleans up shop and only has people on FTFPL that have flown the line full time for at least 12 months out of the last 60. Let the penguins find a desk job somewhere else, not UAALPA.

Andy

I expect to see PPU remaining the same or increasing, especially during the high demand times (summer, holidays).
My take is that the company wants to extract more hours of work every month out of each pilot. If they have to pay some PPU to get higher productivity, they will do that.
But that's just my opinion.