BoilerUP

Domestic EDW week on/off lines would not functionally change much. Basically those lines would go from credit under guarantee to credit over guarantee, paying more for the same work. However, the Company (Solver) may not want to pay 82.4hr from a bid line construction perspective and decides it is more cost effective to build lines with a 144hr trip and a 120hr trip. That leads to a line crediting just over guarantee, but fully 24hr less work. And since the contract states trips cannot be added once line credit reaches 75:00, you've now made the same money for less work OR more money for the same work. The crewmember won't get a decision on that, the Solver will dictate which is most 'cost-effective' in a given solution...but either outcome moves the football down the field from where we stand today.

The impact of a trip rig change becomes larger to longer trips, though supportive language changes could protect against unintended downside impacts.

Now consider a potential trip rig change with things like an increased MPDP/MPRP, Unaugmented Long Duty Day Rig, and International Block Hour Override. The cumulative impact of these pay factors would have a significant influence on how the Solver builds trips domestically and internationally, EDW and non-EDW, week on/off or Base Line, as well as Opentime and JA for all fleets and domiciles.

There's no singular silver bullet to "fix" schedules, but the world we live in today did not exist in 2016 thanks to the Solver. There's a number of ways to counter its impact on bid line construction - some of which are direct language, others are less direct but can be just as influencial.

Recliner

​​​​​​ Extending into your second day off on Z and 74 should be so blindingly expensive scheduling will have to wake someone up in Atlanta to get permission.

navigatro

+1.

someone (not me) suggested a volunteer extension list (a preference in CMS that could be changed at any time) - you select if you are willing to be extended into days off. So for example, they need a Z capt to extend a day from CGN. Rather than just picking someone at random, they look at the list and pick the person who is ok with being extended. The ones that want to get home on time will do just that (unless no volunteers).

Lowslung

Good idea. Additionally: double the LAP if you're a non-vol.

ducgsxr

Yes. Absolutely this.

MD11Simnerd

Great concept, the "unless no volunteers" is the issue. No way to see the volunteer list, or really enforce. CS will do what takes the least effort and covers the flight. The current reserve extension, especially in ANC, but could be everywhere, can be a brutal tool the company can and has used when things are short. The way this was presented vs. the way it is applied are wildly different worlds, especially with multiple shorter blocks of reserve.

tnkrdrvr

Like everyone, I want better QOL. Like everyone my definition is different, which is why it can be so hard to negotiate for. As far as money goes, the flat dollar multiplier needs to be $5,120 simply to keep pace with inflation since 2016 (https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/). Our pay has done better relative to official inflation, but obviously lags industry standards by a wide margin. Industry standard retirement is 18% with cash over cap of a much higher earnings number. The cost of well qualified 121 pilots has gone up. Management will simply have to find their profit margin elsewhere.

Night_Hawk

funny, I always thought you were ST for some reason.

Swedish Blender

There-in lies the problem. Someone senior can already hold the 120 hour trips (Sun-Fri), but now they would lose the day that someone else would gain. QOL improvement for junior pilots , but at a loss for more senior pilots.

airplanes

Looks like Flight Qualified Leader positions are hiring again. Aren’t we trying to get rid of managers at the moment?