OK, my bad. 12 days of 8 hr turns for 96 hrs, and 5 days of airport ready reserve (of which they could only get 4 hrs of flying out of me before I hit the monthly max) for a total credit value of 116 hrs and 14 days off.
Seriously, it is hard to mess up day trips. I am not on the 737, but aren't the SJU and PHX day trip lines pretty nice?
It depends.
The memo also said that, initially, trips would be 1- and 2-days. The 1-day trips concern me as they might be mostly comprised of Stand-ups / CDO's / High Speeds. I don't do those. Fatiguing for me = safety problem. I don't switch back and forth from one side of the clock to the other just for a few days very well. Once I'm ON a night schedule? Sure. No problem. But not switching back and forth every 3-4 days.
Until we see how they're going to build the lines, bid at your own risk...
For those of us on "the other side"
, can someone explain the differences between a full base and a "virtual" base?
Thanks
pfp
A "full" base has specific language in the contract for it. Most specifically, language that governs how it has to be staffed, that it must have crew rooms, sleep rooms, check-in computers, a domicile chief pilot, that bidding has to be open for it for all pilots on the seniority list (depending on your carrier, it sometimes even opens slots for other pilots to change aircraft), and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, it has penalties to be paid by the company if they close it, i.e. if you're displaced out of domicile. This makes it expensive to just open a "seasonal domicile" then close it later, thereby making it more appealing for a pilot who might actually want to LIVE in that base and move his/her family for it.
A "virtual" base is what AirTran Flight Attendants have. It basically allows the company to create lines of flying for those flight attendants in another base (there is currently a F/A "virtual" base in MCO, but no pilot base). However, they can flex the lines up and down (build more or fewer lines or increase / decrease block/credit hours from month to month) or not have any virtual base lines AT ALL from one month to the next. It's dynamic and helps the company to a certain extent when they want to add crews for seasonal ramp-ups in certain high-density cities for us (BWI, MCO), but it has no protections for someone who actually wants to BID there and live.
There's a lot of arguments for and against a VB here, which we've gone over a lot on our private board, but the primary concern is protection for someone who wants to move, with an important secondary concern of what it would do to the lines of flying for ATL if, suddenly, we allowed a VB in MCO and they shifted a lot of flying there. It very well might turn ATL into a primary CDO/Standup and Day Trip base, killing commutability, or MCO might be that way.
Without some serious protection language, i.e. the ability of the union to kill the VB at any time if the lines of flying degrade for a substantial number of pilots or some other adverse consequence is realized, a VB is a bad, bad idea here.
Personally, I won't vote for a T.A. that includes any language for Pref Bid and/or VB that doesn't have the ability for the MEC to kill it AT ANY TIME. Not just during a trial period. If management has taught this pilot group anything, it's that they can make things very appealing to get something they want, then turn it back to their advantage and hurt our QOL as soon as it's convenient for them.
I want my company to be profitable, but not at the expense of the employee's Quality of Life. If they don't like those limitations, they can keep the current systems in place.
