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AirTran Pilots...

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-9Capt

Well-known member
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For obvious reasons, it's a good idea to print this out and carry it in your flight case to refer to as needed.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Reassignment, Down Line Draft and Junior Assignment


The following is a summary of the CBA provisions governing reassignment, down line draft and junior assignment.

Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the items below and follow along in the CBA, pages Section 5, Part III, page 5-3-8--10

All involuntary flying must fall under the guidelines of one of the following:

Reassignment

*A reassignment is defined as any change to a pilots schedule where legs of flying were removed and replaced with a new assignment which is reasonably expected to conclude within three hours of the original pairing. If the company does not schedule the pilot to end his trip within three hours of the original pairing, it will be considered a downline draft.

*It must return the pilot to his domicile no later than the same calendar day.

*Pilots must normally accept reassignments that extend outside the original duty period, however, if a pilot can not comply with a reassignment due to an extraordinary personal hardship, the pilot may decline the reassignment. A LPR will be required.

Downline Draft

*A down line draft is defined as the addition of a flight segment which continues as an existing pairing -or- is any change to a pilot’s schedule where legs of flying are removed and replaced with a new assignment which is expected to extend beyond three hours of the original trip pairing.

*Flights must be reasonably expected to depart within 2 hours of the pilots inbound arrival time.

*There may be no more than three flights (including any deadhead), the last of which must return the pilot to his domicile on the same calendar day, this does not preclude a pilot from voluntarily accepting a draft that flies into the next calendar day.

*A pilot may only be down line drafted once a month and a pilot may only be down line drafted for flights which are reasonably expected to depart within two hours of his inbound arrival time.

*A pilot who is downline drafted will be provided a hotel room at his request

*A pilot must normally accept downline drafts, however, the pilot may decline the assignment due to an extraordinary personal hardship, a LPR is required.

Junior Assignment

*A pilot is considered to be Junior Assigned when he is assigned to a flight or series of flights which occur on his day off.

*A pilot may only be junior assigned once a month, and a total of six times a calendar year.

*A pilot may only be junior assigned on the same calendar day as the notification.

*A pilot must be returned to domicile on the same calendar day as the junior assignment.

*A pilot may not be junior assigned to a multiple day trip.

*A pilot must normally accept a junior assignment, however, if the pilot is unable to comply due to an important personal circumstance, the pilot may decline the assignment. A LPR will be required.

Additional considerations

*The pilot will be pay protected for any removed flying resulting from scheduling illegalities due to a reassignment, downline draft or junior assignment.

*All reassignments, downline drafts or junior assignments may not result in a scheduled duty day exceeding 12 hours.

-----------------------------------------------
 
Check flica for the latest edoc regarding coverage.


Hence the reason for the above post.


Very important thing to keep in mind is that the company CAN NOT DRAFT YOU ON A DAY OFF IN ADVANCE OF THAT DAY.

If you have off on Christmas, they can not assign you a trip on the 24th. The trip has to be assigned on the say day it operates, which means you answered your phone.

Everybody have the contract compliance phone number? It should be programmed in your phone. This is a fine opportunity to stand up and be a man, (or woman).
 
Whoa, whoa, whoa,,,, wait a second there.

Did I read that e-doc correctly?

Mandatory working on your scheduled days off, assigned in inverse seniority order? Such assignments to be on your schedule by today at noon?

WTF? Looks like I picked the wrong time to be on probation!! :(
 
Whoa, whoa, whoa,,,, wait a second there.

Did I read that e-doc correctly?

Mandatory working on your scheduled days off, assigned in inverse seniority order? Such assignments to be on your schedule by today at noon?

WTF? Looks like I picked the wrong time to be on probation!! :(


Welcome to your "New World"

Absolutely ridiculous!!!
 
If it's an illegal assignment (which they are), politely decline and call contract compliance.

Already made Christmas plans? Sounds like you may have "an important personal circumstance" that would prohibit you from working on that day.
That provision is in the contract for a reason, don't allow yourself to be intimidated into not using it.
 
What's the problem... they do it to the rampers all the time from what I understand ? Heck... we're not special...

Get ready folks.. its gonna be a peaceful XMas.... Innovative and Dedicated...committed to delivering the best flying experience !!!
 
Doesn't sound like fun there. Good luck!

As a side note; do you get paid time and a half for JA etc?
 
President’s Update Dec 15th, 2006 Previous Updates


Special Presidents Update Friday, December 15, 2006
Regarding: Holiday Coverage Plan from Tabor and Klaus
The early junior assignment and doctor excuse that was put out in the Companys Holiday Coverage Plan yesterday is illegal. The open time over the Christmas Holidays was significant. NPA was encouraged that the Company took our advice by trying to get volunteers at premium pay and cutting the trips up to cover some of the Christmas open time. The incentive program was not enough to cover all the open time as of yesterday.
NPA will continue to try and resolve the Christmas open time issue. But for now, the Company is not willing to increase the premium pay for this one time event. We have been working with the Company, and in fact, they said they would let us know if they were planning anything other than the incentive program. They did not. They just notified us that they were putting out this letter. So, once again the company is deliberately and illegally defying our contract.
You need to know a couple of things.
• It is illegal to junior assign outside the day of.
• In spite of what the Holiday Coverage Plan implies, NPA does not condone AirTran to illegally give early junior assignments
• Doctors excuses are not provided for in the contract
• NPA has offered the Company relief for junior assignment of the day of, by allowing them to junior assign now but they must pay a premium. The premium is double time. This will give them the coverage they need and still be legal.
• NPA is actively exploring alternatives to stop the Company from disregarding the contract including injunctive relief.
We hope to have more information from the Company later today.
Captain Allen Philpot
President, National Pilots Association
[email protected]
404-559-7700 x 202
 
Doesn't sound like fun there. Good luck!

As a side note; do you get paid time and a half for JA etc?
Yeah, but time and a half at F/O pay isn't worth my Christmas Eve.

Hell, tripple time and a half isn't worth my Christmas Eve... I can and do make better money when I'm not at work.

And yes, my family rescheduled their Christmas plans around me having Christmas Eve off so I do have "other important plans".

Don't get me wrong, my experience here has still been 99% fun, but this crosses the line between "bending" the contract, and bending us "OVER" the contract...
 
Hmmm... very strange.

There isn't a SINGLE trip in open time in CrewTrac for 717 FO's for the 23rd OR the 24th...

Did they just hide it so we couldn't see it? Or did they yank it so we couldn't see what was left when they start the J.A.'s? I thought it was a contractual requirement that it be left in open time so people could take it if they wanted?

Weird...
 
This is complete Crap. I'm getting f-c-ed so hard you don't even realize. Working on 2 day that I originally had off, and I mean I bid a reserve line with chrismas and new years off. How can you j assign a guy on x-mas eve and x-mas when he already had it off. I know you friggin can't. I feel for the traveling public I do. But maybe stranded passengers will make these guys in Orlando start bargaining in good faith.

P.S.
Kolski is an idiot
Klaus is a chode
 
BR715, Reserves can not be junior assigned under any circumstance, ever. Call contract compliance.

The trips have been assigned in reverse seniority order. Clearly a contract violation.

Remember this, you have the right to decline a junior assignment based on an important personal circumstance. If it is causing you problems, submit a LPR and decline the assignment.

Read the contract, page 5-3-8 to 5-3-10. This is a perfect opportunity for us to show our collective discontent, stand up and be a man.
 
This is complete Crap. I'm getting f-c-ed so hard you don't even realize. Working on 2 day that I originally had off, and I mean I bid a reserve line with chrismas and new years off. How can you j assign a guy on x-mas eve and x-mas when he already had it off. I know you friggin can't. I feel for the traveling public I do. But maybe stranded passengers will make these guys in Orlando start bargaining in good faith.

P.S.
Kolski is an idiot
Klaus is a chode

Call in sick.
 
I normally don't make many comments here but I feel compelled to put my two cents in:

1) Am I happy I have to work through Christmas? no. Our company, however, got caught with their shorts down due to an oversight in the implementation of something (FLICA) that every pilot is happy that we now have. After giving all the incentives they "claim" they could - to include premium pay, positive space commuting tickets, and hotels - they didn't have enough people who wanted to help keep their jobs secure.

2) They did the next thing they could to protect the most important part of our business - our paying passengers. Could you imagine the tens of thousands of passengers getting stranded on Christmas eve because of a labor issue at our airline.
We all might get Christmas off next year and the year after.

3) You say well "it's not my fault their system messed up". No it's not, but you can certainly be a team player and be part of the solution that corrects the problem. Your generosity will most certainly be rewarded someday.

4) Most people who claim they had those days off, and are now flying, only got those days off because of a glitch in the system. Had that glitch not ocurred, they would not have been allowed to swap out of Christmas and would still be flying on Christmas. No harm, no foul.

5) The company was planning on and drafting people on Christmas anyway. So now you have a week to plan around your being drafted. Would you rather think your done with a trip on the morning of the 25th, only to have someone waiting at the gate with your draft notice for another three legs? I sure would rather have time to plan.
I'm sure you would all answer your phones on Christmas day when the company came calling for a JA.

1) Finally, we have a place (NPA website) and a process (grievance, injunction, etc) for this time of ranting. Using a public website to rant and whine (albeit warranted) about your company will get you nowhere. All it will do is weaken your airline's value on the "street" and jeopardize your family's well being.

Have a nice day and Merry Christmas
 
Very well said AFcitrus. :)

In my opinion if you have been at an aviation job less than 2 years (minimum). You should expect to work on Christmas period. You probably got hired thinking, "well im gonna have to work holidays" now it seems many are singing a different tune all the while thinking "someone else will cover it" you are right, someone else will cover your trip but it wont be pilots, it will be the 5 and 10 o'clock news along with CNN and FOXNEWS channels saying how Airtran canceled hundreds of flights over the holidays due to a computer glitch and lack of crews. No one will come back next year and we will all be out of a job.

Now dont get me wrong, I dont think the company did the right thing -- the way that they went about doing it was wrong (especially assigining reserves on their days off ) -- in fact in some aspects its very wrong. But think about why your here in the first place, because of the passenger and if they dont come back were all screwed especially if we are at the bottom of the list.

Like AFcitrus said, its better to know now then the day of. Fly it and Grieve it. Hopefully this pushes the company to get the contract settled more quickly and lets take this to a private forum.
 
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First, there is not just one issue that caused this to come about. It also had a LOT to do with our seat being short-staffed.

Second, don't throw some generalization out there that "MOST" of those who were off were only off due to some "glitch" in the system... I SPECIFICALLY BID for Christmas off. To get any of it off I could only hold a reserve line with the 22nd - 24th off (Christmas Eve), but it was better than nothing and I otherwise would have held a hard line, so I OWNED THAT DAY OFF. Period. Not through some computer breakdown.

Third, it's not "hundreds of flights". There were 63 uncovered pairings on the WORST day the morning they started all this (according to Planning), less on other days.

Lastly, do you REALLY think the public is going to have a long-term memory about that sort of thing? Nope. They go where the lowest fares are. Period. If we had an extensive work stoppage over a month or more, then probably yes. One hiccup? Got one phrase for you:

Northwest meltdown Christmas '04. Stranded THOUSANDS of passengers. They still came back.

I like it here as much as the next guy, but I SPECIFICALLY came here and turned down Netjets because I like being able to bid my schedule in advance. Period. If we quit having that ability during important holidays, then what the hell are we doing in an industry that has this cyclical CRAP we put up with every 7-10 years?

This treatment should NEVER be tolerated, as it undermines ALL for which we have fought and suffered.

You guys need to quit drinking the company kool-aid.
 
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