ASA Occurence "system"

[328dude]

Let me add my two cents. I am currently an ASA crewmember and I am having to deal with this bull**** occurance system. The best advice I can give anyone is to keep good records. If you are legitimately (excuse the spelling if its not right) sick and have records of doctors visits, prescriptions, etc, then you would win any battle against the company concerning being away from work. I am not saying that it wouldn;t go to court or the department of labor but in the long run you would win or could sue the company. I currently have a sinus/ear infection and I am dealing with those idiots as we speak on missing work. In addition to your own MD and record keeping the FAR's 91 & 121 prohibit you from flying if you are ill. That is something that the ALPA Aeromedical office could deal with as well. Granted its alot of hoops to jump through and may require legal action but you would win against ASA. Hope this helps.

Why don't you just go out on FMLA. We have a lot of pilots that have taken that route at our airline.

 

[IFlyFL410]

True story. An ASA RJ Captain is in his boat fishing on his day off. As is common when fishing, this pilot is enjoying the malted beverage of his choice. The phone rings, he answers it and is junior manned for a trip with a two hour call out, but "get to the airport as soon as you can." He says, I can't fly, I'm out in the middle of a lake with a beer in my hand. They say tough, you get an occurrence for being unavailable for assignment and we already put this trip on you. He gets an occurrence and his sick bank gets whacked for the value of the trip. The kicker is that since he was under guarantee, he gets no pay for all the sick time that he just got taken from him.

Twice I have been called on my day off, told them I was simply not available and I have the occurrences to show for it. It absolutely sucks to be with your family enjoying one of your measly 11 to 12 days off several hours from the airport and to get whacked.

Sure, you say, "don't answer the phone" but sometimes your wife answers the phone before you have time to scream "Nooooooooooooo!" and dive across the living room like a scene out of the Matrix.

Pur next contract M U S T severely limit non voluntary junior manning and like Fed Ex, the Company should have to declare an emergency and pay 250% to rob us of our time. We are not slaves, we have lives out of work. A day off is not a day of reserve. This concept is a strike issue for this pilot.

Easy Solution.....First, don't give them your Home number, that should be a no brainer. Second, give them your cellphone number and just screen your calls. IT's a very simple process. It's served me well for several years now. And if you're on the lake and answer the phone like that, then you deserve the occurance for being an idiot. I believe this happened before scheduling was using the phone cards to disguise who they were, so I'm sure he saw the 404 area code. He had to have known who was calling his phone. They all have caller id's now.

 

[CheeseHead13]

Gotta love this!

I have been sitting on reserve all week without a call and I have my two days off coming up. So what do they do? The night before my days off they deadhead me somewhere so I can fly it back and get in at 10:30 at night. BS!

 

[erj-145mech]

I have been sitting on reserve all week without a call and I have my two days off coming up. So what do they do? The night before my days off they deadhead me somewhere so I can fly it back and get in at 10:30 at night. BS!

Well then, why don't you just show them and quit!!

For crying out loud, did you get hired to fly airplanes? Was it a normal duty day? Yes, its BS that you cry about having to do your job. What a fricken cry baby.

 

[79%N1]

Easy Solution.....First, don't give them your Home number, that should be a no brainer. Second, give them your cellphone number and just screen your calls. IT's a very simple process. It's served me well for several years now. And if you're on the lake and answer the phone like that, then you deserve the occurance for being an idiot. I believe this happened before scheduling was using the phone cards to disguise who they were, so I'm sure he saw the 404 area code. He had to have known who was calling his phone. They all have caller id's now.

IFLY.....I gotta disagree with you here. Even if you ARE dumb enough to answer your phone on an off day, if this P.O.S company thinks they can give us an occurance while we are off doing our own thing on our own time, that is B.S!!! We shouldnt have to worry about crap like that! If I'm off, I should be off.

 

[flyby]

Huh?

I have been sitting on reserve all week without a call and I have my two days off coming up. So what do they do? The night before my days off they deadhead me somewhere so I can fly it back and get in at 10:30 at night. BS!

I don't understand your complaint. You were on duty. The others in this thread were off duty and given occurences for being unable to accept a junior man assignment.

 

[av8er2]

Hey Mr. FAA if you want to do your job this is one system you need to look at!!

This has made a lot of ASA pilots fly sick and bust FAR's over the years. I can't believe the FAA has allowed this. I can say all of this because I have been here long enough to see it in action.

100% of ASA pilots I have ever discussed this subject with feel it is dangerous and against the FAR's.

 

[~~~^~~~]

It is worse with the poor flight attendants. They fire them for sick calls at the drop of a hat. I have asked several flight attendants to call in sick when it was obvious they should not be out flying. They are required crew and if, God forbid, we ever have to emergency evac, how the flight attendents perform is more important to passenger safety than what I do after the parking brake gets set.

 

[erj-145mech]

Hey Mr. FAA if you want to do your job this is one system you need to look at!!

This has made a lot of ASA pilots fly sick and bust FAR's over the years. I can't believe the FAA has allowed this. I can say all of this because I have been here long enough to see it in action.

100% of ASA pilots I have ever discussed this subject with feel it is dangerous and against the FAR's.

Continental Express (ExpressJet) has this policy also. A couple of LEC's wrote the POI about this subject. The official reply is that the FAA has no stance on company policy or contractural affairs. In other words, the FAA is in the companies corner.

 

[sgwabd]

True story. An ASA RJ Captain is in his boat fishing on his day off. As is common when fishing, this pilot is enjoying the malted beverage of his choice. The phone rings, he answers it and is junior manned for a trip with a two hour call out, but "get to the airport as soon as you can." He says, I can't fly, I'm out in the middle of a lake with a beer in my hand. They say tough, you get an occurrence for being unavailable for assignment and we already put this trip on you. He gets an occurrence and his sick bank gets whacked for the value of the trip. The kicker is that since he was under guarantee, he gets no pay for all the sick time that he just got taken from him.

Twice I have been called on my day off, told them I was simply not available and I have the occurrences to show for it. It absolutely sucks to be with your family enjoying one of your measly 11 to 12 days off several hours from the airport and to get whacked.

Sure, you say, "don't answer the phone" but sometimes your wife answers the phone before you have time to scream "Nooooooooooooo!" and dive across the living room like a scene out of the Matrix.

Pur next contract M U S T severely limit non voluntary junior manning and like Fed Ex, the Company should have to declare an emergency and pay 250% to rob us of our time. We are not slaves, we have lives out of work. A day off is not a day of reserve. This concept is a strike issue for this pilot.

Just because your wife answers the phone, doesn't mean you have to take the call unless you are on reserve during the time at the call. Just tell your wife to tell the caller, my husband isn't taking phone calls. No one lies, and you don't get junior manned.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Just because your wife answers the phone, doesn't mean you have to take the call unless you are on reserve during the time at the call. Just tell your wife to tell the caller, my husband isn't taking phone calls. No one lies, and you don't get junior manned.

Yeah but unfortunately your wife gets an occourance now. :erm:

The company only has my cell phone, and if I don't recognize the number no matter what area code pops up, you can leave a message and I'll call you right back.

 

[J bar]

From the original 3 nap senerio and you plan on being sick for the 3 naps..... can you non-rev between your pairings or it considered a big no-no. My time off is my time off right? Or not?

I know to jump with someone else is still the best answer, but what if there is not too many options.

 

[HoserASA]

>>>>I wonder if the feds (Kosta and Turner) are aware of the ASA's attempt to coerce pilots into flying while sick because of this system. <<<<<

You kidding me? Feds are more concerned about you placing your overnight bag in the overhead!

 

[Stifler's Mom]

From the original 3 nap senerio and you plan on being sick for the 3 naps..... can you non-rev between your pairings or it considered a big no-no. My time off is my time off right? Or not?

I know to jump with someone else is still the best answer, but what if there is not too many options.

If you are sick according to the company's records, I wouldn't dare set foot on a plane as a non-rev. Now, if there is some dire emergency or other circumstances, I would contact a Chief Pilot for help. I've heard of people being fired for non-reving while officially out sick from work.

 

[NoPlaneNoGain]

True story. An ASA RJ Captain is in his boat fishing on his day off. As is common when fishing, this pilot is enjoying the malted beverage of his choice. The phone rings, he answers it and is junior manned for a trip with a two hour call out, but "get to the airport as soon as you can." He says, I can't fly, I'm out in the middle of a lake with a beer in my hand. They say tough, you get an occurrence for being unavailable for assignment and we already put this trip on you. He gets an occurrence and his sick bank gets whacked for the value of the trip. The kicker is that since he was under guarantee, he gets no pay for all the sick time that he just got taken from him.

Twice I have been called on my day off, told them I was simply not available and I have the occurrences to show for it. It absolutely sucks to be with your family enjoying one of your measly 11 to 12 days off several hours from the airport and to get whacked.

Sure, you say, "don't answer the phone" but sometimes your wife answers the phone before you have time to scream "Nooooooooooooo!" and dive across the living room like a scene out of the Matrix.

Pur next contract M U S T severely limit non voluntary junior manning and like Fed Ex, the Company should have to declare an emergency and pay 250% to rob us of our time. We are not slaves, we have lives out of work. A day off is not a day of reserve. This concept is a strike issue for this pilot.

This one is easy!
You first get the Schedulers name, ID#, and the CONFIRMATION # for the trip. Then you tell them that you ACCEPT the trip, BUT since you are on the lake and have a beer in your hand that you will be there for the trip in at least 8 hours (bottle-to-throttle). Of course, this will defeat the purpose of the scheduler calling you since they need you now, but you have accepted the trip and that is the earliest that you can be there. Now, the scheduler will probably change his mind and give the trip to someone else. The beauty of this scenario is that you now have a confirmation # to claim on your paysheet!