Commutair-typical schedules?

[utahpilot]

what would be a typical schedule for a newhire at CA? I know ya'll do 16 on 12 off per bid, can you do 8 on, 6 off, 8 on 6 off, or would you exceed rest requirements?

what I'm wondering is how able you are to 'tailor' your schedule as a newhire or an FO with a few months seniority? what are show and release time like? is it possible to do 5 on, 5 off or any combination?

UP

 

[CA1900]

Well, as a newhire with a few months seniority, you're going to get a pretty uncommutable schedule, if that's a concern. The bulk of our trips (out of Albany, anyway) start at 11am and end at 11am the next day, with an overnight somewhere. (For the next bid, that's been moved to 330pm, and there was a huge backlash from all of us who commute in the northeast. I think it'll be back to 11am next time.)

Part of the problem is that, with the exception of Cleveland flights, CommutAir doesn't operate on Saturdays or Sunday mornings. So if you're junior, you get stuck doing trips that start on Sunday afternoon (with no way to get there on CommutAir), or end on Friday night (with no way to get home). The junior guys also get stuck with a two day that reports at 5am one day, and releases around 9pm the second day. If you live at your base, that's not an issue; if you commute, it is. Just FYI. As you move up in seniority, you'll be able to pick better trips.

As for building your schedule as you like, yes, you can do that (we bid day-by-day with a leftover-trip sheet faxed to us each month), but with some significant caveats. First, you must take one calendar day off after 6 days of work. Even though you might be able to work out to have 24 hours off by bidding one trip into the next, they won't let you do it. So you can work 6 on, 1 off; that's the most. Second, *every* crewmember is required to work a weekend trip and a friday trip each bid, regardless of seniority, and even if there's a junior crewmember who could cover it. Even our #1 captain. Very annoying. Finally, you have to pick, from your leftovers, trips that add up to fit within a fairly arbitrary hour window that the schedulers come up with. (Last month I think it was 65-72 hours.) That's tough to do when you don't have many leftovers to pick from, and you might end up working days you *should* be able to bid off, but can't because the trip you need to make your time is only available on that day.

The perk of all this, of course, is that as you gain seniority you're able to really custom-tailor your month, those restrictions aside. That's nice. The last few months, the bids have been really hard to put together. It goes in cycles, I guess. I can't speak for our Cleveland domicile; it may be easier with those trips. I dunno.

In any case, as a newhire, you're not going to have much choice in your schedule anyway. One perk is that nobody is forced to work nothing but reserve for months on end. Everybody gets to pick at least a few trips each bid. The bottom guys end up having to work 6 or 12 days of reserve per bid.

Hope that helps.

 

[utahpilot]

thanks, that does help. I really wanted to know about CLE, but the ALB info is very informative.

if trips begin and end at 11 AM, can you bid one into another? In other words, can you start Mon at 11, finish that one and start a new one Tuesday at 11, and so on for 3 in a row to do the 6 days? With all the other conditions satisfied that you mentioned, how hard would it be for a newhire to do that (6 on)? Or, would that not work since you may be delayed to finish one making you late for the next?

what I'm trying to figure out is how hard it would be to do 6 on, 4 off, 6 on, 4 off, 2 on, 6 off or some combination close to it that would maybe make for an easier commute from out west.

also, what are the 2 days like, how many legs, how long are legs, etc?

UP

 

[Company Man]

Actually flew with an FO today who does the commute from SLC. I think that we now have 3-4 Utah pilots here.

As far as the ending one trip and starting another, it can't be done with the way the trips are set up. (For the record I'm ALB based and am not familiar with the CLE trips). The way the trips are now you fly anywhere from 4-5 hours the first day ( 5 legs) and a little over 3 the next (3 legs). The new schedule that was mentioned above just flips that around 3 legs the first with 5 the next. Starting and finishing a trip on the same day creates all kind of rest issues, as the overnights are generally a little above the minimum required rest. By doing two trip in one day pushed you into a higher rest requirement.

Not sure how much monger the expansion is going to last, but if it stays on track, the senior FO in the company will have about 8-10 months seniority. If you have any questions feel free to PM me.

BTW you fly for Great Western?

 

[utahpilot]

SLC

thanks for the reply.

no, I don't fly for GWA, but I did rent their planes for lots of my instrument and commercial.

I guess I'm not understanding the scheduling very well. (BTW, I interview there next week). I understand that they are all 2 days trips, starting on one day and finishing the next. So, if you started one on Monday, finished on Tuesday, you can't start a new one until Wednesday, right? Meaning that, if the trip ends at 11 AM or so, and you didn't live there, you'd have to have a crash pad to go to until the next day for your next trip?

how do the SLC guys do it then? I looked at schedules on CAL and it would take like 6-8 hours to get to SLC, thru MSP or IAH, there is no direct flights.

I'm trying to figure out what a newhire would be looking at as far as a schedule, a domicile, etc.

how do you like it? how long have you been there? are you from UT? do you commute? what is your schedule like this month?

sorry for all the Q's, just trying to get an idea of how life would be for an SLC guy with wife and 2 kids who doesn't want to commute but can't really afford to move right now.

thanks TONS

UP

 

[buckdanny]

CLE

How senior (or junior) is CLE? Do new hires have chances to be based there or is it more of a senior base?

Buck

 

[LaxPilot]

CLE is, as of now, a Jr. base. But with a great portion of our pilots commuting, It may / will turn Sr. quick.


Send in your cards, have a say in your future.

 

[NEDude]

CLE is senior for F/Os, but very junior for Captains - all upgrades are getting CLE. New hires who want CLE are having to wait a bid to get it. But it is expanding so rapidly that spots keep opeing up. That will change come August.