CT's Email to ASA Pilots

[777forever]

It appears that we all need to educate ourselves. After speaking with several XJT pilots, some of whom are now here at ASA, it's clear that the line bidding system in use at XJT is quite different than the former system used at ASA. And considerably superior.

The PBS system at ASA is getting a bum rap. This is not because PBS is undesirable, but due to the weak contract language in the PBS LOA (as well as our contract). The LOA provides company with far too much latitude in pairing and line construction. We have been suffering with very poor quality pairing construction for a long time and frequently the pairings vary widely from one month to the next. The company's ability to manipulate pairings almost carte blanche, as well as the credit threshold is primarily responsible. As an example: July has lower credit pairings with a higher credit threshold. With our lame provisions for training credit, 16 hours credit for 4 days of training, or the equivalent of a 16 hour 4 day trip, the person with AQP such as myself gets pretty well shafted as the system looks to assign the minimum 90 hour credit threshold. With the lower credit trips available, this yields fewer days off for many of us. Since PBS was implemented, they've been all over the board with these variables producing little consistency from month to month. It's crucial to remember that this is not the fault of PBS but a symptom of a poor contract. This problem is what needs to be corrected with the JCBA.

Why do people keep saying the credit for July trips were low? Majority of 4 days were over 21 hrs. Im junior and was able grab a 25hr and 24hr trip