Delta Shuttle Schedules

[MTR300]

Two questions for my education.

1) Just curious if the Shuttle is bid separately, or if it's part of your line of flying. For example: On a four day trip do you see America for two days, then do the Shuttle for two days, or are there pure shuttle lines?

2) As a line holder, what is the minimum amount of time you can drop down to? I know that at United it's 50 hours.

Thanks in advance.

 

[FlyingSig]

Shuttle flying is just part of the NYC MD88 bid package. If you're senior you can do as much or as little shuttle as you want...

You could drop down to zero if we had the staffing, but for the better part of my career at Delta you can't drop one trip due to no reserve coverage. Keep in mind, there's no lineholder "guarentee"...you get paid what you fly.

 

[Monster Buck]

Shuttle flying is just part of the NYC MD88 bid package. If you're senior you can do as much or as little shuttle as you want...

You could drop down to zero if we had the staffing, but for the better part of my career at Delta you can't drop one trip due to no reserve coverage. Keep in mind, there's no lineholder "guarentee"...you get paid what you fly.

I thought the monthly guarentee was 65 hours?

While we are at, what are the differences in the "shuttle" versus any other flying? pay....?

 

[tblosser]

I thought the monthly guarentee was 65 hours?

While we are at, what are the differences in the "shuttle" versus any other flying? pay....?

Reserve guarantee is 70 hours there is no line holder guarantee. The shuttle pays the M88 rate and operates between LGA BOS & DCA. Most guys like the flying but last time I looked the trips are mostly day trips so it you commute it can be rough.

 

[slinky]

Yes, the shuttle can be brutal for a commuter. The lines are great if you live in a drive of the DC, LGA, or BOS airports. Lots of guys will do shuttle work who live in DC or BOS because they can basically be home every night.

That being said. Guys either love or hate the shuttle. For a commuter I could not do it for long. The fact that you are covering 3 airports is a killer also. Most get a crash pad near LGA. To get to JFK it is either a bus to a train to the airtrain or some version of QCAB or a car service. The latter option cost ~20 bucks each way.

 

[Monster Buck]

Yes, the shuttle can be brutal for a commuter. The lines are great if you live in a drive of the DC, LGA, or BOS airports. Lots of guys will do shuttle work who live in DC or BOS because they can basically be home every night.

That being said. Guys either love or hate the shuttle. For a commuter I could not do it for long. The fact that you are covering 3 airports is a killer also. Most get a crash pad near LGA. To get to JFK it is either a bus to a train to the airtrain or some version of QCAB or a car service. The latter option cost ~20 bucks each way.

I thought I had seen guys talking that they took the md88 out of nyc and held 16day off lines in only 4 months with commutability on a least one end? Are they just able to get non shuttle flying on the 88 in that amount of time?

 

[slinky]

Oh, you can totally hold a line on the 88 in NY in a month or two. As to being commutable....maybe on one side. There are a lot of day trips on the shuttle. So plan on spending a lot of nights in the crashpad. You can probably avoid the shuttle and just fly mainline stuff by month three or four.

Those will be commutable on one side.

 

[slapstick]

for someone mid-seniority in NYC on the MD88, if you bid weekends off, you'll end up with mostly shuttle trips, and about 7 or 8 nights in a crashpad. If you're willing to work weekends, you'll get 3 and 4 day "see america" trips and only spend 4 or 5 nights in the crashpad. If you commute on the shuttle or from somewhere with a lot of frequency, you can probably hold nearly fully commutable schedules if that's your priority.

 

[Monster Buck]

thanks man that sounds better!

 

[FlyingSig]

I thought the monthly guarentee was 65 hours?

Lines can't be built by PBS with less then 65 hours, but there is no guarentee... if PBS can't build you a line in the ALV threshold, you'll be on reserve (regardless of senority, things like MLOA, recurrent, vacation, etc.. can knock you to reserve when you're normally a lineholder...happened to me in DEC thanks to the mysterious unstacking rules)