clownhater said:
What are the reserve skeds like on the 757 Intl side of things at UPS? Specifically days off on reserve--are the skeds always 8 on 6 off or are there ever only 4 on and 3 off or so? Or is it something extreme like 14 on 12 off? For lineholders, are there lines with more than 15 days off or is that not an option unless you are very senior? Thanks
When you’re talking days off, you have to remember UPS does not have monthly bids (30 or 31 days) as most airlines do. We have 28 day bid periods (4 weeks) and bid 2 of them (56 days) at a time.
That said, most of the 757 international (known as SDFZ, or simply “Z”) reserve lines are either 16 on, 12 off or 8 on, 6 off. I don’t recall seeing any 4 on, 3 off schedules in the Z, but they do exist on other fleets.
The worst-case scenario is that you have the last 16 days of the bid period “on” and end up with a line that has the first 16 days of the next bid period “on.” This will result in 32 days-in-a-row of reserve. Not much fun if you’re a commuter.
I’m not a line holder so I don’t look much at the number of days-off in the hard lines. When I can hold a line, as a northeasterner, I’d personally be more interested in lines that have a DH to/from EWR or PHL on the beginning and/or end of the trip…or layovers at these places during the trip. I recently flew an 8 day Z trip and spent 3 full days at home during the trip. Made my 16 day stint of reserve much more bearable.
All of this is subject to change once the contract negations are complete and the new scheduling article is implemented.
RO
