The new airline thread

[icohftb]

So which company if any tends to be better about dropping trips/minimizing your work days?

[SocialD]

9 hours ago, icohftb said:

So which company if any tends to be better about dropping trips/minimizing your work days?

That's a tough question to answer.

At Delta, being able to drop trips is highly dependent upon the staffing in your particular category (Base/plane/seat)...which can change drastically in a years time.  When I first started on the 73, I couldn't drop a thing and had to hope for someone to take it off my line.  As time when on, staffing improved and trip drops were more prevalent, but not always an option.  On the WB I'm on, we are overstaffed so I can drop at my leisure.  Also, WB reserves tend to spend A LOT of time at home.  Even in one of our busiest months (June), I only went to work 6 days. 

The other thing WB provides is generally more pay for days gone.  Ex....on the NB a 3-day generally pays 15:45 (though they're slowly creeping up), whereas on a WB they're generally closer to 17-19.  Next month I have two 3-days that pay 26:10 a piece.  I don't even think we have 4 days on the NB that pay 26 hours.

My two cents...If you want to make the most amount of money per days worked, look at SWA or get on a long-haul widebody as soon as possible.   

That said, having flown the 737, I can't imagine having to fly it for the rest of my career...  Even at just shy of 6 foot, it's pretty damn uncomfortable.  However, it's hard to deny the flexibility of a single plane fleet provides for the pilots, not to mention what they can make per day worked.

[Hacker]

On 7/23/2018 at 9:58 PM, BADFNZ said:

The thing that I constantly hear about Fed Ex/UPS is the schedule being heavy on night lines and it takes a toll on your body/life.  For you cargo dudes, what percentage of lines are overnight?

Here's about as specific data as I can get you: 50/50.  As of this morning, my logbook has my Purple flying time with 732.2 hours, 365.9 is day and 366.3 is night.

This is the context:

I have been at FX for just over 2 years, so still quite new in the grand scheme, but at 80-ish% seniority at the company already due to the constant hiring in the last two years and the steady retirement flow.  I'm on the A300, which is nearly all domestic flying, with a little international that goes very senior.  I am at about 69% (NS-TFS!) seniority in the right seat, and for some perspective the Bus is a relatively senior airplane because of the domestic-only widebody flying: the top half of the A300 FO list is very heavy with senior FOs who have been parked there for years and are not moving.  The bidpack for the A300 is about evenly split between day flying and night flying, with a lot of variations of it (out-and-backs, multi-day trips, hub-turn overnights etc) of both day and night flavor.

My seniority progression (in terms of schedule bidding) has been rapid, to say the least.
- After completing training, 3 months of reserve, most of which was A Reserve (night flying).
- Could hold secondary lines at month 4 out of training (secondaries are flying lines made up of scheduled trips and sometimes reserve days.  Some months had nights, some months had days)
- Held commutable night flying lines at 12 months at the company (9 months out of training)
- Can hold commutable day flying lines at less than 2 years at the company.

The interesting thing is that night flying doesn't necessarily always go junior.  Over the last two years, my day/night balance has pushed over into 60/40 days and 60/40 nights, depending on what I bid and what I can hold, but up to this point it always trends back toward the center of 50/50. 

We shall see what it brings in the future now that I can consistently hold commutable day-flying lines, and that's what I intend to keep bidding.

For some further context, I had originally intended to bid over to the 777 as soon as I could, due to a bunch of factors that @JeremiahWeed has posted about in these threads before.  However, the last two system bids at FX have seen a lot of A300 FOs leaving for greener pastures (either 777/MD FO, or 75 Captain, or even A300 Captain) and very few FOs coming *to* the Bus. This is mostly because the guys coming off the 757 have a much easier transition training difficulty & footprint going to the 76 than to the Bus.  What this means is that my seniority continues to rapidly advance in the right seat of the Bus -- in fact, scheduled to go up 30+% in just this next 12-18 months. 

So...I kicked back the plans to leave, and am instead going to enjoy a little taste of seniority (rather than "juniority") here this early on in my career at Purple.

[okawner]

So which company if any tends to be better about dropping trips/minimizing your work days?

From what I hear tell, SWA has it pretty good in this regard. Maybe cause all their trips seem to be 3 days it makes it easier to plug and play, dunno.

[FUSEPLUG]

5 hours ago, okawner said:

17 hours ago, icohftb said:

So which company if any tends to be better about dropping trips/minimizing your work days?

From what I hear tell, SWA has it pretty good in this regard. Maybe cause all their trips seem to be 3 days it makes it easier to plug and play, dunno.

The last part is true.  3-days are the easiest currency to work with in our trip-trading systems and are the majority of what scheduling builds.  One of the recent articles from SWAPA  had the 2018 breakdown as 9.5% turns, 11.5% 2-days, 64.9% 3-days and 14.1% 4-days (rounded).  The 3-day number is actually down a bit, but the 1- and 2-day numbers are up.  I've found the 4-day trips to be the hardest to manipulate when tweaking my schedule.  

However, completely dropping trips (you giving back to the company) is impossible except for mil leave, and vacation drops.  Giving away trips (someone else taking a trip from you) is a bit easier, but is highly dependent on the quality of the schedule you were able to bid (weekdays, 3-days, start time, commutability, etc).  A lot of guys try to maximize their schedules by "clearing their board" and picking up stuff that pays better and/or playing the premium game - which hasn't been too great lately.  But again, success with that is highly dependent on seniority.  

Just my perspective three years in and coming up on 50% seniority in seat/base.

Edited July 27, 2018 by FUSEPLUG
Edit for clarity in the last sentence.

[FUSEPLUG]

1 hour ago, FUSEPLUG said:

 I've found the 4-day trips to be the hardest to manipulate when tweaking my schedule.  

Well, an hour after saying this, I was able to turn the 4-day I had at the end of August into a 3-day thanks to a text from a software system SWAPA recently brought back.

LineTuner lets us put in a set of criteria for a trip we are looking for (days, pay, overnights, show/release...).  If a trip becomes available in any of our trip-trade systems, it shoots a text to you letting you know... but you gotta be quick.  Fortunately, I was fast enough to get on and take advantage of a positive "net zero" in our company trade system (ELITT) and it made my 4-day a 3-day.  The net zero thing sounds a lot like the American green/red/redder thing discussed earlier and is another alert option LineTuner gives us. 

I always hear people say we have the best flexibility, and I believe that's true IF you're ready to spend some time behind the keyboard.  When our ELITT (Enhanced Line Improvement Trip Trade) opens up on the 25th, it is a literal feeding frenzy for the first 10 minutes before all that is left is min-paying scraps.  After that, stuff will pop up here and there as folks go in and make trades.  That worked out for me thanks to LineTuner.

Do your research.  If you're looking to not work like icohftb was asking about... stay away from SWA.  I've never "worked my ass off"  like you'll see over at APC, but it's not WB reserve at AA/DAL/UAL.  You'll get to fly a 737 for 3 days at a time, and when things start getting squirrelly in the system, you'll be duly compensated for your inconveniences.  

 

[ImNotARobot]

Purple truth...

Big “2” on all points as an MD-11/10 guy slightly junior to Hacker. It’s a question of months, not years, before your schedule gets amazing. And we can drop to the company (assuming reserve coverage). We can straight up drop reserve, without having to handcuff it to mil leave (assuming reserve coverage). We can trade trips/reserve with other pilots. It’s fantastic.

I’ve sat a total of 3 DAYS of reserve in Memphis as a FDX pilot...just couldn’t drop those three consecutive days due to the reserve coverage for that period. I was awarded 3 months of reserve off IOE against my will.

Now the only time I’d ever bid reserve is to conflict it with training, vacation, or another trip. Don’t want to delve too far down into conflict bidding vs. pref bidding system (PBS)...but being at an airline with conflict bidding is a BIG DEAL.

[TreeA10]

At AA, one of our pilots wrote an app/program called LiteSabre.  Based on what preferences you select, the app constantly pings the AA computer to improve your schedule through trades or trip pick-ups.  The program also pulls information about flight delays, gates, etc. As a dude sitting reserve, I don't have much use for it for the guys that use it, love it and says it is worth the $20(?) per month cost.

[Lord Ratner]

At AA, one of our pilots wrote an app/program called LiteSabre.  Based on what preferences you select, the app constantly pings the AA computer to improve your schedule through trades or trip pick-ups.  The program also pulls information about flight delays, gates, etc. As a dude sitting reserve, I don't have much use for it for the guys that use it, love it and says it is worth the $20(?) per month cost.

Honestly, I'd pay the $21 just for the automatic Google calendar updating. I got my first line next month (hired in March), so I signed up. Lite Sabre is amazing, even on reserve. You should sign up for the free month to see if you agree, but when I end up back on reserve next year, I will keep it. The HIRPB interface is great. When you're a line holder, it's almost silly to not have it.

[TreeA10]

1 hour ago, Lord Ratner said:

2 hours ago, TreeA10 said:

At AA, one of our pilots wrote an app/program called LiteSabre.  Based on what preferences you select, the app constantly pings the AA computer to improve your schedule through trades or trip pick-ups.  The program also pulls information about flight delays, gates, etc. As a dude sitting reserve, I don't have much use for it for the guys that use it, love it and says it is worth the $20(?) per month cost.

Honestly, I'd pay the $21 just for the automatic Google calendar updating. I got my first line next month (hired in March), so I signed up. Lite Sabre is amazing, even on reserve. You should sign up for the free month to see if you agree, but when I end up back on reserve next year, I will keep it. The HIRPB interface is great. When you're a line holder, it's almost silly to not have it.

I plan on signing up when I change airplanes this winter. Pretty sure I'll be able to put it to good use. 

[Runr6730]

5 hours ago, TreeA10 said:

At AA, one of our pilots wrote an app/program called LiteSabre.  Based on what preferences you select, the app constantly pings the AA computer to improve your schedule through trades or trip pick-ups.  The program also pulls information about flight delays, gates, etc. As a dude sitting reserve, I don't have much use for it for the guys that use it, love it and says it is worth the $20(?) per month cost.

I prefer manually pinging G2 and the scheduling Lt to improve my schedule. Much more interactive that way.

[HarleyQuinn]

Airline pilots protest a study on allowing cargo planes to be operated by only one pilot with remote help

https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-travel-briefcase-remote-pilots-20180804-story.html?outputType=amp

[isuguy1234]

Anybody on here recently hired by airlines with close to min time for their requirements?  Curious to see hour numbers and type aircraft flown of mil peeps getting hired.

[Duck]

Anybody on here recently hired by airlines with close to min time for their requirements?  Curious to see hour numbers and type aircraft flown of mil peeps getting hired.

Just got an interview with SWA with:

2,800 total
1000 hrs in T-6
1500 hrs in KC-135

Not sure how close that is to “min time” but probably pretty low comparatively.

[herkbier]

Congrats!

[Homestar]

most airlines have a military multiplier.  .3 per sortie or whatever.

Volunteer for more deployments?

[nunya]

25 minutes ago, Newb said:

Are B-1 hours weighed differently compared to other heavy airframes?

Oh, you're a B-1 guy?  Sorry, we didn't realize that.  You better call the CEO directly.  He's expecting your call.  

[Sua Sponte]

Whoops

https://www.ktvu.com/news/2-bay-area-pilots-indicted-on-charges-of-lying-on-medical-forms

[Hacker]

1 hour ago, Newb said:

Are B-1 hours weighed differently compared to other heavy airframes? I’m only flying about 100-150 hours a year and at this rate, I will only have about 2000 total hours at the end of my ADSC, when most heavy pilots have about 3000.

Don't worry about that, it won't likely be an issue.

[pawnman]

3 hours ago, Newb said:

Are B-1 hours weighed differently compared to other heavy airframes? I’m only flying about 100-150 hours a year and at this rate, I will only have about 2000 total hours at the end of my ADSC, when most heavy pilots have about 3000. What else can I do (EP, safety, masters, etc) to be prepared for a airline opportunity down in the future?

You'll get about 500 hours per CENTCOM deployment.  Not a pilot, but I've been flying the jet for about 10 years and I'm at 3000 hours.

[dream big]

9 hours ago, nunya said:

Oh, you're a B-1 guy?  Sorry, we didn't realize that.  You better call the CEO directly.  He's expecting your call.  

Pretty sure he wasn’t asking for special favors..B-1s fly a lot less than Mobility and 1x B-1 hour is not equal to 1x airlift hour.  Just like the fighter guys usually get a boost for low relative hours. 

[Guardian]

Fighter guys boost isn’t because they fly less.

[Kenny Powers]

On 8/30/2018 at 7:26 PM, pawnman said:

Not a pilot, but I've been flying the jet for about 10 years

How'd you convince the pilots to let you do the flying?

[HuggyU2]

https://www.foxnews.com/travel/2018/08/30/woman-claims-united-airlines-paid-her-75-hush-money-after-man-masturbated-next-to-her-for-hours.html

 

Really?  For "hours"?  

Sounds... impressive.

 

[hindsight2020]

10 minutes ago, HuggyU2 said:

https://www.foxnews.com/travel/2018/08/30/woman-claims-united-airlines-paid-her-75-hush-money-after-man-masturbated-next-to-her-for-hours.html

 

Really?  For "hours"?  

Sounds... impressive.

 

It's an old buddhist martial art called 'edging' bro. Read up on it when you're ready to step up the smash game. BL, when it comes times to (and I quote the legendary Dio here) ride the Tiger, you are inside (not sts) the slam-mat's TC the entire time. They always come back for more. It's the real sport of kings afaic.