It can turn a 4 day into a 6 day trip.
I know most on the east have not used PBS before and something new is not well liked. If you talk with the west pilots who have been on PBS for a few years now you will find out that a six day trip is not allowed. Contractual language does not allow a pilot to build a trip longer than four days. As for the contractual language for flight attendants the company can not build trips longer than four days.So if the flight attendants would go to the PBS system you can put the fear away of having to work a six day trip.
Scheduling for the West is a rather simple exercise. It's a one-trick pony where essentially everything is a form of out-and-back.
Obvioussly you have never been into see the west scheduling department and how we operate. It is not a one trick pony and all the trips are not out and backs as you claim. Sure we only have one crew base but try recrewing a flight out in PHL, CLT, JFK, DCA, and EWR. If you look at a lot of the west pairings, especially the flight attendants, quite a few of them depart PHX and do not return until the fourth day. Not very easy to recrew when your crew base is 3000 miles away.
Next time you are in PIT you are more than welcome to come and sit with us. Just send me an e-mail and the west scheduling department will be happy to answer questions and show how things work on our side of the operation, pilot and flight attendant.
This response reminds me of the old Robert Palmer song... Addicted to Love. You had to have been around in the 80's to remember it.
The opening line says it all. "The lights are on, but your not home, your mind is not your own."
If as a result of PBS the company builds early departure trips from CLT or PHL and if those trips happen to terminate in or after the last bank then you are screwed. You now own a non-commutable trip that requires you to travel to base the day before you originate and stay until the morning after it terminates. Hence a 4 day trip is now a 6 day trip.
I just flew a late departure out of PHX yesterday. There are no similar late departures in PHL. If you are not "Out of Dodge", ie PHL by about 8:00 pm you are screwed. If your trip comes in after that you are buying a hotel. Likewise an early origination. You are likely going to have to arrive the day before to make the check in.
You have totally missed the point. One Central point I raised in that post was, How many F/A's commute to PHX?
The consensus answer is 25 to 30% of the West F/A's commute to PHX. So if that is the case you are asking over 70% of the airlline F/A's to conform to the lifestyie of the minority West FA's that live in PHX.
The company has creadted a Nomad class of employee out East. It is not a well known fact but at it's height PIT as a crew base was larger than America West ever was. The closing of PIT was similar to the closing and relocation of you entire airline. Since then we have also closed LGA and BOS. You are totally missing the point.
Now as to the scheduling ability of Team Tempe... That is a world class joke. "Boy Wonder" Scott Kirby had to stand up in front of the employees in January and say that the company totally messed up in the Jan storm and parked crews with the clocks running and burned up all the available crews resulting in massive cancelations. They did a little better in February, but still way below par.
The Mayflower landed on Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. The first winter was devastating to the Pilgrims. The cold, snow and sleet was exceptionally heavy, interfering with the workers as they tried to construct their settlement. March brought warmer weather and the health of the Pilgrims improved, but many had died during the long winter. Of the 110 Pilgrims and crew who left England, less that 50 survived the first winter.
The early settlers figured out East Coast weather in a hurry, Team Tempe doesn't get it. They bought a company who's primary routes are in the worst weather section of the country. When was the last time PHX went down in Fog, A Blizzard on any other significant weather?
We out East are not at all impressed with the operational ability of West management. They are very good at marketing and finance, outstanding in fact. But after watching this management in action East employees are very wary of giving Team Tempe a blank check with regards to scheduling. The current East Pilot contract will be 60 years old next year. ALPA was recognized on the property in 1951 and 2011 will be 60 years of continous representation. Remember under the RLA contracts never expire, they are merely amended. The West agreement is from 2004 for the Pilots and I am not sure how old the FA agreement is. That is why we are wary. We have worked under an agreement that has evolved for almost 60 years and we are very wary of younsgters from the desert who claim to have the latest and greatest.
As to visiting you facility, no thanks. If you represent management or someone who wants this PBS system it is your job to sell me. I already have what I want in scheduling. You need to get out of your office and sell over 10,000 East employees F/A's and pilots that you have a better plan.
