Voluntary Options Opening

Crazy. :wacko:




I don’t know if anyone knows what to expect from here on out. Will they get their terms? How will it change our work lives? Do you know of any airlines that do this new reserve block thing? Does it work well?
Delta does block reserve days.
 
“I think going to a reserve block is better for the junior people.”
Maybe it's good for all concerned. I don’t know. Reserve is just terrible all around—junior or senior.


“I don't think the company cares what people like…”
And that’s a shame. Disgruntled employees don’t make a good airline. <_<


“…I'm not sure if you will be able to trade or drop your reserve days.”
Reserve is reserve. There’s no getting around it. We’ll have to sit in our commuter pads and wait for a trip. Maybe we’ll actually get trips with the new system.
 
Just to inject a little twist into the discussion, don't forget that preferential bidding is in the mix... You pick your days off and type of flying.

That's going to make it a lot more interesting for the "I only bid London" types. Would it be enough to drive a few more out the door?...
 
Just to inject a little twist into the discussion, don't forget that preferential bidding is in the mix... You pick your days off and type of flying.

That's going to make it a lot more interesting for the "I only bid London" types. Would it be enough to drive a few more out the door?...
Delta, among other carriers, does that too.
 
Just to inject a little twist into the discussion, don't forget that preferential bidding is in the mix... You pick your days off and type of flying.

That's going to make it a lot more interesting for the "I only bid London" types. Would it be enough to drive a few more out the door?...
It's going to hurt the junior person on international the most.There is no way they will be able to avoid domestic trips.The biggest thing about preferential bidding is you can't make yourself illegal for trips going into the next month.Also if they get rid of the 30 and 7 they can give you a lot more hrs in one week,example 4 transcon turns in a row.
 
It's new, and the 420 hr per year to get benefits and accrue vacation and sick time goes up to 540. There are a number of things that never appeared in any of the previous proposals, including but not limited to, elimination of overtime, preferential bidding, 100 hr monthly cap, changing of reserve system from entire month every four months to a block of days every month.

I'll be toast as well, unless they get a really huge number of retirements or negotiate the proposals down a bit. At least they know me at the unemployment office.

MK
Similar to DL.


Do you know if they like it? If you can like reserve? :blink:
It depends on who you ask and their situation. When we started the new reserve system, I had not been on reserve for many years. Then, I had 3 reserve days thrown on my line in NYC. I had a crash pad anyway, so it wasn't the worst thing. The thing I liked about it was that you could preference trips-and I almost always got a 3 day international the day before my A Days started. After about 6 months, my seniority (14 years at that time) no longer had reserve days. The top 25% (I think that is the number) of each base never had reserve. Depending on the needs of the base, some people with as little as 10 years never had reserve. After much complaining, DL started placing 9 A Days on new hires lines and 3 days on more senior reserve lines. Everybody is a lineholder with this program; so that's a bonus.
 
Just to inject a little twist into the discussion, don't forget that preferential bidding is in the mix... You pick your days off and type of flying.

That's going to make it a lot more interesting for the "I only bid London" types. Would it be enough to drive a few more out the door?...
In general, I don’t think international FAs mind picking up a domestic seq once in a while. It’s like being on a baby plane with an easy bake oven. It’s sort of fun once in a while. But I know that domestic FAs—especially the senior mamas--don’t care for the long INTL trips. <_< You either like INTL or you don’t.

I think both domestic and international would agree that there needs to be a bit of consistency (e.g. early sign in with early sign in the next day vs. early sign in then late sign in, etc.). Maybe they will have something similar to reserve preferences in bidding like PM1 or PM2?

I bid turns now because they are easy to drop. They go like hot cakes, as you know. I would bid differently if I did not plan to drop some trips.
 
It's going to hurt the junior person on international the most.There is no way they will be able to avoid domestic trips.The biggest thing about preferential bidding is you can't make yourself illegal for trips going into the next month. Also if they get rid of the 30 and 7 they can give you a lot more hrs in one week,example 4 transcon turns in a row.
That sounds like one of those "work rules" that results in pay for hours not flown. I expect that the APA and APFA will see those kind of rules trimmed/eliminated.
 
That sounds like one of those "work rules" that results in pay for hours not flown. I expect that the APA and APFA will see those kind of rules trimmed/eliminated.
They don't pay the line holder for the trip.But the company has to keep more reserves on those days to cover those trips.
 
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We all need to remember that under the new regime there won't be any moredomestic vs International. You may be a senior f/a who flys only international trips, but that does not make you an "international"fa. EVERYONE will bid for what they want, but those of us who aremore junior will have x numberof reserve days on our schedules every month.
 
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Ya think? I was just trying to make the point that saying things like "this will really hurt the junior International f/as or senior domestic f/as" has no meaning any more if the company gets its way. There will be one f/a corps. Some may bid only domestic trips and some may bid only International trips, and some may bid a mixture (one of the niceties of PBS). But, there will be no distinction between the two. Those who are subject to reserve must be qualified on all a/c and in overwater drills, etc because on the 3-6 days of reserve a month you might be sent out on any trip domestic or international. The senior International and Domestic f/as of today will probably bid only international or domestic trips in the future. But, once the company gets a combined f/a corps they might come back at some point and say everyone has to be qualified on everything.
 

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