Q400 FO schedules

[kellwolf]

Okay, so I recently heard that the Q400 FOs were not allowed to bid for schedules and were just given schedules to work. Is that true? If so, that SHOULD be the nail in the coffin for a union vote.

[dingo222]

thats the 12th box of nails in the coffin for the union vote

[kellwolf]

Eh, nevermind. I saw the post in the other Colgan thread, and it is true.

[UPSpilot]

Originally Posted by kellwolf

Okay, so I recently heard that the Q400 FOs were not allowed to bid for schedules and were just given schedules to work. Is that true? If so, that SHOULD be the nail in the coffin for a union vote.

What if the company "gives" you a better schedule than you could have held if bidding by seniority?

[kellwolf]

Originally Posted by UPSpilot

What if the company "gives" you a better schedule than you could have held if bidding by seniority?

Knowing the holding company that pulls Colgan's strings as well as I do....that's not gonna happen. If they could give us 10 day off lines with 95 hours of flying, they would. As another pilot put it, "we suffer from the high cost of low overhead."

[SmitteyB]

What if you bid a line and are senior enough to hold it, but instead you get a weekend line which you did not bid.

To make things worse, the line your bid was awarded to an FO who is 60 numbers junior to you and not even in base?

[kellwolf]

Originally Posted by SmitteyB

What if you bid a line and are senior enough to hold it, but instead you get a weekend line which you did not bid.

To make things worse, the line your bid was awarded to an FO who is 60 numbers junior to you and not even in base?

Congrats. You're now ready for the joy that is Pref Bid.

[CAPIP1998]

The only "Green on Green" reason for doing this, that I can see, is to pair experienced FO's with green CA's. Most of the green CA's are the lower seniority CA's who have the less favored lines. So in essence, they are making senior FO's work less favorable lines, and the Junior FO's get the premium lines. So I guess seniority really doesn't mean anything here. Look at the bright side, maybe I'll get to upgrade 3 months before the guys more senior than me. Who knows...

[OldComputerGuy]

Originally Posted by CAPIP1998

The only "Green on Green" reason for doing this, that I can see, is to pair experienced FO's with green CA's. Most of the green CA's are the lower seniority CA's who have the less favored lines. So in essence, they are making senior FO's work less favorable lines, and the Junior FO's get the premium lines. So I guess seniority really doesn't mean anything here. Look at the bright side, maybe I'll get to upgrade 3 months before the guys more senior than me. Who knows...

That's exactly right - it's a reverse seniority system for the FO's. So much for the benefit of being the third most senior FO on the Q systemwide....

To make matters worse, if you need a specific day off you can request it via email, and they will accomodate it if they are able to. So does that mean that if you request a specific day off and are denied, that you'd better not call out sick that day since they already have evidence that you wanted it off to begin with? And forget about trip trades. I requested one for the beginning of this month, and they didn't bother to tell me it was denied until the day before the day I needed off.

[USMC-SGT]

Originally Posted by CAPIP1998

Look at the bright side, maybe I'll get to upgrade 3 months before the guys more senior than me. Who knows...

I wouldnt expect an extra 100 hours of time in type to propel you ahead of guys more senior to you. With any luck the union will come to fruition and all of the backdoor colgan buddy deals will go away and seniority will actually matter.

[kellwolf]

Originally Posted by OldComputerGuy

So does that mean that if you request a specific day off and are denied, that you'd better not call out sick that day since they already have evidence that you wanted it off to begin with? And forget about trip trades. I requested one for the beginning of this month, and they didn't bother to tell me it was denied until the day before the day I needed off.

You sure they still have the SOCs separate? That sounds EXACTLY like over here at PCL. You're lucky if you get any response on a trip trade. If it's approved, go to a casino. You've got some serious luck. They just sent out a new policy not too long ago. Request to drop a trip and it's denied, don't call in sick. They'll MT you in a heartbeat, and you'd need a doctor's note to get it excused.

[Teller1900]

Originally Posted by kellwolf

Knowing the holding company that pulls Colgan's strings as well as I do....that's not gonna happen. If they could give us 10 day off lines with 95 hours of flying, they would. As another pilot put it, "we suffer from the high cost of low overhead."

I think they prefer 10 days off with 73 hours of flying (they don't want you getting over-gaurantee), at least for the last few months that's been the case.

[Cruise]

Originally Posted by kellwolf

You sure they still have the SOCs separate? That sounds EXACTLY like over here at PCL. You're lucky if you get any response on a trip trade. If it's approved, go to a casino. You've got some serious luck. They just sent out a new policy not too long ago. Request to drop a trip and it's denied, don't call in sick. They'll MT you in a heartbeat, and you'd need a doctor's note to get it excused.

Guess that means if you REALLY need a day off. Don't bother trying to help the company by trip trading. Just call in sick and screw 'em...let them figure it out with 4 hours notice, instead of two weeks.