Delta work rules

[roadrunner]

Got the conditional offer from DAL last week and was wondering if any of you guys could fill me in on some work rule specifics..
-How does reserve work? Can you bid on open trips as a reserve?
-How long can one expect to be on reserve on a narrowbody?
-How flexible is swapping/dropping, etc for lineholders?

 

[General Lee]

Got the conditional offer from DAL last week and was wondering if any of you guys could fill me in on some work rule specifics..
-How does reserve work? Can you bid on open trips as a reserve?
-How long can one expect to be on reserve on a narrowbody?
-How flexible is swapping/dropping, etc for lineholders?

You can bid for open trips as a reserve, but that doesn't mean you will get them. Crew Scheduling owns the trips. It is their job to try to give each reserve 69.9 hours a month if they can, and not let them get over 70 hours, which is the guarantee.(although many reserves do fly above 70 hours during the busy months) It saves the company money that way. Also, if you have 5 days left and someone else has 4 days left, it behooves scheduling to give the other person the open 4 day because you would still have one day left and probably be unuseable. They assign a "raw score or value" for each person and the one that has the number that they need usually gets the open trip. You can try for the trip, but it doesn't mean you will get it. As a reserve you will get a certain number of short call days where you will have to be ready for the call, and I think they are 12 hour periods, (with 8 24 hour short calls for INTL reserves). A lot of this may have changed, since I haven't been a reserve in years, but I think that is pretty close.

On the narrowbody, you may be a reserve for 6-12 months. For a widebody, expect a couple of years if you bid it early after you start as a newhire.

Swapping or dropping drips as a lineholder is easy, as long as there is enough coverage. If there aren't enough reserves, then it is tough to drop a trip. We do have the ability to swap trips on a special swap board, though. Being a line holder allows you a lot more flexibility.

Good luck and congrats.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Heavy Set]

Got the conditional offer from DAL last week and was wondering if any of you guys could fill me in on some work rule specifics..
-How does reserve work? Can you bid on open trips as a reserve?
-How long can one expect to be on reserve on a narrowbody?
-How flexible is swapping/dropping, etc for lineholders?

Congrats!!!!

 

[BuckMurdock1]

Another semi-related question for Delta insiders:
About how long of a wait to be able to hold LAX? Years? Decades?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

Probably less than a year if they actually start the mainline expansion out there.

 

[FDJ2]

Another semi-related question for Delta insiders:
About how long of a wait to be able to hold LAX? Years? Decades?

Thanks in advance.

LAX 767 F/O is relatively junior. For the sake of comparison, the most junior LAX 767 F/O is about 6400 on the list, the most junior NYC MD88 F/O is about 6800 on the list. I expect LAX will take about a year to hold.

FYI, it looks like ATL 767, ATL and NYC 767ER will be going to 1st year pilots. We have an advanced entitlement posted for these categories that went unfilled, pilots who complete their initial new hire training will most likely get several of those vacancies.

 

[BuckMurdock1]

Thx for the info!

 

[michael707767]

You can bid for open trips as a reserve, but that doesn't mean you will get them. Crew Scheduling owns the trips. It is their job to try to give each reserve 69.9 hours a month if they can, and not let them get over 70 hours, which is the guarantee.(although many reserves do fly above 70 hours during the busy months) It saves the company money that way.

I want to disagree with Gen Lee a little bit. He is right to one extent, ideally, scheduling would prefer you not fly 80 hours if another reserve only has 60. If one guy flys 80, and another 60, then it costs them 150 hours of pay to cover 140 hours of flying (80 hours for one guy and the 70 gaurantee for the other)....vs each reserve getting 70 hours. However, don't think that scheduling goes out of their way to limit you to 70 hours. Of the 14 or so months I have spent on reserve in the last couple of years, I went above 70 in all but one of those months.

The contract is pretty specific on who gets trips. The average scheduler does not have the time to figure out how much flying you do or don't have. When a trip comes up, the computer has a list of who should get the trip, and they assign it to the top person on the list.

 

[Whataburger]

Are they keeping the current uniforms?

 

[General Lee]

Are they keeping the current uniforms?

Well, we don't get cool "Fonzi" leather jackets like you do, and we have to wear a hat, which most passengers expect from a pilot. But, we can wear the hat any way we want, and I wear mine like a French Baret.

Bye Bye--General Lee