For
@Autothrust Blue and
@PhilosopherPilot here is the 'why'. To make it clear, I bid 83ish% in base and can be a very junior line holder if I want to be.
Fundamentally the system developed here in the United States is seniority based. Folks entering the industry (unless they have NO idea) know that it is seniority based and they are signing up for the fact that they may need to work days/lines/etc. they don't want to. It is what it is. No matter if you work for XYZ Airline, public service, or corporate America, there are benefits of seniority. Yes, they are magnified at airlines, but seniority does have it's privileges. As
@ATN_Pilot said is it 'fair' for the guy who put his time in at a company to be expected to sit reserve/airport standby in base if they commute and can easily hold a line? It isn't.
If this rotating reserve bull-crap is proposed you are opening a pandora's box of possibilities of what else may be proposed from management about ways to get around the seniority system. Do folks go back and forth between seats? What about how vacation is bid/awarded? Pay? And so on and so forth. Why reinvent the system?
We need to invest in the system (more on that later) rather than think we are smarter to reinvent it.
From an operational standpoint there is consistency with generally the same folks being assigned reserve schedules vs. line holders. Having guys/gals go back and forth constantly between reserve and line holders would reduce reserve availability overall.
It is also a very narrow minded misconception to think that if you rotate folks you are 'spreading the pain'. For example, I am purposely bidding reserve in November/December to be off Thanksgiving and Christmas even though I can hold a line. Someone junior to me is getting a line that may have wanted one but wasn't expecting to get one because they were below the line holder line here. If they are a commuter being a line holder vs. reserve is very beneficial to them. Furthermore, at my place,
@Derg, and
@Autothrust Blue father is at you have folks who bid aircraft based on a lifestyle. They mainly bid the wide-bodies, bid reserve purposely, and go months without flying (if they were line holders they would fly 9 days a month but fly less than that on reserve). As a matter of fact, reserve on our wide bodies go REALLY REALLY REALLY senior. Would it be 'fair' to 'spread the pain' and have them fly if they don't want to? Or would it be better to allow their seniority to hold reserve and not fly?
Those two concepts, the fact that there are senior line holders who will bid reserve in months like November and December AND the fact that there are 'life style' pilots who will bid reserve purposely are the driving forces that create good reserve language (
as I said invest in the system). 'Spreading the pain' between everyone once every 12 months will actually put you at a negotiating disadvantage because folks will say, 'well why invest in the reserve rules if I only need to do it once a year for 30 days? I will just take my vacation weeks the reserve month I am assigned.'
Investing in good reserve rules that make it attractive for guys/gals like myself and life style pilots purposely bid reserve when they can be line holders is the key to moving the junior guys from reserve to line holders.
So that is the 'why'. There is nothing wrong with the seniority based system. We just need to make sure we
invest in all seniority ranges.
