Question about minimum monthly hours at Majors

Hootie

Hootie

Old Skool
I had a Southwest pilot tell me once that he works one to two days a week and that they didnt have any rules for how little you worked. I am curious if anyone knows if there is a minimum amount of monthly hours required at other airlines like United, Delta, American, and Airways? At Skywest our minimum monthly hours can be waived by us down to 58.6 (ish). Our hourly rates aren't high enough to make this feasible, and also you need to be in the top 20% and/or we need to be overstaffed to get it. If anyone has the scoop on how this works at the better jobs I would appreciate it! Thx!
 
Hootie said:
I had a Southwest pilot tell me once that he works one to two days a week and that they didnt have any rules for how little you worked. I am curious if anyone knows if there is a minimum amount of monthly hours required at other airlines like United, Delta, American, and Airways? At Skywest our minimum monthly hours can be waived by us down to 58.6 (ish). Our hourly rates aren't high enough to make this feasible, and also you need to be in the top 20% and/or we need to be overstaffed to get it. If anyone has the scoop on how this works at the better jobs I would appreciate it! Thx!
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At Southernjets, you can bid so many hours under the computed 'average line value' and then drop to zero if you would like.

One of my co-workers who I suspect is a trillionaire does this all the time.
 
If the reserve coverage is there, you could drop down to 0 (presumably) at jetBlue. As for how you pay for your insurance, you'd still have to pay the premiums yourself. Not sure if you'd get a bill in the mail or your paycheck would just go negative....
 
He was correct about SWA. It's one of management's complaints, actually. They want to eliminate that ability and require a minimum number of hours. It's actually pretty common for flight attendants to work nothing and only keep their employment for the benefits. SWA even has a free option for health care if you aren't picky about which doctors you want to see, so paying for health insurance isn't even an issue. It's less common for pilots to work zero hours, since currency is an issue, but some guys still drop virtually everything and only fly one trip here and there to keep currency.

We also have the ability to drop to 0 hours at AirTran. It was something we got in our new CBA a couple of years ago. We used to have a minimum (can't remember exactly, but something like 65 hours credit). Now we have none. If you drop to less than the cost of your insurance, then you just cut a check to the benefits department. Sometimes we even have "Zero Time Lines," which start off at no flying for the month and you don't even have to bother dropping your line. Depends on what the staffing is for a given month.
 
Asked around. Looks like at jetBlue it's a limit of 70 hours or so for line holders. Seeing as that's your monthly guarantee anyway, I don't really see a huge advantage to dropping stuff. We normally get a decent amount of days off as it is.
 
Out of curiousity...Is the monthly guarantee how many hours you are guaranteed to be paid for regardless of hours flown?
 
GypsyPilot said:
Yes, unless you voluntarily change that by dropping trips or bid less than guarantee.
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What do you mean by "bid less than guarantee?" At every airline I've worked at, bidding a line that was less than guarantee didn't do anything to reduce your guarantee. That's the whole purpose of guarantee.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
What do you mean by "bid less than guarantee?" At every airline I've worked at, bidding a line that was less than guarantee didn't do anything to reduce your guarantee. That's the whole purpose of guarantee.
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We can waiver out of guarantee to take he lower hours. If it is below 50 then they would rather have us take a LOA. We don't get travel benefits but we still get our medical which the company pay 100% anyways.
 
Thanks for the responses. At Skywest we can elect to "waiver" outside of monthly guarantee, and then you decide what range you want to fly and you can go down to 58.6. This past year I had some major family emergencies that I needed to take care of, and I was grateful to be able to bid down to 58.6 and still have some income and benefits and be able to take care of stuff without having to go on fmla (which is also a nice federal law to have if needed). You can also drop below 58.6 I believe but you lose the employee contributions to health ins for that month, which makes it less than ideal.

If I stay in this career, I would ideally like to work at a place that allows the ability to drop below monthly guarantee if needed. For me personally anything over 70-80k a year and I feel like I am trading my time for stuff I dont need/want.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
What do you mean by "bid less than guarantee?" At every airline I've worked at, bidding a line that was less than guarantee didn't do anything to reduce your guarantee. That's the whole purpose of guarantee.
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I suspect he meant to 'drop' below guarantee. While lines may be awarded below guarantee and not affect guarantee, if you drop mid-month that takes you below original award OR below guarantee that will adjust guarantee. Clear as mud w/ all the 'guarantee' talk. :eek:
 
Cruise said:
I suspect he meant to 'drop' below guarantee. While lines may be awarded below guarantee and not affect guarantee, if you drop mid-month that takes you below original award OR below guarantee that will adjust guarantee. Clear as mud w/ all the 'guarantee' talk. :eek:
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In the U-Boat fleet, if you are awarded something below guarantee, you get the miracle of a composite line, where they will either add reserve (at 3.8 hours/day) or add whatever open time winds up being legal to your schedule (also at 3.8 or higher daily value/day), plus your line award.
 
Autothrust Blue said:
In the U-Boat fleet, if you are awarded something below guarantee, you get the miracle of a composite line, where they will either add reserve (at 3.8 hours/day) or add whatever open time winds up being legal to your schedule (also at 3.8 or higher daily value/day), plus your line award.
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Kinda redefines "guarantee." More like a willingness to have your schedule adjusted.
 
kellwolf said:
Kinda redefines "guarantee." More like a willingness to have your schedule adjusted.
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Not enough copilots, I am very sorry. Would you like to pick up a trip?

The transition team this month did me a solid, honored my long block of days off, resulting in a 4 day, 25 hours off, a two day, and then another four day. I guess...
 
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