What happens when your airline extends your day?

v1valarob

Well-Known Member
Im wondering when people at other airlines are extended, what they get in return, or what they can do to stop it from happening? Those with unions, what does your contract say?

Today my captain and I were extended. Supposed to finish at 1147 after a 0450 show. Instead we got tapped to do another round trip and finished up at 1445. If I hadnt previously been a scheduler I wouldnt have known that something like that was even possible. Of course I did the typical bitch and moan "where is my draft pay,.. blah blah." Knowing full well that I wasnt entitled to it, but hey, you never know. I was told "Nope, sorry, you dont get anything." (Again, I knew this before hand.) I was then told however that the F/As do get something if extended! They get an extension pay or something, its apparently in their contract.

So again, what happens at your airline? It seems at a place like Colgan there really is nothing I can do except say "fatigued." But thats only for use in real fatigued situations, not to get out of work. If my duty day is just one round trip in the morning, I might as well consider myself to possibly be on duty for 14 hours, and "get lucky" if Im not called while Im on duty to get extended.

And none of this "I just dont pick up the phone stuff." If your on duty, your going to have to pick up the phone if dispatch calls.
 
An extension is called a "down-line draft" here. They can draft us, but only the same day. It can't go to an overnight or even into the early morning hours. It pays time and a half, and the duty period minimum credit becomes 6 hours instead of the usual 4. We can refuse it as long as we tell them that we have "extenuating circumstances" that require us to be home. We aren't required to tell them what those circumstances are. So, as you can imagine, if you don't want the extra money, then everybody magically comes up with some "extenuating circumstances." ;)
 
At JetBlue, anything outside of the time "footprint" of our original schedule is considered "Junior Assigned" and is payed and extra 40%.

If you're ending your trip and know you have some useful crew day left, turn your phone off and hide somewhere until you can commute home on another airline.
 
At Skywest, they can only give you a reroute that gets you done at or before your original release time (if you're a lineholder).
 
And none of this "I just dont pick up the phone stuff." If your on duty, your going to have to pick up the phone if dispatch calls.

Nothing says we have to pick up our phones just because we're on duty. Nothing says we have to have personal phones, period (which is why they have an 800 number to get through to dispatch). If dispatch doesn't want us to go, we won't have a release. If scheduling wants to extend us, they'll just have to grab us when we make our "mandatory" check out call...assuming they actually answer the phone (or simply have dispatch withhold our release until we call in, as they seem to enjoy doing). If they do get ahold of you, though...you're pretty much SOL around here.
 
If it's outside the 'footprint', it's considered a junior assignment and is paid at 200%. Inside the footprint is reassignment and you don't get a damn thing.
 
We get one refusal a month for extensions. So, if they call me up and tell me I'm being extended, I have two options. I can either take it for the extension pay (since I'm on reserve, it gets paid on top of guarantee, so bully for me) or I can tell 'em to pound sand and hope I don't get screwed worse for the rest of the month.
 
At xjet, if you're reassigned beyond original trip termination you get 150% pay. There's really nothing you can do if they send a crew tracker to reassign you, except maybe change into plain clothes in the cockpit to pretend like you're a regular passenger deplaning, or open the galley service door, make the 6 foot jump, and run across the ramp before they see you (if you don't sprain your ankle while jumping out).

They can try and notify you by reassignment via ACARS or Cellphone, but ACARS is not considered an official method of notification and we are not required to even have cellphones, so if you're a lineholder they have to send someone to tell you in person.
 
If we get tagged for an extension we have to be done within 4 hours of our original duty out, or 5 hours if it's a round trip and get paid 125% for any time flown outside the original schedule. Also, they can only do that to us 3 times a month and 10 times a year. It is *possible* to refuse it, but you need to have a pretty darn good reason. Also, if they extension takes you into an overnight it's considered an extension AND and junior man which has a whole different set of rules.
 
Does anyone at Colgan know, if I call to check out on my last day, can I get drafted on my 3rd day off (day 3 of 3 off), and/or am I entitled to draft pay?
 
At xjet, if you're reassigned beyond original trip termination you get 150% pay.
For clarification, that's for lineholders. Only time reserves get 150% for a reassignment is if it goes into a day off. If the last day of my pairing ends at 11:30am but they add stuff so it doesn't end until 6pm, you get nothing (unless you go over MMG for the month). Otherwise I would be rolling in cash because every single pairing I get ends in EWR or IAH and they just cancel my DH home and add more flying until I run out of reserve days.

For reserves there's not much you can do since you HAVE to check the computer or call CS 15 minutes after the end of your pairing. In theory if you know your as-yet-unassigned reassignment is departing right away from ACARS you could hide at burger king, choose to call CS, sit on hold for an hour, and hope they re-crew it before CS picks up the phone (and not answer the crew tracker or crew scheduling calls to your cell phone, since you're not required to have it). I don't think I'd try that trick while on probation at an airline that is furloughing though.
 
Does anyone at Colgan know, if I call to check out on my last day, can I get drafted on my 3rd day off (day 3 of 3 off), and/or am I entitled to draft pay?

They can draft you for whatever they want if you answer your phone, but any time you work on what was originally awarded as a day off, you should get draft pay. No guarantees they'll give it to you without some argument, but you should get it.
 
For clarification, that's for lineholders. Only time reserves get 150% for a reassignment is if it goes into a day off. If the last day of my pairing ends at 11:30am but they add stuff so it doesn't end until 6pm, you get nothing (unless you go over MMG for the month). Otherwise I would be rolling in cash because every single pairing I get ends in EWR or IAH and they just cancel my DH home and add more flying until I run out of reserve days.

For reserves there's not much you can do since you HAVE to check the computer or call CS 15 minutes after the end of your pairing. In theory if you know your as-yet-unassigned reassignment is departing right away from ACARS you could hide at burger king, choose to call CS, sit on hold for an hour, and hope they re-crew it before CS picks up the phone (and not answer the crew tracker or crew scheduling calls to your cell phone, since you're not required to have it). I don't think I'd try that trick while on probation at an airline that is furloughing though.

Yeah, there is no such thing as a "trip" for reserves laetely....just turn after turn pieced together until you're out of duty time on your last day :) I'm all too familiar with this unfortunately, and have a feeling that I'll have another year or two to savor it.
 
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