How easily and fast could someone possibly cave in and give away a proper win in our favour?
I have a better idea: Since the seats suck, they don't recline for those 9 and 11+ hour-long ANC-HKG winter PX flights, there is no legroom, there is no service or entertainment system, Part A does not allow PX crew to use the bunks if they are available and not hogged by an inconsiderate other PXer, plus the PX often come with intermediate stops with 2-4 hours of cargo loading, often immediately after an 8- or 12- or 14-hour duty all night long, all to avoid a hotel and allowances and a rest period, not to mention paying for your own taxis in multiple local currencies and hoping the claim will be reimbursed sometime without endless fuss about details....So, with all that in mind, how about 300% credit for freighter PXing as a starting point for negotiations, so that you can end up with no less than 200% credit including ground time between flights? Sounds crazy? I believe UPS gives 100% and 200% extra credit (beyond the rostered credit) when patterns are extended by 1 and 2 days from the published roster. Guess what? Everyone gets home on time to catch the confirmed flight they bought and make it to their kids' birthday parties and catch the cruise they purchased a month or two ago.
Their answer about everything is their interpretation of the CoS or RP or whatever. Now their interpretation of the CoS, which we all agree with, is that freighter PXing is not allowed for those 2 guys. If the same rationale applies to you, or me, or anyone, or everyone, then it applies. Bending and breaking the rules because you like it just means giving them a green light to bend and break the rules when they like it: Thus the problem with everything.
If freighter PXing is not allowed, then it is lot allowed. It is not the pilots' fault that the company created ASL and semi-merged the pilots and hired DECs and gave away out of seniority freighter commands, etc, etc, etc...so it is not our fault that the lousy fleet rostering system they have developed and the unworkable manning levels they have caused is a problem, and it is not our problem to fix. If they would like our help to fix it and keep things running, then they will have to do something for us. Considering that this has been going on for a decade or whatever, I think they owe us a lot in return.
I believe the AOA has long been proposing a resolution beneficial to all: Freighter PXing is optional and at the discretion of the pilot, who may opt in if he wishes. But that is only half the battle. Let's not let them waste 3 months or 3 years or 10 years on fixing this.
Properly-written clauses, complete with mutually agreed upon "intentions" and "operational implementations" and "examples" and "amplifications" or whatever it takes to fully describe the meaning of something to prevent re-interpretations, must be leveraged.
Those 777 freighters, and possibly many more, are on the way as well. Don't wait until then to find out what everyone else has been fighting about.
Last edited by Iron Skillet; 7th February 2012 at 21:01.