Not at all, sky9.
However, you must look at scheduling from the company's perspective. AA and APA have signed a contract specifying pay and conditions...including minimum days off, and then still have to cover the designated trips. So, scheduling must get the very most out of crews to make it cost effective. And, the FAA has not helped at ALL by leaving the duty period regulations unchanged for many years....ie: American takes full advantage of same, quite legally.
Remember long ago having a conversation with a just-retired PanAmerican Captain. He mentioned that many PanAm Captains tried (and bid accordingly) to have all of their monthly flying completed in the first half...or the last half of the month, in order to have maximum consecutive off days. And interestingly enough, nearly 50% of those retired guys, who had retired at 60, were dead by 64.
My point is that many line pilots can not expect to have maximum time off, fly their alloted monthly hours (and make maximum pay)....and still expect to be well rested...all the time.
Last edited by 411A; 13th May 2002 at 18:58.