Iron Skillet,
The PX abuses on the freighter are well known. The recent cases of 074 being rerouted to go ANC-MIA-LAX and having LAX guys ride the entire way from ANC is one of the worst. People need to refuse when this is assigned and take the hotel in ANC. Unfortunately, if the same pattern runs the next day they will try to force it again, and really there is no excuse for there not being a PT ticket to LAX.
The freighter PX works for a lot of us in NAM though, and it is the only way to get to our homes or preferred ports without much of a hassle. In my case I am based in LAX with a preferred port in MIA, and I live in Florida. A majority of my patterns include a PX to MIA from ANC at the end of a trip. If I were to refuse to PX on the freighter here is what would happen. I would never get a PT ticket to MIA because a ticket to LAX is much cheaper. Both cities require a hub stop most of the year, Alaska Airlines will have some LAX non-stops in the summer. The ticket will be in economy class in most cases, because in CX's world of warped definitions US domestic first class is somehow "better" than trans-pac business class. This of course is not the case, but trying to get them to accept that US domestic first class seats don't even have as much legroom as the seats in the back of the freighter seems to be impossible. So I would get to ANC, clear customs, go to the pax terminal, do the security thing, then sit and wait for a flight to LAX. My seat would be not of my choosing in the back, I would transit SEA, then in LAX I would either have to sit in a terminal some more or buy a hotel. Then I could ride the full fare ticket I have purchased to my home in Florida, because pass riding hasn't been possible since 2008 with reduced domestic capacity.
Compare this to how it works now. I clear customs, get back on the jet, have a meal, and crawl into a bunk for at least six hours and I'm in MIA by six AM, hopefully rested and partially adjusted to my home time zone. Rarely are there more than one of us on board PXing. This works for a lot of us. Yeah, DFW-ATL is a long PX after operating but would you rather have a wait and have an economy seat in the back of Delta for seven hours? That's one of the longer ones. For me its a no brainer, I don't want to PT/PD anywhere in the back of a US carrier these days if its more than about three hours. Especially after operating out of HKG and if a freighter gets me there in half the time.
The reason I put this out there is that there isn't one solution for everybody. For a lot of guys having the option to refuse to PX on the freighter as their Cos guarantees would improve lifestyle. In my case the back end of a lot of trips would cost a lot of money and time and would turn into hell. So it should be a choice. And of course turning sectors to PX to drop credit hours oughta be flat out banned. If its your sector you should only come off it as operating crew for limitations reasons.
Last edited by 8driver; 23rd Feb 2012 at 19:48.
Reason: word order