Oval Three Holer,
I never defended that pattern, its probably the most abusive one out there. The crews should be positioning on Dragon Air. And if I was based in HKG there is no way I would sign that letter. If I was on any other fleet I wouldn't sign it. It wouldn't make sense.
My point is that not every pattern is abusive and in a large amount of cases not PXing on the freighter in North America would be a significant hardship. For a YVR guy it would be shorter to PT home from ANC than to go through LA first on the freighter. It wouldn't be shorter for a Miami guy, or an LA guy, or a New York guy. It would be longer. On my last pattern it took me 19 hours to get from HKG to Miami. I was one hour on the ground in ANC and slept six hours to MIA in a bunk, after having had a meal. There is no faster, easier on the body, way home. It doesn't exist. So there is no one size fits all solution.
What bothers me here is that I see people talking as though this is going to bring a large unilateral improvement in our conditions. Only the most abusive cases are cited. For many it will be an improvement, and for some it won't. Sure you can say CANNOT to the PT, I want a room in ANC. And you'll lose a day and that same lousy PT ticket will be waiting for you the next day. I'd like one person to tell me how it would be healthier for somebody east coast based to sit four hours in a terminal and six + in US airline cattle class after coming from HKG to ANC? And for those of us who would be served the sh** sandwich I don't see any promises to deal with that long haul Y class nonsense we have in North America. Its not even on the radar. Once Janet Robertson was gone PT travel went to crap and its stayed that way.
Barry McCockner- I'll only get that ACARS if I'm on the MIA flight out of HKG. There will no longer be any impetus to roster me that way. Any flight to ANC and a PT ticket to LAX, my base. Wrong coast. Maybe they'll be less PXing overall. That's wonderful but to keep me under guarantee, hmmmm...finish in LAX or MIA?
I'd love to see the abusive patterns stopped. Anyone who will see an improvement in their conditions should most definitely not sign. There is a small minority of us in North America on the 747 though that benefit from the freighter PX. And I don't know if I'm ready for my roster to go to crap mid-summer simply to show solidarity while I wait for some undefined good to come from it. More credit hours, less PXing, a Miami base? Or a bunch of PT tickets from LA to ANC and back? You tell me, because my crystal ball is broken. Like I said, for me its rolling the dice.
Last edited by 8driver; 17th May 2012 at 20:23.