NO MORE A DAYS
 

Check your company email...

Great follow on to the Boeing Chief Pilot's email about how they want to improve USA Based Freighter Rosters.

Rumour has it several yanks are leaving and several more with interviews.

This A Day debacle will not help the situation

So where's that contract compliance vote?

The timing was a little unhelpful ...

Curtain Rod. Just wait. I'm sure it's on the way. It's all coming together. Their fcuk ups, our patience.

Just a quick question....what are we going to do if Contract compliance does not bring them to their knees?

What then?

ummmmm :confused::confused:

:{:{

A days are more important to the company than they let on. A lot more flights will be be cancelled due to lack of crew and lack of reserve coverage.
Not a good move IMO not that my opinion counts for anything.

My sentiments too. Less window to 'get you' for a duty. I was thinking of changing from A's to R's anyhow. The vast majority of my A Day callouts over the years have been notified the day before at 'log in'.

Bring it on.

The A days actually benefit the company more than us to some extent (they're free and don't start the FTL clock ticking).

But I'm sure this will have the net effect of pushing the 'fence sitters' off the fence. If one has to pull reserve one might as well do so at a company with a sane non-revenue commuter policy as well as the ability to ride in the front of the jet.

It will also have the net effect of ailenating those who previously always did suit up and show up.

This place is the only place I know who bluffs with a set of deuces.

I was just another slightly jaded CX driver. Now I am so p!ssed off with the whole thing I'm looking elsewhere. Yes it's still on the whole not a bad job once the gears up but this death by a thousand pecks wares you down eventually. Oh and to the union I started my contract compliance on receipt of the GMAs letter..

As an outsider, is it allowed to ask what A days are? Just so it is easier to follow the conversation.

Hey Idonkonw -

You are kidding !!
It took this to get yourself in contract compliance??????? :=

Wake up - :eek:

It has being going down well before then.

Remember ----- it's a team effort

SOPS, "A" days are basically long-call reserve but with no rules governing them. They are not considered duty but, the day before an "A" day is rostered the pilot must contact the company between noon and 2pm to check if there is a duty for him or her. If so, he or she has a minimum of 10 hours to report. If not, he or she must be immediately contactable on an "A" day between 0600 and 1400 and be able to report for duty within 10 hours of being notified.

Now, that "long-call reserve" is gone. All there is now is short-call, which is a duty and is covered by many rules as well as requiring being able to report for duty within 2 hours and 15 minutes of notification.

Reserve can start and end at any time of the day. Pilots accrue no pay for reserve unless they are rostered for more than 30 days of it per year.

Unlike normal airlines, where generally only the junior pilots do reserve and only reserve, at Cathay everyone does reserve, mixed in with regular flying.

Freighter Reserve Coverage?
 

So, checking the roster for 747 freighter captains in November there are in

ATL 5 R days out of 4 CN (5/120 man-days)
ORD 6 R days out of 3 CN (6/90 man-days)
JFK 4 R days out of 3 CN (4/90 man-days)
LAX 0 R days out of 4 CN (0/120 man-days)

Total 15 R days total for 14 captains
15 R days out of 420 man-days

I guess they're counting on G day workers.

Thanks for that CA:ok:

Contract compliance - yeah right
 

Wonder how a certain a MEL based Kiwi captain will get around this one...more deals with crew control?

Unfortunately for commuters this will lead into more pilots constantly calling crew control to get a trip allocated in advance rather than spending days and days in a hotel at their base port.

Preferred ports
 

Guess they'll (CX) lose the advantage of having an "A" day guy with a preferred port cover both bases.

NO MORE A DAYS
 

It is always a risk on a base if you choose to live greater than 02:15hrs away from the report location. Just as it is if you choose to commute to/fro HKG. The A day is simply a non binding agreement to ameliorate the risk.

By being on a base CX accepts less pilot flexibility in exchange for no housing allowance and no 13th month. If they want to have the based pilots available like the HKG pilots it's only fair they give everyone the same benefits.

So you want a full expat housing package and an additional 13th month (on top of the 13th month that was long ago tied into based salaries in the form of a higher base salary) in exchange for a couple of reserve days a month?

:ugh:Good luck with that!

So they gave a small pay rise years ago and you expect that satisfies all requirements today...... That somehow makes up for all the shortfalls then AND now....:D

Of course I don't expect that but if they expect us to live in a city that is comparable to HKG as far as cost they need to pay up. I guess it doesn't matter much as most of us on bases don't see much point in working for cathay any more.

Although this was anticipated, it is the first shot across the bow.
When contract compliance commences we need to anticipate defensive rostering and significant personal sacrifice to counter it.
This is why CC has a limited effective time period - say 10 weeks.....
It will be interesting to see how committed the 51% are when CC starts taking time away from their family, and dollars from their pockets - not to mention the 49%!

10 weeks 4 driver? You're having a laugh. CC will be effective as long as it is in force. It may take months or years.

This will take year...not going to the have the effect you think it will!

Is it true that A days are still being rostered in Canada?

If you live within one and a half hours of your base then you are still rostered A days. Outside of that everyone else is being rostered reserve.

So it's deliberately malicious then. Not safety driven at all.

Isn't the 'report time' for an A day 10 hours from the time of notification? It certainly was.:confused:

Safety was never an issue under the old system and it IS deliberately malicious because there is a reasonable option which would satisfy all on the table.

In fact, the path chosen by the company CREATES an unsafe situation--commuters under the old system which was working fine now have to change their lives and scramble to find a place--also having the added financial and family pressures of more days gone with dodgy temporary lodging in a place they didn't want to make a full time home. Add to this arbitrary nature of reserve time blocks swapped around to punish folks which could result in a long flight after being awake for a very long time. No longer can folks really plan their rest because no one has any idea when they might be called out or what for. Somewhat stable rosters combined with a known duty window let folks plan; this is designed to do the opposite.

Marbles, I live within 1 1/2 hours of my base port and I have been rostered 'R'.

I doubt whether the rostering lot would have the capacity to ascertain where every pilot lives in relation to his base and calculate his travelling time.

But what's happening in Canada?

Considering there's only one MEL based kiwi skipper why not just name him? This is why CC is a joke, skippers never get any crap for working on G days, never lose the sector or give a rats ass about the "name and shame" BS. Most commuters are skippers, and they'll keep doing deals with crew control, working Gs until the cows come home. Sad but true.

There is most definitely more than one Mel based kiwi skipper.