Airlines Waste Pilots Time!
This post does not apply to all airlines. Some airlines have trip and duty rigs that help keep the airlines from wasting airline pilots time.
Some airlines don't have trip and duty rigs which means scheduling can do what ever they want. Some airlines have 3 day trips where a pilot will only fly 4 hours. Yes the pilot works 3 days and is away from home about 40 hours and only flies 4 hours. The thing is that if the airline assigns this pilot a monthly schedule the other trips during the month could be packed with flight time and the pilot actually flies the paid guarantee for the month.
This is why ALPA has to fight so hard to get descent rules because management will do stupid things like this and waste a pilots time.
Some airlines will also have day trips that are only worth 2 hours. A pilot will drive to work, go though the long bus ride in to get paid 2 hours for the day. Not to mention that to fly the two hours the pilot often has to actually work on the aircraft 3.5 hours.
Yes, for each leg there is a lot of other time a pilot spends working outside the block time for the flight. Many airlines require the pilot to be on the aircraft 45 min. prior to the flight to get everything ready. The pilot is not being paid during this time. Then when the door opens at the destination, there is more time spent working not getting paid.
If airlines had full control over the pilots they would waste so much of our time it would be unreal. Especially the junior pilots who don't have much control over their schedules. This is why you always need someone like a union on the side of the pilots.
Some airlines don't have trip and duty rigs which means scheduling can do what ever they want. Some airlines have 3 day trips where a pilot will only fly 4 hours. Yes the pilot works 3 days and is away from home about 40 hours and only flies 4 hours. The thing is that if the airline assigns this pilot a monthly schedule the other trips during the month could be packed with flight time and the pilot actually flies the paid guarantee for the month.
This is why ALPA has to fight so hard to get descent rules because management will do stupid things like this and waste a pilots time.
Some airlines will also have day trips that are only worth 2 hours. A pilot will drive to work, go though the long bus ride in to get paid 2 hours for the day. Not to mention that to fly the two hours the pilot often has to actually work on the aircraft 3.5 hours.
Yes, for each leg there is a lot of other time a pilot spends working outside the block time for the flight. Many airlines require the pilot to be on the aircraft 45 min. prior to the flight to get everything ready. The pilot is not being paid during this time. Then when the door opens at the destination, there is more time spent working not getting paid.
If airlines had full control over the pilots they would waste so much of our time it would be unreal. Especially the junior pilots who don't have much control over their schedules. This is why you always need someone like a union on the side of the pilots.
posted by Jet Airline Pilot at 12:05 PM
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