Sitting for Free, or pay on Reserve

[swreservepilot]

 Okay, pay on reserve deserves its own section. We mentioned earlier that it's the most convoluted thing about reserve. Now, your eyes will start to glaze over in the next paragraph. But get a beverage, read carefully, and stick with us--a lot of money depends on it. The better you understand it, the more you can massage the schedule to get paid fairly. Here's the crux of the problem--a reserve has a monthly guarantee, and the rest of the company gets 6.5 for a single day of work. Every month, scheduling will do their best to work you up to, but not over, your monthly guarantee. We will cover some of their tools later, but for now, let's get in depth on how reserve lines pay and how you can minimize your loss of pay as a reserve lineholder. There is an excellent article in the Jan'15 Reporting Points, you can find it on the SWAPA website, though it's a little buried. I've excerpted parts below in italics. Let's start at the beginning.

All reserve days acquired by bid line, trade or giveaway count toward a monthly guarantee. However, reserve days acquired through OpenTime are paid separately. Bid line,trade or giveaway reserve days are reserve blocks with an ‘O’, ‘B’, ‘X’ or ‘A’ designation next to the pilot’s name on the pairing display. Monthly guarantee is calculated by multiplying the number of these reserve days by 6 TFP. (Any extra flying NOT done on reserve days doesn't count in the reserve total). Monthly guarantee changes any time the Reserve pilot adds or drops days of reserve with these labels. As the month progresses, the TFP of the actual flying accomplished by the Reserve pilot is summed and compared to his monthly guarantee. If he ends the month with less ‘flown’ TFP than his guarantee, then he is paid the guarantee. This is shown at the bottom of the payroll report as “Reserve Guarantee” and is one of the items paid under the OTR category. Notice that in figure 2, the pilot flew 83.70 TFP on a reserve guarantee of 84.0 TFP, for a reserve guarantee payout of 0.3 TFP as shown in the ‘OTR’ column.

If a Reserve pilot reaches or exceeds his guarantee on the last day of reserve for the month, then he is paid the actual flown TFP. If he reaches or exceeds his guarantee and still has reserve days remaining (that count toward his monthly guarantee), then he is paid the TFP for the flying that he has done and all subsequent reserve days will pay separately from the guarantee — i.e., each remaining day or block gets paid “by the block” comparing what was flown during that reserve block to the guarantee of each remaining block.



Uh-oh. Are your eyes glazing yet? OK, let's make that simpler. All work done on reserve counts towards your MONTHLY guarantee unless you've picked up a day from Open Time (and if you're on reserve, you probably won't do this until you start to understand the system more). Let's say your guarantee is 90, since you’re sitting 15 days of reserve. If you finish out the month with less actual TFP flown than your monthly guarantee, you will only get paid guarantee. You will not get paid anything additional for the days you sat at home unused. If you fly 89.7 trips in the month on the days you flew, and were on-call for three of those days but didn't get called in, those days were only worth point three, .3TFP to you. The number can vary, sometimes it's zero, sometimes it's more, but it's always less than lineholders get. This is commonly termed "Sitting for Free". Let's continue on...

For flying line holders (MIXED or LINEHOLDER), regardless of how they pick up a reserve block (M, D, or A), and for reserve line holders who pickup reserve blocks from Open Time (MOT or DOT), these reserve blocks “pay by the block.” What is flown on reserve is compared to the guarantee of the block and the pilot is paid whichever is greater. Note that a reserve line holder can be paid his monthly reserve guarantee and additional individual block guarantees if he has picked up Open Time reserve blocks.

So yes, things are better for lineholders (or their mixed younger siblings, blank lineholders) because their reserve is paid by the block. It's much easier to 'break' a three or four-day block guarantee, instead of a monthly guarantee, but you can still wind up sitting for free.

Even before the month starts, you can change your guarantee by giving away or adding reserve days. (The most common way for this is through Trip Trade/Giveaway, aka TTGA). As the month goes on, the TFP of the actual reserve assignments by the reserve is summed and compared to monthly guarantee. If, at the end of the month, your actual reserve assignments are lower than guarantee, you get the guarantee. This is the second most common scenario.

To see where you stand, look for the 'payroll report' in CWA under Reports...Payroll. It is often the most accurate source of information. At the bottom of it is a section called Reserve Guarantee. This is the running total of how much TFP you need to earn in your remaining reserve days to 'break' guarantee. Breaking guarantee just means you will get paid what you have flown, not that you will get paid any more for days sat at home, with one exception. If you break guarantee (get that number down to zero) and you still have reserve days left in the rest of the month, you will now get paid for those reserve days even if you aren't used (4.M.1 and 4.M.2.b). This is the rare, best case scenario, where you reach or exceed guarantee and still have reserve days remaining. You will be paid the TFP for all assignments flown thus far AND you will get paid by the block for any subsequent assignments. Here's an example of that:

See how the Month to Date Credit is higher than the Projected? Notice the day on reserve at the end of the month with no flying. Since our pilot’s earlier trips, up to and including the 28^th, credited over 96TFP with a 16-day guarantee, they DID get paid for sitting at home on the 29^th, an additional 6TFP. (Yes, there are also OGT and REPT credit included in here, and that adds to the total, but the point is to notice that our pilot, in this case, DID get their guarantee down to zero on the payroll report with a day left in the month and DID get paid to be on call for that day. Of course, they’re still out of luck for the 8^th.)

But the most common scenario is sitting reserve for free. Again, the Schedule Research Committee at SWAPA explains it:

So it sounds like everyone gets paid at least 6 TFP for sitting reserve each day, so what’s this “sitting for free” all about? Let’s look at a simple pay by the block example…A pilot picks up a 4-day reserve block from Open Time, so it pays by the block regardless of whether this is a line holder or reserve line holder. The pilot subsequently gets a reserve assignment, a 3-day of what the pairing display says, all reserve assignments have full rigs applied and this is reflected on the payroll report with a pay of 23.6 for the three-day trip. The pilot finishes the pairing and now gets released to crew rest for the last day’s reserve RAP.

Question: How much will this Pilot get paid if he doesn’t get used that last day? Answer: 24 TFP He already worked 23.6 TFP, the block is worth 24 TFP, so if he doesn’t get used, he will get 24 TFP or only 0.4 TFP for sitting that last day of reserve.

Question: How much will this pilot get paid if he works a turn that last day? Answer: 30.1 TFP minimum. He gets 23.6 TFP plus whatever he flies that last day (rigged to a minimum of 6.5 TFP) – so a minimum of 30.1 TFP.

Question: What if that pilot calls in sick for that last day?

VERY IMPORTANT Answer: 29.6 TFP He gets paid 23.6 for what he flew (greater than the 18 TFP reserve guarantee for the first three days) plus 6 TFP for the sick pull of one reserve day – so 29.6 TFP.

Question: What if the pilot gives that last day away before his RAP starts? Answer: 23.6 TFP

Additionally, the pilot picking up the give-away will get 6 TFP guaranteed for a one-day reserve (more if he flies). If our example pilot above keeps that last day of reserve and doesn’t get used, he only gets .4 TFP more for that day, but if he gives it away or calls in sick, that last day of reserve pays a full 6 TFP. We are certainly not advocating this kind of behavior (unless you really are sick), but rather simply pointing out how the system works according to our current contract.

Okay, reread the last paragraph and make sure you understand it, because it's got some great examples in it, but it does feel convoluted to us--a pilot will get paid more for calling in sick? Granted, the most pay is if you do get worked on the fourth day, but if you 'sit' and don't get called you're sitting home for at most 4.5TFP. !Warning! probation pilots be careful. If you're sick, you're sick, but be careful.

This same scenario can occur with a bid-line Reserve pilot who is on monthly guarantee. If he has flown close to his guarantee but not over, say 90 TFP guarantee and he has flown 88 TFP in his previous 14 days of reserve, he can wind up sitting that last day (unused) for only 2 TFP. Another example is a pilot sitting unused one day earlier in the month but then flying almost up to his guarantee by the last day of reserve. In this situation, he might consider giving that last day away and enjoying a day off, or he could pick something else up if he wishes. The worst case scenario is when a Reserve pilot flies up to or over his guarantee on the last day of reserve for the month, but was unused one or more days earlier in the month. If he flew 91TFP on 15 days of reserve but sat one or more of those days (unused) earlier in the month, he is paid 91 TFP for what he actually flew (greater than the 6 TFP x 15 days = 90 TFP guarantee). He provided the Company with trip coverage insurance, in some cases at his own expense if he is a commuter and pays out of pocket for his hotel room, yet he will have sat those earlier unused day(s) of reserve for little or no compensation. What is important to understand is that reserve pay depends as much on WHEN you get assigned flying as it does WHAT you get assigned. Every pilot who flies at least one trip on reserve but does not meet the monthly or block guarantee will end up sitting one of his days of reserve for less than 6 TFP. Also, every Reserve pilot who exceeds the monthly or block guarantee but sat unused earlier in the month (or block) gets ZERO COMPENSATION for those unused days.

Great, isn't it? If you're not upset, read the last sentence of the last paragraph again. Here's a good point: It's always to your advantage to have less of a reserve liability. In general, the more reserve you can give away, the better, since reserve will only pay an average of 6.0TFP, and daily guarantee is 6.5. Of course, it's not ALWAYS to your advantage to give away days. If you haven't been used a lot, and you give away days, you are reducing your guarantee. You have to pick up trips to get paid. As a reserve lineholder, you need to measure everything against that monthly guarantee. It's almost impossible to equalize the pay. Often you won't work the first day of a block (and rarely will people pick up 3 or 4 day reserve blocks)--and then you'll work so much that you'll approach or even exceed guarantee. However, you are never 'made good' for that day that you sat--thus the term, "sitting for Free". Or, in commuter's cases, sitting for a loss of the cost of commuting. Once again, if you think this is unfair email SWAPA and let them know that you won't vote for a contract that doesn't fix sitting for free for reserves--and that would be 6.5 pay per day, not per block or anything else.

Let’s look at another example. Again, red days are reserve days. Blue lines meant you got called out. Your first trip, a 3-day on the 4-day block, credits 20TFP. The next one on the 9^th credits 19.5. You didn’t get called the 16^th, but wound up with a 21.5 three-day on the 17^th. You worked Christmas, a 3-day that credits 22, and got a two-day trip on the 30^th that credits 13. To summarize—you credited 96 trips, but had two days on call, the 4^th and the 16^th. What is your TFP for the month? If you say 96, you’re right. Yes, again, sitting for free. This is the most convoluted thing about reserve, hands-down the most unfair, and hopefully it will get fixed in the next contract.

Continue reading with Part 4: How to be Smart