The SWAPA Ride Report: Displacement info, Open Time Priority Range, and Contract Admin Q&A Artwork

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The SWAPA Ride Report: Displacement info, Open Time Priority Range, and Contract Admin Q&A

January 31, 2025 • SWAPA

In this week’s edition, Captain Tony Mulhare points to resources for recently displaced pilots that have been produced by the Scheduling Analytics Committee, how to find your Open Time Priority Range in CWA, and newly implemented limitations on RAP changes.

He also covers several high frequency questions fielded by our Contract Admin staff this week on topics including Domicile Right of Return (DRR), POT before Reserve, and the upcoming end of eligibility for paid moves to Nashville.

If you have any feedback for us at all, please drop us a line at comm@swapa.org or tap here to send us a text.

This is the SWAPA Ride Report for Friday, January 31st. The SWAPA Ride Report is your source for news, headlines, and commonly asked questions regarding your collective bargaining agreement. I’m your host, Tony Mulhare, with SWAPA Communications.

There were several displacements that resulted from the March vacancy which was published earlier this week. Your CBA has multiple protections for displaced pilots – but first, let’s footstomp this. If you are displaced and want to keep your Domicile Right of Return – do not change your vacancy bid! That is scheduled to change in 2Q 2026, but for now – do not change your vacancy bid or you may forfeit your Domicile Right of Return. Also, please check out this week’s email from the Schedule Analytics Committee that covers the details and CBA section 3.K.2 to see the temporary living expense reimbursement options available to you.

Let’s move on to a couple of implementation notes… The clause that prohibits the company from changing the first RAP of a Pilot’s reserve block by more than 60 minutes as a monthly overlap correction will be in affect for the March lines that we are bidding on next week. Practically speaking, this means that if you have PM RAPS at the end of one month and AM RAPS at the beginning of the following month, scheduling can’t adjust your first RAP in the new month to make your rest period meet the legal minimum. Instead, they will have to remove the RAP, or the pilot may choose to drop the last RAP of the lead-out Reserve block instead. The contract reference here, which will be linked in the show notes, is Section 9.K.4.o

Speaking of month-to-month overlap, your open time priority range is now available in CWA. You can find the “View Open Time Priority Range” under the Bid Input tab. If you don’t know what I’m talking about when I say “open time priority”, go to page 126 in the new scheduling handbook and you can read all about your contractual right to fix a loss of pay due to monthly overlap corrections. The more you know about your contract, the more money you can make.

Here’s a quick note from our Benefits team: “SWAPA Benefits partners with AMAS, the industry leader in providing FAA medical certification assistance to pilots. However, no product is perfect and if you have a negative experience with an AMAS physician, please contact the Benefits Committee to help resolve the issue.”

One final topic before I get to the contract Q&A this week. We usually say at SWAPA that there are two things that get pilots in trouble…things we put into our mouth and things that come out of our mouth. Let’s talk about a third – things we post online. Remember that something you post online in a chat group or on social media can be screenshot and used against you by the company in a discipline case. If you have an issue with another pilot, don’t post a rant about it. Instead, call professional standards and work it out. Its better for everyone in the long run. If, however, you’re discussing the great hashbrown wars, then please disregard everything I just said and post a meme about it, because that stuff’s funny.

Let’s get into this week’s top five questions from Contract Admin.

First: I saw a pairing in Open Time with a comment on the top that said, “POT before reserve”. After the award process, my POT bid was not awarded, and the pairing was given to a reserve. When I called scheduling, they said the comment was added in error and they were not required to honor it. Is this true?

Yes, unfortunately, that’s true. The “POT before reserve” is an internal note that scheduling uses when they anticipate needing to POT the pairing before being able to assign a reserve. However, it is a scheduler reference tool and not a guarantee. While it is correct most of the time, feel free to check with the SWAPA Contract Admins to confirm if there was a violation.

Next up this question: With the BNA domicile opening coming up to its 1-year anniversary, what is the last vacancy in which I can be eligible for a paid move if I bid into BNA.

A: BNA opened on May 1st, which was bid for in March. The 12-month threshold goes through the April vacancy, which is bid for in February. Additionally, If the domicile experiences an increase in the number of vacancies of 7% or more of the current number in a single bid period; or 15% across 3 consecutive bid periods, then a Pilot would also be eligible for paid moves if they bid into that domicile during those bid periods. See CBA Section 3.Kilo for all things moving expenses.

Another question: If I bid for a pairing that starts on the same day that another pairing ends, and they combine together, am I guaranteed the full value of both trips?

Any award (including Extra Fly picked up off reserve) is required to guarantee the original value of the award when 2 pairings combine. this newly combined pairing will be the baseline towards any reroutes and overrides. CBA Section 11.B.4 is the referenced content here.

Here’s a question about Voluntary Double Time. If I am on reserve and I see pairings going through VDT, am I able to pick up a pairing that will spill outside my RAP?

A: The new Reserve VDT provisions are not yet implemented. Once implemented during the 2nd quarter, a reserve will be able to bid and be awarded a pairing being processed through VDT within the parameters of Section 13.L. . The reserve will be limited to picking up pairings in the same seat and domicile of the reserve block and day 1 of the pairing must be legal within the underlying RAP. Any duty periods that are on the same days as your reserve block would pay straight pay, while any duty periods outside your reserve block would pay DT. Until then, you can still volunteer for an extra day at premium outside your reserve block under the old contract’s “POT extra day” provisions outlined in 8.C.4 and 8.D.6.d-e.

Q: I am anticipating getting displaced from DEN. The new CBA changed Domicile Right of Return (DRR) to allow for 100% of the future vacancies to be held for pilots eligible for DRR. Has this been implemented yet?

A: No. This is set to be implemented next year (2026). Until then, we are still bridging the old CBA which only holds 50% of the primary published vacancies for DRR pilots. Once the 100% programming is implemented, all Pilots with DRR eligibility will be subject to the new 100% DRR>

That wraps up the Q& A this week. As always, the transcript of this podcast is available on the communications page on swapa.org. If you have feedback for this podcast, or any of our comm products, please send us an email at comm@swapa.org. The next ride report will release on Friday 14 Feb. thanks for listening.