When does trip trading open?
Requests are accepted shortly after Monthly Schedule Preferencing results reach the trip-trade system. The first run is at 1500 on the 21st of the month before the bid period, and after that it runs at least every four hours, though some categories take longer. § 20-P-3-a § 20-P-3-c § 20-P-3-d
Except for scheduler-assisted instantaneous trading, requests are processed in seniority order; out-of-base lineholders and instructor/evaluators, when eligible, come after all in-base lineholders. § 20-P-3-g
How does trading work the day before a trip?
Trips reporting the next day become available for instantaneous trading from 1000 to 1044, and again from 1100. § 20-P-3-e From 1100, automated trading can only pick up: you can’t use it to leave a trip reporting today or tomorrow unassigned. Scheduler-assisted trading has no such limit but needs company agreement unless it is a pickup. § 20-P-3-f
Can you trade with a pilot in another base?
Yes, in two ways. Out-of-base lineholders can pick up or trade into trips starting at 1300 the day before the trip reports, except as Section 20-H-5 allows. § 20-P-2 Pilots in the same status and equipment in different bases can also trade trip for trip after 1300 local base time the day before the earlier trip reports, once per bid period, if qualified for the trip they take. § 20-P-1-i § 20-P-1-i-(1) § 20-P-1-i-(2) § 20-P-1-i-(4)
What needs company approval?
Trading into or out of a training trip, into a field standby, or into a recurrent training fill-in. So does trading into a trip with the other pilot seat open if you have less than 100 hours in the aircraft. § 20-P-1-a § 20-P-1-b § 20-P-1-c § 20-P-1-f A lineholder in NQ or Do Not Fly status cannot change the schedule at all. § 20-P-1-e
From 0001 Central Time on the day Monthly Schedule Preferencing bidding closes, trades that change the last seven days of the current bid period wait until the next month’s awards are loaded. § 20-P-1-g
Can reserves trade?
Reserves can trade trip for trip with another reserve with company agreement, and day for day once automation allows it without a scheduler, if the trade meets traditional trading parameters (for example, no single reserve day between blocks of days off). § 20-K-4-f A trip on a reserve’s schedule can also be picked up by a lineholder unless the reserve marks it unavailable more than 20 hours before report; that choice can’t be reversed. § 20-K-4-c § 20-K-4-c-(1)
What can the trip-trade system do?
It must let you see your schedule as a calendar and list, search open, potential open and assigned trips, trade directly with other pilots, check trades for contract and FAR legality, and request drops, either paid using next year’s vacation or unpaid. § LOA 12-03, 1 § LOA 12-03, 1.b § LOA 12-03, 1.c § LOA 12-03, 1.f § LOA 12-03, 1.e § LOA 12-03, 1.g The company alone sets the staffing parameters and metrics that govern trip trading, and shares its general method with the System Schedule Committee (SSC). § 20-P-4
“The trip-trade system shall process requests for the first time at 1500 on the twenty-first (21st) day of the calendar month preceding the Bid Period.”
“Except for scheduler-assisted instantaneous trip-trading, all trip-trade processing shall be done in seniority order.”