On a recent trip, the Company published a pairing with a revenue leg, followed by a deadhead at the end. The pairing was scheduled with a duty time of 13 hours and 55 minutes. The scheduled Day duty limit is 13:00 (Section 12.C.4.a.). However, Section 12.C.4.g.ii, Deadhead Following Revenue Flight, states “If the duty period began in the day or night period, the entire duty period may be scheduled up to 2 hours beyond the scheduled limitations in Section 12.C.4.a. or b., in order to accomplish the deadhead.” This results in a scheduled limit of 15:00 hours for Day duty and 13:30 for Night duty.
Section 12.C.4.i. states “If a pilot is scheduled to deadhead to base after revenue flying, and his duty period exceeds 10 hours, he may obtain a hotel room at Company expense, in order to take a later flight, as provided in Section 5.B.1.f.”
Section 5.B.1.f. states “at the conclusion of the revenue portion of a trip, at the pilot’s election, when the final duty period of that trip exceeds 10 hours and the pilot is scheduled to deadhead by air to his base as the concluding segment of the trip.
i. The room shall be located in the city in which the revenue portion of the trip terminates and the deadhead is scheduled to originate.
ii. The pilot is responsible for maintaining his eligibility and legality for a subsequent assignment.
iii. Unless operational circumstances preclude it, CRS shall assist the pilot in making his reservation at the contract hotel, or, if unavailable, at another comparable hotel in the same city.
iv. Deviation from scheduled deadhead procedures as referenced in Section 8.C.1.h. (End of Trip Deviation) shall be followed.”
Therefore, if the final duty period exceeds 10 hours, and you comply with Section 5.B.1.f. then you can get a hotel room. However, no adjustment will be made to your pairing as this is a deviation. Contact CRS and cite the applicable CBA language, and if necessary, contact the Duty Officer. In this crew’s case they did everything right. They contacted CRS and the Hotel desk for assistance with their requests and had the information placed on the trip pairing. Additionally, they filled out Fatigue and Insite Reports and passed their information to FDX ALPA via the SIG and Fatigue Committees.
If you have any contractual concerns, please contact FDX ALPA Contract Enforcement at Fedex-Enforcement@alpa.org.
