705 Guaranteed Days Off

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How many GDOs do you get per month?

12 or more
53
70%
11
10
13%
10
6
8%
9
1
1%
8 or fewer
6
8%
 
Total votes: 76

Slats
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705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by Slats »

Since money isn't everything, I'm curious to see how many GDO's is average at the 705 level. I feel like once a certain level of pay is achieved, time off becomes a much better indicator of quality of life. Feel free to include any other relevant info, such as airline, type flown, GDOs, RDs, etc.
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altiplano
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by altiplano »

AC narrowbody is 15 off.

AC widebody has no "GDO" provision.

Depending on seniority you could be either 22 days off or 22 days at work. Or somewhere in-between.

Reserve is 12.25 off per month. Some days can be moved under certain circumstances but not taken away.
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ctmorawetz
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by ctmorawetz »

Porter is 12 GDOs per month.
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PostmasterGeneral
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by PostmasterGeneral »

At Jazz, a “GDO” is a much different thing. We get four per calendar year, used when you bid your schedule. Basically they guarantee you those days off, can be used attached to vacation days.

We also get PDO’s, also 4 per year, that are one step below a GDO. Basically “super seniority” and can be used whenever you feel like it in your monthly bid, such as for a concert, a wedding, etc. In addition, you can also just request certain days off if you so choose. The block builders are great at making it work for you 90% of the time.

As far as actual days off per month, I’ve never been scheduled less than 13, and that was in a high block month. Usually get 15 days off per month.
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GATRKGA
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by GATRKGA »

Sky Regional is 11 GDO's. Realistically work around 14-16 days a month as we get grey days to offset our schedule to prevent scheduled Over Time.
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Slats
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by Slats »

Interesting responses, thank you very much. I suppose I must not have had a clear understanding about what constitutes of GDO at a place like Jazz. Surely they don't reserve the right to work you to the maximum allowed in the CARS, do they? Perhaps if there are not GDO's in the sense in which I intended, is there conversely, a maximum number of days that you can be scheduled to work in one month? That was, by default one of the things I was hoping to determine with this poll. What is the average days on/days off balance at the 705 level. So far it seems like the poll results overwhelmingly indicate that 12+ days off (or conversely, 18 or so days on) is pretty standard.
Thanks again for the responses and keep them coming.
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ogc
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by ogc »

Slats wrote: Tue Mar 06, 2018 11:14 am Interesting responses, thank you very much. I suppose I must not have had a clear understanding about what constitutes of GDO at a place like Jazz. Surely they don't reserve the right to work you to the maximum allowed in the CARS, do they? Perhaps if there are not GDO's in the sense in which I intended, is there conversely, a maximum number of days that you can be scheduled to work in one month? That was, by default one of the things I was hoping to determine with this poll. What is the average days on/days off balance at the 705 level. So far it seems like the poll results overwhelmingly indicate that 12+ days off (or conversely, 18 or so days on) is pretty standard.
Thanks again for the responses and keep them coming.
At Jazz you get a guaranteed minimum of 12 days off per month and once the monthly schedule comes out those days will not be moved or changed.

GDO and PDO mean different things in the contract. Which is what is being talked about above.
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Marinth
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by Marinth »

First Air get's 11 GDO's. The Iqaluit rotators working the 15 day on 13 day off schedule get a couple more days off each month, however they also do training on their time "out" and can't take vacation on their time "in" so it works out to be about the same.
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mbav8r
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by mbav8r »

PostmasterGeneral wrote: Tue Mar 06, 2018 10:33 am At Jazz, a “GDO” is a much different thing. We get four per calendar year, used when you bid your schedule. Basically they guarantee you those days off, can be used attached to vacation days.

We also get PDO’s, also 4 per year, that are one step below a GDO. Basically “super seniority” and can be used whenever you feel like it in your monthly bid, such as for a concert, a wedding, etc. In addition, you can also just request certain days off if you so choose. The block builders are great at making it work for you 90% of the time.

As far as actual days off per month, I’ve never been scheduled less than 13, and that was in a high block month. Usually get 15 days off per month.
Slightly inaccurate, we get 3 guaranteed days off(GDOs) per week of vacation or stat, the preferred days off(PDOs) are as mentioned to give you seniority over other pilots for something unique to you, ie; anniversary, etc. 4 of those per year and must be bid as a pair or all 4
Per month we are guaranteed 12 days off minimum, the PDOs and GDOs are included in the 12 days. A reserve pilot will only get those 12 days off, a block holder will get anywhere in between 12-18 days off depending on seniority and credit of the pairings assigned, 10 single day IAH turns out of YYC would fill your month leaving the other 20 off. As mentioned once the schedule is published they now become GDOs because they are guaranteed.
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av8ts
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by av8ts »

mbav8r wrote: Tue Mar 06, 2018 2:18 pm
PostmasterGeneral wrote: Tue Mar 06, 2018 10:33 am At Jazz, a “GDO” is a much different thing. We get four per calendar year, used when you bid your schedule. Basically they guarantee you those days off, can be used attached to vacation days.

We also get PDO’s, also 4 per year, that are one step below a GDO. Basically “super seniority” and can be used whenever you feel like it in your monthly bid, such as for a concert, a wedding, etc. In addition, you can also just request certain days off if you so choose. The block builders are great at making it work for you 90% of the time.

As far as actual days off per month, I’ve never been scheduled less than 13, and that was in a high block month. Usually get 15 days off per month.
Slightly inaccurate, we get 3 guaranteed days off(GDOs) per week of vacation or stat, the preferred days off(PDOs) are as mentioned to give you seniority over other pilots for something unique to you, ie; anniversary, etc. 4 of those per year and must be bid as a pair or all 4
Per month we are guaranteed 12 days off minimum, the PDOs and GDOs are included in the 12 days. A reserve pilot will only get those 12 days off, a block holder will get anywhere in between 12-18 days off depending on seniority and credit of the pairings assigned, 10 single day IAH turns out of YYC would fill your month leaving the other 20 off. As mentioned once the schedule is published they now become GDOs because they are guaranteed.
Slightly inaccurate, PDO’s can be used either one or two a month. Never all four
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ant_321
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by ant_321 »

Sunwing only has 11 GDO's a month. I usually work around 10-12 days in a month. The rest of the days of are grey days. When checking out from a flight you can be drafted for a grey day but once you are at home answering your phone on a grey day is optional.
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amazon1234
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by amazon1234 »

PostmasterGeneral wrote: Tue Mar 06, 2018 10:33 am At Jazz, a “GDO” is a much different thing. We get four per calendar year, used when you bid your schedule. Basically they guarantee you those days off, can be used attached to vacation days.

We also get PDO’s, also 4 per year, that are one step below a GDO. Basically “super seniority” and can be used whenever you feel like it in your monthly bid, such as for a concert, a wedding, etc. In addition, you can also just request certain days off if you so choose. The block builders are great at making it work for you 90% of the time.

As far as actual days off per month, I’ve never been scheduled less than 13, and that was in a high block month. Usually get 15 days off per month.
What about calling sick? If they don't give you your days off can you just tell them the morning of your flights that you are sick and can't make it to work?
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FL-280
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by FL-280 »

amazon1234 wrote: Thu Mar 08, 2018 10:49 am
PostmasterGeneral wrote: Tue Mar 06, 2018 10:33 am At Jazz, a “GDO” is a much different thing. We get four per calendar year, used when you bid your schedule. Basically they guarantee you those days off, can be used attached to vacation days.

We also get PDO’s, also 4 per year, that are one step below a GDO. Basically “super seniority” and can be used whenever you feel like it in your monthly bid, such as for a concert, a wedding, etc. In addition, you can also just request certain days off if you so choose. The block builders are great at making it work for you 90% of the time.

As far as actual days off per month, I’ve never been scheduled less than 13, and that was in a high block month. Usually get 15 days off per month.
Yes..... 16 per year
What about calling sick? If they don't give you your days off can you just tell them the morning of your flights that you are sick and can't make it to work?
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weatherwise
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by weatherwise »

Newbie question:

I'm looking at getting back into aviation (left many years ago before I made it to 705). I currently do shift work and my employer allows us to bank statutory holidays in lieu of stat pay (can bank 1.5 days if holiday falls on a scheduled work day). So basically by foregoing some stat pay, we can get up to 10 or so extra vacation days per year. Any 705 operators do that? How are stat holidays handled?
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mbav8r
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by mbav8r »

weatherwise wrote: Thu Mar 08, 2018 3:56 pm Newbie question:

I'm looking at getting back into aviation (left many years ago before I made it to 705). I currently do shift work and my employer allows us to bank statutory holidays in lieu of stat pay (can bank 1.5 days if holiday falls on a scheduled work day). So basically by foregoing some stat pay, we can get up to 10 or so extra vacation days per year. Any 705 operators do that? How are stat holidays handled?
At Jazz we get 10 stat days and we bid for them during the vacation bid, with my years of service I get 4 weeks of vacation and 2 weeks of stats.
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mixturerich
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by mixturerich »

All of this is great stuff. It’s why I won’t understand why there are complainer pilots. Seriously. It’s the most labour unintensive job. Would you rather work indoors 9-5 five days a week with likely a low salary ceiling? What gives? Pull your heads out of your ass, it’s a great job! What else would you rather do!? /endrant
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goingnowherefast
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by goingnowherefast »

Sure lots of days off, but the days working are often 10-12+ and many nights in hotel rooms. 14-15 days off means 16 days worked and could be four 4 day pairings. Meaning 12 nights in a hotel away from the wife (husband) and kids. The time away from home is longer than the 9-5 job.

Edited type-o
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Last edited by goingnowherefast on Sat Mar 10, 2018 2:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
DHQ
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by DHQ »

A Transat guy was telling me that when you're on reserve you can be called out for a pairing that goes into your GDOs and you're required to take it. Can anyone else confirm that's true? Is that the case at any other company?
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mbav8r
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by mbav8r »

While I can’t speak to how things work at AT, the G from GDO is guaranteed so If it is true they can assign you something on a day off, it means they are not GDOs. I know AC has what they call “grey” days which can be moved maybe it’s something like that. If they use you on a grey day I believe they have to give those days back somewhere else in the month.
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FL320
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Re: 705 Guaranteed Days Off

Post by FL320 »

DHQ,
On reserve we have 4 guaranteed conscutive days OFF including a weekend plus 8 floating days off. If we’re assigned a pairing during reserve where a floating day off has to be used, they have to give it back later in the month so we get 12 days OFF.

When not on reserve we have 12 GDOs, plus some white days where they can assign a flight (same rule as ant_321 at Sunwing)
It all depends on seniority and the fleet, but my schedule at the moment: working 10 days (long day turns)/ 20 days OFF per month (never had a flight during a white day)
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