Thursday, February 2, 2012

Making Lemonade

So when I put in my preferences for February I was on the island of Maui...on vacation. I didn't really think about much beyond maximum days off and domestic only flying.

I got what I wanted...18 days off, domestic only...but almost all flying is in the cold states. Ick.

So over the last few days I've been working on my sequences.

My first sequence was a 3 day trip worth 16 hours. I started late Saturday morning and finished very late Monday night. Somewhere in there I sat around for over 3 hours between flights.

I searched and searched..and waited. I finally found a 21 hour 4 day trip with fewer legs and a much earlier finish. Icing on the cake (balanced out by the fact that I lost a day off !) was I could be on the beach by 4PM on day one! Traded!

My next issue was February 20th....Presidents day. Day care is closed that day.

My wife used to have that day off. Her company was bought out and the new company doesn't have Presidents day as a paid holiday.

I was scheduled to start an 18 hour 3 day trip early on the 18th (a Saturday) finishing late Monday night (the 20th). The trip was scheduled to fly to almost all cold/snowy airports.

If I didn't change it my wife would have to take a day off work and I would spend the weekend running de-ice checklist.

Once again I searched and searched and found a 3 day trip worth 17 hours in warm states...that starts on Thursday (the 16th) afternoon and finishes late Saturday night.

I get Sunday off...home Monday to hang out with my daughter....and very little de-icing.

I still have two of my original trips. The last one of the month is a 4 day. Eh. Hope to move that one so I can attend a family wedding.

For March I will pay MUCH more attention to my preferences for bidding.

2 comments:

  1. Hi. Been reading your blog for a while but just decided to comment.

    Just wanted to say that your little "sequencing" procedure for the month gave me a headache.

    That's a lot of work you do to go to work.  :)

    All the best.

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  2. I'm often looking for something better to trade with. I spent about 30 minutes a day over the last week trying to rework my schedule. It helps that I don't commute so it doesn't really matter. However if I can have a few more hours at home with the sun up...I will take it! I also hate doing more than 4 legs a day. I traded into one trip for an early finish thats a 5-4-5...Fourteen legs in 3 days!

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