2025 Q1 Payroll Committee Update

Here are some reminders before we start summer flying. 

 

Our Union site does have a FAQ section in the Payroll Committee tab, please take the time to review those questions.

 

PAY ERRORS 

Expect to have a pay error come up anytime you are PPSK’d.  A few examples of some of the most recent and common offenders: 

  • Pilot’s duty was canceled for what was an off day pickup, ABG trip falls to PCH.  
  • Pilot’s duty was canceled, 4 hour min day (because it was an RON trip) disappeared and they were left with only the block time. 
  • System not stacking PPSK + OT.  If you are PPSK and SUBSEQUENTLY, on your own accord, pick up an OT trip, pilot to pilot trade, or are awarded a VFN, the ABG pay from this needs to stack on top of existing pay.    

Also expect pay errors whenever you are delayed into a day off or other next day assignment, awarded a VFN on top of existing work, or are reassigned.  

MULTI DAY TRIPS 

As we are in the midst charter season, note that crew payroll’s software is not accurately capturing ABG when going past 11:59 p.m. into an additional calendar day on RON (remain overnight) trips. Once a trip has a 117-rest period, it is classified as a RON trip. With these, there is a 4 hour calendar day (12 am-11:59pm) minimum PCH, so once it goes past 11:59 pm into a second, third or fourth calendar day it is eligible for the highest of block flown/scheduled per calendar day or 4 hours per *each* (not average) calendar day. 2:01 a.m. is specific to whether a pilot is eligible for a comp day and whether those 4 hours from the last calendar day should be ABG or not…this is only applicable if the pilot was supposed to finish before midnight on an RON trip but was then delayed past 2 am into a day off.   

Pay with these trips is frequently wrong. Crew Payroll should be auditing to correct this about a week or two after trip completion, but you must remain vigilant!   

Please note this is for scheduled or actual RON trips and does not apply for our normal day trips. If the trip is PPSK’d, you are still eligible for the 4 hours (minimum) from each day.   In rare cases, the “overnight” may be during the day…this is the case when it is used as 117 rest to reset the duty limits.  

Example : Day 1 – SFB-TLH BWI 

                  Day 2 – BWI-TLH-SFB 

On day 2 the duty off is 11:36pm, if the charter is delayed and you block in any time into day 3 (12:00 am or later), the pilot will be owed 4 additional pch. If it’s delayed past 2:00 am into a day off, then a Comp Day is required and these additional 4 hours of pch shall be abg. 

The 4 hours min calendar day in this example is unique to this pairing and should not be merged with other pairings such as a day trip pairing in the afternoon on the same day the RON trip concludes. If overnight trips are canceled, pay should remain at a 4 hour minimum per scheduled calendar day.  

Additionally, be wary of crew payroll software merging 2 min days into one 8-hour day. This can cause issues particularly if crossing months. For example, a pilot is below guarantee one month and above the other month, or in premium one month and not the other. It has also caused issues with a same day VFN conflict “greater of” rules. Due to the complexity, reference the RON GSA on the union website or feel free to reach out to payroll@apa2118.org for guidance!

COMPOSITE LINES 

We have been noticing an uptick in errors on composite lines. 

  • Pilot to Pilot trades (no matter the donor line type) DO NOT remove ADD days. Please remember the Non-Premium rules when doing these trades. If the pilot you are taking a trip from is under 81PCH the trip will only be ABG for you, not premium (note: it may still show as premium, but it will move upline premium to PREM). Your threshold to earn premium will be moved to a credit threshold higher than 81 pch. Non-Premium column is not pay, it is a place holder to serve this purpose by raising the threshold that ABG rolls to PREM. 
  • VFN awards DO NOT remove ADD days. Junior assignments do not remove ADD days.  

Please note if you do want to pick up open time from the company open time folder in Merlot and you have ADD days remaining on your schedule at the time the transaction is conducted, the company will remove ADD days.  It can get more complicated than this but expect 4 hours of ABG from these pickups to be removed per ADD day removed, with one ADD day removed per 4 hours picked up from OT. The pilot would need to wait until after all add days are removed from his or her schedule to ensure any company OT pickups remain ABG. Note: this also applies to swapping for higher credit trips with open time.  The positive delta removes ADD days and ABG pay is removed. 
 

JIRAs 

Please forward all questionable JIRA replies (any in which they did not fix as directed) to us for triage and we will either fix if crew payroll is wrong or provide clarity as to why crew payroll is correct or provide guidance for a grievance if it is a contested issue. Attach a copy of the latest Tableau pay report and Merlot schedule. 

 

New Crew Payroll Resouces 

The company has updated their resources to educate pilots on how to view your paysheet, what the columns mean, etc.  While it is overly simplistic and does not address the numerous faults and glitches in the pay system, it is a good baseline to understand the pay reports when everything goes right.  It can be viewed at the below link. https://allegiantair0.sharepoint.com/sites/CrewServicesSupport/SitePages/CrewPay.aspx 

Please be vigilant on your pay and always reach out to us via the FAQ feature or Payroll@APA2118.org if you have any questions. We usually answer within minutes. 

Greg Harris and Brandon Wood
Payroll Committee