Glutton for punishment

Trip traded a nice 3-day with a double OC (or as I prefer Red County) layovers for what seems to be the most onerous trip on the schedule.

The 1st day (last night) was one leg SEA-LAX arriving at the Hot L about midnight with lights out at 1:30AM. That was the easy part. The remainder not so much:

Tonight (actually O-to-early Friday) a 0105 departure to GDL with a scheduled return to LAX at 0925. Friday night is similar with a 2355 departure to MEX and a 0855 return to LAX Saturday morning. Saturday night is the short finale with a departure at 2100 and return to SEA at 2337.

There have been many safety complaints (nicknamed the LAX triple threat) and I am about to experience it firsthand. The pilot I traded with (who's questioning my sanity for making the request) has the seniority (juniority) that only allows him to hold this schedule, so he lives the backside of the clock flying all the time. From all the people I've talked with who've flown these - to a person say this is the worst of the worst.

This trip differs from all other backside of the clock flying that we do in that the report/departure times are later in the evening, with the corresponding arrival/release times pushed to that much later in the morning. Add to that clearing Immigration & Customs, waiting for the Hot L shuttle, and the noise and interruptions associated with and around the hotel and it adds up to a bad combination with ther potential for compounding fatigue.

Alaska Airlines decided in mid-FEB not to allow crews to layover in GDL or MEX anymore due to the increased potential for violence. This made for some initial bad ramifications with the revised schedules as they inexplicably planned a full day of flying after the all-nighter turn. This in turn lead to some zombie crews whose bodies were unable to the shift from flying all night in one duty period to then flying all day in the next. Those schedules got fixed rather quickly with the insistence of our ALPA Scheduling Committee and the assistance of the System Chief Pilot.

As I look at it this trip pairing is even worse on paper for the reasons previously described. And rather than just listen to the complaints I've made the decision to witness it myself. I will do my best to be appropriately rested when I report for duty and will let the chips fall where they may.

Why these aren't flown as turns by our LAX based brethren is confounding to me, and that may the best solution and soon change.