Open time
Unassigned trips left over after rosters are built, which line holders can pick up voluntarily — often at premium pay when crew are short.
Definition
Open time is the pool of flying that remains uncovered after the monthly rosters have been awarded, plus trips that later fall out through sickness, drops or disruption. Line holders can pick these up on top of their roster, subject to legality, and when the airline is short of crew it sweetens them with premium rates — 150% or double time under some US contracts. The term is North American; European airlines run similar voluntary extra-flying schemes under names like additional flying or overtime.
What it means for you
Open time is how a line holder turns a 75-hour month into a 100-hour one and is the biggest driver of the wide salary ranges at US carriers. It is also the fastest route to fatigue, because voluntary flying still counts against every cumulative limit; the contract protects your days off, but nothing forces you to keep them.
In practice
During a summer staffing squeeze a senior American Airlines flight attendant picks up two open-time transcontinental trips at premium rates and clears the top-of-scale month that the airline's published averages never show.
Related terms
4 terms- Line holderRoster & schedulingUS crew who hold a monthly roster of assigned trips rather than reserve days, and can trade, drop and pick up flying.
- OvertimePay & benefitsExtra pay for flying beyond the hours guaranteed in your contract, always capped by the legal flight time limits.
- Roster swapRoster & schedulingExchanging a rostered duty with a colleague, subject to legality checks and crewing approval; how crew shape a company-built roster.
- Block hoursRoster & schedulingTime from the aircraft first moving under its own power to the parking brake being set: the unit airlines pay by and regulators cap.