Wheelin and Dealin

All this month, I've wheeled and dealed to get 4 day trips worth the most amount of flying time. I managed to cheat the system and get myself assigned a high speed line instead of a reserve line. (You might be asking yourself what a high speed is. A high speed can go by many names, stand up overnight, CDO, stand up and illegal just to name a few. It is a duty period that extends through the night hours. You will fly the last flight into an airport and the first out in the morning while staying on duty all night long. A typical flight leaves base at 9:30pm, gets into the outstation around 10:30pm. You pack up all your stuff and head to the hotel to try and catch a few hours of sleep before your return flight. Typically the first flights of the day leave around 6:00am so that means a 5:30am show time, 5:00 van and a 4:30 wake up call. So if your lucky, you can get more than 4 hours of sleep between flights.) Some people like high speeds, but I'm not a big fan. You dont fly much. So you may be asking yourself "why did he bid for a high speed line if he doesn't like them?" because I am an official line holder now and can now pick up open time, drop and swap trips whereas on reserve, I couldn't do any of that. So, I took full advantage of the loophole in the system and as soon as I was awarded a line, I went through and swapped'n'dropped everything I could for 4 day trips. I managed to do quite well for myself for the first time out. I got rid of most of the high speeds and picked up several 4 day trips to bring my credit hours over 90 for the month. The real downside is that I couldn't get rid of my high speeds on the 24th, 25th and 26th. I tried everything, but it looks like I'll be on the road for x-mas. I kinda had a sneaking suspicion this would happen seeing as how I am low man on the seniority list. It sucks, but comes with the territory.