Frequently Asked Questions

Installation, Setup & Removal

• Can I put it on more than one machine?
  Yes, you can install it on as many machines as you wish for no additional charge. The best method is to just download the latest version from the Download Page following the instructions provided. Once installed, choose the third option when setting it up which is "This is NOT my first time using Crew Companion."
• How do I uninstall and reinstall Crew Companion?
  Uninstall the program through your Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs (Win7/Vista: Programs & Features) and then reinstall the latest Crew Companion version.

General Program Operation

• I'm a UAL pilot, what can Crew Companion do for me?
  Crew Companion can help improve your schedule and quality of life regardless of whether you are holding a line or on reserve. When holding a line, our rapid-fire upload capability coupled with our superior Trade Board system to help you find and execute pilot to pilot trades puts our customers at a distinct advantage. When you're on reserve, our Aggressive Pickup feature will allow you to sleep soundly while the program hammers away trying to score trips for you. You'll also enjoy our 1-Click Preflight that pulls everything you need for your next trip and pops it up ready to print pocket-size. Another new feature is the Seniority Analyzer which helps you sharpshoot the bump process by showing you exactly where you're likely to end up when the next round of bumps concludes. We've also just rolled out a new Apollo Flight Planner function that pulls flights, loads and DM lists with a single click and will calculate exactly where you'd be on the DM list as well as the jumpseat! More additional information on individual features of the program can be found on the Product Page and the rest of the Support Page.
• I'm a UAL flight attendant, what can Crew Companion do for me?
  Crew Companion can help improve your schedule and quality of life. You'll save hours of computer time with our Drag-n-Drop DSPFAI trading that takes only seconds to create and submit or let our Auto-Trades search for new trips matching your desired criteria and immediately create that DSPFAI for your while your sleeping, out flying or just living your life. Now THAT'S quality of life! You'll also enjoy our 1-Click Preflight that pulls everything you need for your next trip and pops it up ready to print pocket-size. More additional information on individual features of the program can be found on the Product Page and the rest of the Support Page.
• How do I change my password in Crew Companion?
  To change your password in Crew Companion

  1. Click on Tools/Options/Login and Passwords Tab.
  2. The passwords are masked but you can overtype them and click OK when finished to save the changes.
  3. If needed, you can unmask all passwords by clicking the 'Unmask Passwords' button and entering the stored Unimatic or SkyNet password.
• How do I change a notification method in Crew Companion?
  To setup or change a Notifications, follow the steps below:

  1. Click Tools > Options.
  2. Click the Notifications tab.
  3. Click the Check Box next to Method and choose Email, Cell SMS, or Voice.
  4. Enter the Address or Number and Carrier for each Method selected. Example: (123) 456-7890.
  5. Click Send Test Notification to verify all of the notifications work.
  6. Click OK.
• What do I need to do if I change my email address?
  To change that in Crew Companion, click Tools/Options and you'll see your email address listed there on the Personal Info/Contact Info subtab, and there you can make any changes to it. Also, you may need to change it on the Notifications Tab.
• How do I fix my error exporting to Outlook (including 8007007e)?
  This problem is typically caused by a damaged Outlook installation, but may also be caused by Outlook add-ins or errors within the current Outlook installation. Try the following steps to resolve the problem. Reattempt the export after each step as you may not need to continue.

  1. Disable all other Outlook add-ins: Outlook Tools menu | Options | Other tab | Advanced Options | COM Add-Ins | uncheck the items. If you have Office 2007, you'll need to find those at Tools/Trust Center/Add-ins/select COM add-ins and click 'Go' to see the list of Add-ins you have installed. If this solves the problem, then re-enable one add-in at a time until the problem reappears. Note that Microsoft Backup for PSTs can cause these problems. You may want to consider disabling it first.
  2. Repair/reinstall Outlook. See Outlook Help menu | Detect and Repair, or see your Outlook documentation.
  3. Uninstall then reinstall Outlook fully as a last resort (note do not simply reinstall - you must uninstall Outlook first then reinstall it). Do not uninstall the Office package as a whole, just select Outlook to uninstall. Your message stores (psts) and account data will not be lost when you uninstall. The one drawback is that if you have applied patches to your Outlook since the initial install, they will need to be reapplied when Outlook is reinstalled. You can do this by going to Outlook/Help/Check for Updates.
• How do I know the server has my notification criteria?
  If you are on the internet, you can trust that it is sent immediately to the server upon creation. However, if you would like to receive a confirmation notification message when you create or modify a Notification Criteria, click Tools/Options/Notifications and check the box next to "Send a message when notification criteria is updated."
• Will Crew Companion work on an Apple/Mac?
  Crew Companion is a Windows-based program so you need to either have the Apple Bootcamp software that allows you to dual-boot to Windows or you need to run a Windows emulator program such as VMWare Fusion or Parallels. You can then install the software from the Download Page into your Windows environment and follow the instructions along the way.
  
  We are still considering adding true Mac compatibility but there is a serious problem. Core Technology, the company who owns the component that authenticates and loads the Unimatic terminal told me they are 100% certain they will NOT produce a MAC version of that thing. So, native Mac capability is still on our To Do List but won't be possible until we figure a way around Core Technology. See our Apple Mac Support webpage for more information.

Pilot Specific

• How often does Crew Companion check for new open trips?
  1. United updates a complete list of open trips about every five minutes and saves that on their FTP server.
  2. Our server checks that FTP every two seconds to see if a new file is available and will immediately download it and make notifications of new trips to all customers with matching criteria.
  3. Also, if anyone manually updates the Uncov/Nowopn through the Crew Companion program, and any new trips have opened since the last FTP update, those trip notifications will also be immediately sent.
  4. If you are on reserve and have a Smart Pickup armed, your machine is checking our server once per minute and will immediately fire on new open trips in that intervening minute that meets your Smart Pickup criteria.
• How is the potential reserve range calculated in Seniority Analyzer?
  We look at how many reserve lines were given in the latest Line Awards for the selected fleet and we subtract that number from the total number of lines (sequence numbers) to set the center of the blue range. We then add and subtract 5% to that number to get the complete blue range. When you subsequently click the 'Predict the Future' button, we subtract the number of bumps (if any) and we also figure out who has the desire and seniority to bump in and show them all on the new roster in seniority order regardless of what bump seniority they used to get in. We establish a new cut line for reserves the same way using previously established percentage of reserves. For more information, visit our help file for the Seniority Analyzer.

Lineholder Pilot Specific

• Why should you leave the SkyNet SmartTrade criteria "Days (Trip Length)" set to 'Is'?
  SkyNet requires you to define the total days of flying you want but also allows you to set the number of days each matching trip has. What's the difference? Well, say you want to trade away your 4 day trip into two 2 day trips. Then you'd select Days (Total) = 4 and Days (Trip Length) = 2. Let's say instead, you want to trade your 4 day trip for any 3 or 4 day trip that pays better than 5 hrs per day. It can't be done in one trade! The reason is that you MUST specify the TOTAL days of flying to either 3 or 4 so you'll need to create two separate trades.
  
  What we do is silently set the value for Days (Total) = Days (Trip Length) upon submission to SkyNet as long as the trip length is set to "Is". Doing it this way satisfies SkyNet's requirement to have that Days (Total) set but it also allows us to show you all the trips that match your criteria so you know if you've done it right. Anytime you see the match count to the right of the criteria drop to zero, you know you've made a mistake in your criteria. If you change the Days (Trip Length) to something other than "Is" such as "Is less than or equal" then the number of possible matches becomes too complex to figure therefore the match count and match list features are disabled.
• How do I set up for a vacation drop?
  To set up a vacation drop, drag the trip you wish to drop from your calendar and drop it on the 'My SkyNet Trades' section on the left side panel. That drop request is now created and visible just above the calendar. Make it a vacation drop instead by clicking the 'Vac Drop' box on the Trade Options bar that appears above your calendar, and then it is ready to submit. For more information on vacation drops, see our video tutorial.
• How do I use the LineBuilder feature?
  Once you are in Linebuilder mode as evidenced by 'Draft' on your calendar, select 'All Trips' from the left side pane. The trips are 'rolled up' by default by ID. In other words, if a trip operates on multiple days, it is only listed once but the date column will show all the days it operates on. Just expand that column header if you can't see them all. If you don't want them rolled up, there is a setting for that on the Tools/Options/Display Options tab. Also note that when you select a trip, it will be shopped in your calendar on the first day it operates but there is a green dot in each calendar day cell for the other days it operates. Click any of those to move it to that day or you can also drag/drop the timeline image to the day you want. Once you have it where you like it, click the gold lock icon to lock it into your calendar and then you can start shopping the next trip. For more information, see our LineBuilder help file and video tutorial.

Reserve Pilot Specific

• What does Crew Companion do for Reserve Pilots?
  The best feature is the ability of the program to fire up at any time of the day or night and fire Aggressive Pickup requests for you. Pretty cool to get a trip pickup while you're sound asleep! You can arm multiple backup requests and can even arm Smart Pickup or criteria-based requests that can immediately fire on new trips that open meeting your criteria. There are several other great features too. For example, most reserve pilots find it extremely useful to be notified via a text message within minutes of a new trip opening within their reserve period. Even if it's not a trip you'd want, at least you know what you might be about to get stuck with and can plan accordingly. Many reserve pilots find our Reserves Available pane extremely useful as well because it is sortable and easy to pull up other reserve pilots Calrec simply be right clicking on them.
  
  There are also many schedule management tools that both lineholders and reserve pilots find beneficial such as our Seniority Analyzer to sharpshoot the bump process, PBS LineBuilder, calendar printing and exporting, and 1-Click Preflight that pulls Pltid, Pltbrf and Door Codes and displays them ready to print. And of course, who wouldn't like the ease of having all the scheduling info (Open trips, BB Posts, Calrec, Calendar summary, Trip details, and Rsva) displayed on one efficient page to give you instant situational awareness.
• How can I improve my success rate with Aggressive Pickups?
  1. Computer speed - If your computer is out of date and/or underpowered, you could be handicapping your chances of success picking up trips. How quickly does your machine press enter after the trip is detected open is called the 'reaction time'. The reaction times we see with old XP machines and overloaded Vista machines are typically 1/10th to 1/100th of a second. Newer Win7 machines will react closer to 1/1000 to 1/10,000 of a second which is enough of a difference to affect your success rate.
     What can you do? If you aren't ready to upgrade your machine yet, a good option would be to clean up the "crapware" on your machine to free up some memory. You'd be amazed at how much memory virus-like programs such as AOL, Real Player and Norton Internet Security can hog. Most folks have many other programs they never use running in the background and not even know it. Getting rid of crapware like that allows your machine to run literally twice as fast and causes fewer errors as well. I recommend you click Start/Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs and uninstall programs that you do not need. Make sure you do a Google search for anything you are not sure of because you don't want to accidentally uninstall something you need.
  2. Internet speed - Several years ago when AOL hosted United's connection servers, we implemented a throttle to limit cycle speeds around 5 cycles per second (CPS) because people who lived close to the server were cycling as fast as 13 CPS compared to others who lived farther away cycling at 4 or 5 CPS. We felt that allowing a geographical advantage was unfair therefore implemented the throttle. As long as you see your cycle rate at or near the rate of 5 CPS, you're internet connection is fine and you should not change anything!
     What if I cycle less than 4 CPS? If you're stuck with dial-up, find a family member or friend who will let you install Crew Companion on their machine for you. If you have high speed, consider switching to another internet sevice provider (ISP). Upgrading your bandwidth to a higher package with the same ISP will not help! That only increases the size of the pipe data flows through but since the amount of data going back and forth during a cycle attempt is so miniscule, even the lowest bandwidth package is more than adequate.
• How do you decide who gets the Aggressive Pickup when more than one are trying?
  We don't decide anything!

  1. When you have a Direct Aggressive Pickup armed, your machine cycles the pickup attempt directly to Unimatic as fast as it can trying to pick up the trip for you. Anyone else who is competing with you is doing the same thing trying to pick up the trip for themselves. Our server is not involved in any way once it verifies your subscription is current. It simply comes down to who hits enter at the magic moment that the trip opens. To do it any other way would be an abrogation of the first come/first serve agreement in the UAL pilot contract for trip trading.
  2. When you have a Smart Pickup armed, your machine is checking our server once per minute. Of course, other pilots may also have their machine trolling for new trips with similar criteria to yours. If a new trip opens in that intervening minute that info is transmitted to your machine when it does its check and your machine will immediately kick into action to pick up that trip if it is already inside the pickup window. Sometimes you'll win; sometimes you won't but it comes down to simply the luck of the draw.
• How frequently do you check for new open trips for Smart Pickups and Notifications?
  UAL updates a file on their FTP server about every five minutes. It takes several minutes for them to write the file so the data can be older than 5 minutes but usually less than 10. We are checking every two seconds to see if it has been updated and immediately download it and make notifications for any matches. When you have a Smart Pickup armed, your machine is polling our server once per minute to see if anything new has popped up meeting your criteria and will immediately fire on it if appropriate. You cannot control the frequency of the checks but if you or anyone in your category does update the open trips through the program, that info is immediately shared to the server and disseminated to everyone.
• Why did Crew Companion say I was illegal for TRIP DAYS/AVAILABLE DAYS?
  Crew Companion would never prevent you from making an attempt regardless of whether it may or may not be legal. It always leaves that decision to Unimatic so that "TRIP DAYS/AVAIL DAYS" message that reported you were not legal was simply forwarded from Unimatic.
  
  Here's the problem. Unimatic was never programmed with the 'correct' interpretation of the silo-1 part of the contract. Unfortunately, the grievance for that got thrown out in 2003 along with several others. If you are coming off of an RDO, it works correctly and will let you pick up a trip that is silo-1 based on what your silo status WILL BE. If you have already begun the reserve period, Unimatic looks at what silo you are CURRENTLY IN. That's why it is always a good idea to click the "Check Legality/Pickup Now" button when you have a trip armed for pickup to see whether Unimatic thinks you are going to be legal for the pickup.
• What does Min Pre-Departure Time mean?
  The Min Pre-departure time for Smart Pickups will prevent the program from finding and immediately firing on a trip that has less than that amount of time from the present time to the departure time. That prevents a nasty surprise where you suddenly have a trip in your line for which you simply don't have enough time to get to the airport to cover! If we find a trip inside that Min Pre-departure time, we'll just notify you instead of immediately firing the pickup attempt and let you decide whether you actually have enough time to go for it.
• Why did you notify me of an Aggressive Pickup attempt during my excluded times?
  That notification for a successful or unsuccessful Aggressive Pickup is what we consider a 'high priority' message therefore it does not get held up until your Exclude Time mask is expired. The reason for that is essentially one of liability. We don't want to fail to notify you that you have a new trip that may be only 28 hrs from departure until your mask expires since that may be many hours after the pickup. We might not be giving you sufficient time to get to the airport especially if you are a commuter.