Clarification on official Econ flights and unofficial Econ flights

Pilots,

Here's some clarification on flying Econ flights.  First, you can fly any of the listed Econ flights as standard flights.  Infact, you must fly the Econ flight if your desired origin and destination airport match an Econ flight and no other scheduled flight option is available for that Orig. and Dest. airport.  Your user-defined number will not work in this case and the upload will show an error.  If you don't have "Econ Mode" checked in SPAACARS, and therefore your PIREP is not automatically sent upon landing, then you have the option of adjusting the flight number and resending the PIREP through SPAACARS by pushing the "Send Pirep" button.  With Econ Mode option checked in SPAACARS, and an incorrect flight number as described above (user-defined flight number incorrectly used for a flight that exists in our scheduled flights with same Orig and Dest.) this will cause an upload error without the possibility of resending the pirep.  You must then enter the flight data manually via the pilot's office if you want to get your PIREP entered for that flight. 

That's why it's important to check for an existing flight with the desired Orig and Dest in our official schedule.  This is done in Pilot's Office, Option # 6 (Flight Schedules), under "Flight Schedule by Airport".  This allows you to search with both Orig and Dest field.  If the search returns one or more flights, you must use one of those flight numbers as your flight number for your flight.  You CANNOT use your user-defined flight number for any flight that has a flight listed in that search.

If the only flight that shows up in that search is an Econ type flight, you can (and MUST) use that flight number to fly your desired flight.  This doesn't mean that it's automatically going to be an "Official Econ Flight".  Only if the PAX and Cargo numbers in the SPAACARS PAX and Cargo fields match that listed in the schedule for that flight, and Econ Mode is checked in the SPAACARS settings, will the flight be recorded as an "Official Econ Flight".  If any of these conditions are not met.  The flight is considered an "Unofficial Econ Flight", ie. just a regular flight.  

"Unofficial Econ Flights" are Econ flights that either had mis-matched Pax and/or Cargo numbers shown in SPAACARS Pax and Cargo field to that listed in the schedule or any Econ flight where Econ Mode is turned off (Unchecked) in SPAACARS settings.

Unofficial Econ Flights (whether made intentionally by leaving Econ Mode turned off or ignoring the required PAX and Cargo numbers required, or made accidentally by incorrectly entering PAX/Cargo number or forgetting to turn on Econ Mode setting) will always show up as a regular flight in your Pilot's Logbook and count toward your flying hours.  

The only difference between Unofficial and Official Econ flights is whether the final flight data is posted to the associated Econ page of our website in addition to your Pilot's Logbook.

I'll answer any questions or problems you might have regarding this.

Happy flying,

John