Leave AirTran for CAL?

[Britpilot]

Lot’s of variety with good movement. I have been here only two years and will be very close to holding Capt. on the next bid. I can either hold out as a 737 F/O and have a good schedule, possibly bid Capt., Bid 75/76 and see Europe, or Bid 77/78 and fly the big A/C.
While Cal does have its problems; First year pay, Bases, 83-85 hires. It is somewhat stable, this week anyway, with decent MGT.

I have to agree with everthing you say except the last three words. Larry is a moron, Gordo was much better.

 

[bendover]

if the age 60 thing go's through it will really affect the upgrades at Cont. alot of people will not have that quick upgrade they were planning on. I also believe that those hired on now have missed the peak of hiring and those getting on now are back fill for those fo's that will upgrade in this wave of hiring/aircraft deliveries/retirements.

 

[IAHERJ]

If the age 60 thing goes through, it will effect many arlines including AirTran. I'd much rather have to spend a few more years in the right seat of a 757/767 or 777 making 6 figures while I wait for CA than a narrowbody anywhere else. That is one of the options that make CAL attractive over a LCC.

IAHERJ

 

[bendover]

airtran has about 12-18 age 60 retirements per year the next 5 yrs. Continental has a couple of thousand age 60 retirements the next 5 yrs.time frame. After the age 60 rule go's out the window , Continental will probably be the MOST affected airline out there. try adding 5 years to your upgrade. I'd rather take a 3-4 yr captain slot to being a fo for 6-8yrs. Its all about the money not the piece of tin your sitting in.

 

[CAL EWR B737]

airtran has about 12-18 age 60 retirements per year the next 5 yrs. Continental has a couple of thousand age 60 retirements the next 5 yrs.time frame. After the age 60 rule go's out the window , Continental will probably be the MOST affected airline out there. try adding 5 years to your upgrade. I'd rather take a 3-4 yr captain slot to being a fo for 6-8yrs. Its all about the money not the piece of tin your sitting in.

Got to raise the BS flag on this one. Yes there will be a reduction in retirements if age 60 goes to 65 no doubt. But it will not bring movement to a complete stop. I don't have numbers in front of me but we lose a lot of guys over age 50 to medicals (most temporary and some permanent) what do you think that number is going to be after age 60? My bet medicals will go through the roof.

Secondly most of our senior pilots have a significant amount of sick time and they can't take it with them how much you want to bet those over sixty will call in sick almost as much as they show up, this already occurred when we had all of our F/E's crewed by over age 60 before 9/11. How much do you think that will effect staffing?

Lastly not every pilot is going to stay to age 65. Some will but many will leave after a year, two or three. So between medicals, early retirements and sick leave you will still see significant movement, granted not as much as you would with age 60. I don't understand your math? Your retirements at Air Tran are measly or even considered pathetic but since you only have a handful of pilots retiring in the next few years (pre age 60 rule change) and we have a significant amount of our seniority list somehow changing age 60 will put your guys in a better situation please explain?

Additionally we have currently have 46 wide bodies all fairly new. If we take delivery of all 60 787's (25 firm/35 options) our wide body fleet will be over 100. If we come close or break the 300 dollar hour mark for 12 year 777/787 CA's a 787/777 FO will pay so much these FO seats will go far senior to the narrow body captain. Due to the mission of these aircraft and being crewed on just about each flight with one captain and three FO's what do you think that will do to our staffing and subsequent movement since these seat will pay just about what a narrow body Captain makes?

Hey it's a crap shoot all the way around. Will we reach our goals for contract 08 I sure hope so but I could be wrong. Personal choice three, four five legs narrowbody domestic flying or long haul international with 18 to 22 days a month off?

 

[COpilot]

bendover,

Congrats!!! you are the next flightinfo person to blow information out his/her a$$ without knowing or checking the facts before they write something as the truth.

The fact is there are 1,234 retirements on the books over the next 5 years at CO.

Opinion around the union and our forum (not fact), puts the estimate not at 5 years because of age 60, but closer to a 3 year delay. However as I said on the first page, I think AAI is a good bet for this person to stay with.

 

[STL717]

Where are we in the current economic cycle? Will the economy head for a recession in the near future resulting in furloughs at most airlines?

Starting a new job at what turns out to be the wrong time can be devastating.

 

[PCL_128]

Sorry..I don't get the whole send me to Guam or Serwark thing..... Not good to be an airline gypsy..

Agreed. Taking a job at a legacy that's well past the beginning of its hiring cycle when you're about to upgrade at a profitable company and start making $120k is just a bad move. I'm having flashbacks to the 99'-01' time frame when guys were leaving places like AirTran, SWA, FedEx, and UPS to take a "glamorous" jobs at one of the legacies. Most of those guys spent five years on furlough and will go back to a job that pays half of what it did when they were hired. If they had stayed at their original carrier, they'd have been making well into the six figures for several years with great schedules.

 

[bestpilot]

Starting a new job at what turns out to be the wrong time can be devastating.

Duude, pickin yer nose at da wrong time can liek be bad too bro, like Im drivin in Fiat an stuff, goin ta werk an like I gotz this like nassy ole hard boogie like way up in there an stuff. Ty Guy, yknow what I'm tawkin bouts cause like I gets em all da time. Dude, Im like diggin like way up there and liek I thinks I gotz it and the like, gush!!!!!

Dude, It's freaking bleedin like wehn da shower aint like terned off all da way and stuff.

Drip drip drip, freaking all over my clean shirt an stuff. I likes gets da napkins from my McD's and stuff, and like jam it all up in there. Duuude, it like still is bleedin an stuff. I likes go to da freeakin Jeewelll Osco an stuff, an likez buy a tampn , and like rip it outz right there in da store an like jam it all up in my nose. Awwww yeahhh, mooooeeee better. Then like manager cat sees me an stuff and like says, "Bro, can I like get you somtin?" "Yeah, bro, a freaking maxi pad an like a can a dat ole club soda, like freaking pronto, mee amigo!"

He gits it fer me, and like I'm freaking cleanin my shirt right there in freaking ailse 12!

Dude says, who you werkin fer? I likes wantz ta tell him da Tranny, but like I figgure like maybe dat aint so good fer dat ole compnee image, so likez I sayz, "bro I werk fer Contnental and stuff".

Sorry, but wehn you gotz a tampon wedged all up yer nostrill an stuff, sometimez its jus embarassin, like wehn Ty Guy's new babe was like really a dude and stuff.

 

[Lear70]

ROFLMAO!!!

I love how you can take a thread and just completely blow it out of the water with some random string of thought, yet tie it back in. Nice. :beer:

Incidentally, I don't know if I'd leave AAI for CAL right now either. 3 years into a traditional 5-7 year hiring cycle that will hiccup slightly with the age 65 increase. True that you will fly heavy metal international, and if you want to do that, go for it. I'd love to, but I only have a 3 hour butt unless I'm reading a good book and I'd go crazy if I got stuck with some anal retentive CA that wouldn't let me open a good Dean Koontz novel about an hour out towards Orly.

Incidentally, I only fly 2-3 legs a day and get 16-17 days off as a relatively junior guy here at AAI. The Quality Of Life ain't bad... hope the T.A. dies so it can stay this way until we get a better deal.