AAI to SWA Training Schedule

[Tripower455]

This sounds very familiar. At FL, during the times of "fast and furious upgrade", the mantra used to be, "You'll be a Captain for a lot longer than an First Officer, so that's where you want to the most gains to be", and "you'll only be on reserve a few months, don't waste negotiating capital there".

Then, growth slowed, no, wait, stopped. And, suddenly, all of these "temporary pains" became permanent pain for two-thirds of the Pilots.

Hopefully, enough of the OSW Pilots will have sampled the joys of a growthless period enough to realign the Contract priorities with the new reality. It would be a big plus for most if the better parts of the FL Contract were examined, there were some good things in there for Junior guys, be they Capt or FO.

Being able to drop trips, drop a reserve day, choosing your own training days, etc. are some good example. Being paid from L1 door close to L1 door open was a gem that hardly anyone else had.

Regds,
Ty

I hope you're right, but we've got one hell of a Swapaganda machine.

Our current contract was negotiated and passed during a long period of stagnation, in spite of next to nothing in it that addressed the issues concerning the more junior guys. One of the (many) reasons that TA 1 was shot down (albeit by less than a 1% margin) was the vast increase in DTCs. TA2 has HALF the allowable DTC restrictions that TA1 had. Guys who don't ELITT much have no clue how much those red days can cost, in both $$$ and QOL terms. But hey, if the junior guy has a chance at improving his schedule, it might cost the 1%er a TFP or 2, and we can't have that!

Flexibility is the key to productivity. Every restriction we've placed on ELITT has cost me flexibility, which directly translates to loss of QOL and money, and we placed a few doozys on it in TA2. The aforementioned DTCs and only being able to drop 4 days were concessions for the vast majority of the pilot group. We used to be able to drop down to 65 tfp (IIRC), and that changed to the 4 day "Duty Count" BS in TA2.

Don't even get me started on training scheduling. We have pilots that argue AGAINST a training bid system. I am a die hard PM guy. I've done half a dozen AMs in the last 13 years since MCO opened up, and haven't done one in at least 5 years. I typically get the A (0530) sim period, which puts me in the box with roughly 3 hours of sleep if I can't swap it with someone. This is certainly not conducive to best performance on a PC, nor does it help me learn anything on a PT, rendering any semblance of "training" null and void. Then, I get to escape from DAL, which is by far the most stressful part of the whole ordeal.

Yet another SWAPA give back, outside of section 6 of course, was the ability to pick up or give away during the 8 days that your line is locked by training, (8 days are required so that they can figure out exactly how to give you exactly what you don't want, and they are experts at it). TS has entirely too much control over your schedule in a training month. At least now I only have to dread it one month per year instead of 2.


We've got a few staunch pilot advocates in SWAPA now, but I fear that they will likely not be enough to overcome the Kool Aid inertia. The whisper campaign against them is in full force, since they are "difficult" to deal with on the BOD.

 

[Just thinking]

Just shut your mouths and keep your heads down. Nobody wants to hear your ideas for a better and stronger pilot group because you are from the FAT side of the partition. You could have the best solution for the problem but you have gained a "windfall" and so by default you need to shut up. If you voice your opinion on the SWAPA forum you will be quickly ganged up on and reminded of your sub-human status by the senior know-it-all or the junior "where is mine" crowd. If you really piss them off some stool sample will turn you in to pro standards..... how is that for some luv?

 

[SWA Bubba]

Just shut your mouths and keep your heads down. Nobody wants to hear your ideas for a better and stronger pilot group because you are from the FAT side of the partition. You could have the best solution for the problem but you have gained a "windfall" and so by default you need to shut up. If you voice your opinion on the SWAPA forum you will be quickly ganged up on and reminded of your sub-human status by the senior know-it-all or the junior "where is mine" crowd. If you really piss them off some stool sample will turn you in to pro standards..... how is that for some luv?

I can imagine that if the sunny and optimistic disposition that you continuously display on FI translated into real life, that YOU would be getting calls from pro standards every friggin' week. Or possibly even a blanket party. I've never,--well, hardly ever--seen such a consistent stream of pessimism, negativity, and insulting invective spewed about every possible aspect of one's professional life, without even a single positive comment. Perhaps you might consider changing your screen name from "Just Thinking" to "Just Whining." It certainly would be more apropos.

Well, hopefully you're not such a dooshbag in real life.

Bubba

 

[Luv2BFlyin]

The trannies aren't familiar with whisper campaigns, we had witch hunts, complete with pitch forks and torches . If some of the FAT guys got elected positions in SWAPA they would laugh at whisper campaigns, others on the other hand would be whispering to mgmt... careful who you elect.

 

[slaquer5]

. If you voice your opinion on the SWAPA forum you will be quickly ganged up on and reminded of your sub-human status by the senior know-it-all or the junior "where is mine" crowd. If you really piss them off some stool sample will turn you in to pro standards..... how is that for some luv?

First . SWAPA Forum sucks , they treat everyone like that .

Second Professional standards is a joke . If they ever call you , do as everyone else does and tell them to go fk themselves .

Third. Relax and try to enjoy the ride .i think you will like this place .

 

[Daddy]

Concur on SWAPA forum...it's about 5 guys with zero life blabbering endlessly about the topic of the day...no one reads it.

Concur on pro standards...total joke. "Turn someone in"? That's just funny.

Slaquer speaks the truth. There is very little RSW vs FAT on this side of the fence. We have a lot of cool people but (like everywhere else) we have some real 1%er ******************************rs here too. The scheduling flexibility is incredible here but likely different from other carriers. It is not difficult to bring home 120 tfp per month and still get the time off you want, but it might take awhile to figure out how it all works. Most guys want the FAT guys here to drown out the koolaid crowd. Make no mistake...the "LUV" is long gone and this is a very contentious management vs labor environment...this is not Herb's airline anymore. But it is a good place to work.

 

[Ty Webb]

I can imagine that if the sunny and optimistic disposition that you continuously display on FI translated into real life, that YOU would be getting calls from pro standards every friggin' week. Or possibly even a blanket party. I've never,--well, hardly ever--seen such a consistent stream of pessimism, negativity, and insulting invective spewed about every possible aspect of one's professional life, without even a single positive comment. Perhaps you might consider changing your screen name from "Just Thinking" to "Just Whining." It certainly would be more apropos.

Well, hopefully you're not such a dooshbag in real life.

Bubba

Bubba, either you have him confused with somebody else (ex-wife, maybe?) or someone peed in your cornflakes.

Either way, hope it gets better. Have a beer.

 

[FlyinGuy]

Funny how Lear70 has become one of the biggest "contributors" on the SWAPA forum!!!!

 

[Nindiri]

Give the General a password to the SWAPA forum. That should liven things up and make for some interesting reading.

 

[Daddy]

We have a couple GL's on there already