AirTran classes

[wood pecker]

Are the majority of the new classes for the 737?

How is life on the 737 as far as schedules compared to the 717?

How are schedules in general compared to regional life? As for life at one of the ATL regionals- min 10 days off.
slowly adding more lines as another regional is moving N.
contract still ongoing.
longest trip on the 50 seater is 4days at a time.
Thank you.

 

[IAHERJ]

Classes expected to run until the end of the year with just shy of 200 pilots being hired for the year 2004. Currently hiring about even for 717 and 737. 717 pilots can expect about 5-6 months on reserve then hold a line where currently the minimum days off are around 13 for August. Reserve lines are averaging about 11 days off which is our minimum. Several months ago the 717 reserve lines were all about 15-17 days off but we were overstaffed in the right seat at that particular time. 737 schedules are all reserve for August being that we only have 2 and pilots are mainly doing IOE at the time. September should have about 7 hard lines with several more reserve lines. That airplane is so new to the fleet that few really know how the schedules will look in the near future but a year down the road we expect the aircraft to do mostly long haul flying and red-eye's from the left coast. On a brighter note, the 737 will probably be the aircraft deployed on any new service we might add in the future down to the caribbean should the company decide to do this. Another bright note with regards to 737 flying is the possibility of the company exercising the options on -800's. These will pay a 13% override to the -700/717 pay scales in the current contract.


As far as the trip schedules go, on the 717 we mostly fly 4 days on down to day trips. Most lines are built with 4 day trips if you want anything commutable. Very productive trips with most 4 day trips paying about 25-28 hours and blocked around 21-25 hours. As a new hire you can expect to get over the 70 hour minimum on reserve. Many reserves get close to 100 hours pay from the start if they are used a lot. You will find our trips and layovers a bit more enticing than the ones at your carrier. This is due mostly to our stage lengths being longer thus reducing the number of legs we fly in a day to a max of 5. With the CRJ's gone we might have a few day trips with 6 legs to cover the SAV type of flying but I doubt it. I crash with a pretty senior captain at your carrier and he drools at our bid packets. The only down side to our bid system is for very senior pilots who only get a few more days off than the most junior lineholder. We use a LVI system where most schedules look the same. Good for me being relatively junior and holding 16 days off but not really fair to a 10 year captain only getting 18 days off. My old regionals domestic trips looked somewhat like the AirTran trips but we have no 33 hour layovers in Mexico to unwind from a long day of flying like COEX did. That may come in the next few years though. Starting pay is at 42.75 right now and you can plan on about 44-50K for your first year including per diem. Year 2 hourly is around 56 and most guys gross around 66-70K including per diem if they fly productive trips with 15 days off per month. I've got a good friend on year 3 pay who will break 74K this year and he spends max days off in Texas. You should hold captain by year 3-4 if you want to take the upgrade asap. Top out in the right seat is just shy of 100K and we have several guys who sit in the top quarter of the right seat on purpose for commutability and they make ends meet on the pay pretty well. Hope this answers some of your initial questions about the company. Captain pay is pretty good but those rates can be found at airlinepilotpay.com.

IAHERJ

 

[wood pecker]

Thank you very much, that is exactly what we wanted to know. (I say we b/c my friends are to paranoid/lazy to register on their own). At the regional I work for, AirTran seems to be the shiny new present alot of us want. The odd thing about talking amongst our-selves is that we have all heard and tried various ways of applying to your airline.

The e-mail seems to be the least reliable tool for applying according to various sources. The most common answer is having your friends/connection walk in your resume/cover letter. Others have tried to mail it to Airtran HQ on AirTran boulevard where who knows if the packet even gets to the desired hands of J.N or G.C. There is a job fair in D.C this Sept. according to the air-inc site which alot of us plan on attending.

Would walking across the road to the chief pilot be a good idea or would that be as great as the in-laws showing up with sleeping bags.

 

[Fly-By-Cable]

Would walking across the road to the chief pilot be a good idea or would that be as great as the in-laws showing up with sleeping bags.

Chief pilot does not accept resumes. He actually sent a message about that a while ago to everyone; I guess he was getting slammed. Another message about 4 month ago said that resumes should be e-mailed or faxed with recommendation letter attached to HR.

 

[Isla Mujeres]

IAHERJ,

Thanks for the informative reply...

 

[FLB717]

Poor Senior guys have to work 12 on, 18 off, poor poor bastards*. Another view of how the evil LCC uses it's people
IAHERJ, Nice post.

* (sarcastic response, to show pleasure of not being 20 on 10 off)

 

[dually]

To whom should the e-mail cover letter be adderssed ?
Thanks.

 

[FarginDooshbahg]

To whom should the e-mail cover letter be adderssed ?
Thanks.

Klause Gurschbaag.

 

[Ty Webb]

Klause Gurschbaag.

That would probably be funny, if I were about 12.

Hold on, let me ask my 12 year-old. . . . . . . . . . .

Nah, he says you're an idiot, too.

 

[Mooseflyer]

Hilarious!!