AirTran Interviews

[dicko]

You have a class in less than a month that you haven't filled yet? Sounds like a well oiled machine.

Gup

Let's also be grateful that both of our airlines are hiring. More pilots with the jobs they want. More FO's becoming CA's ..... Hopefully.

 

[8v8tr]

You have a class in less than a month that you haven't filled yet? Sounds like a well oiled machine.

Gup

Gup, before the merger was announced you always seemed professional on here anyway.....There is nothing you or I can do about the merger, so we might as well just agree to disagree. This internal bickering will not help the combined carrier...just make things worse... and I am sure your union, much like ours has told us to just keep quite about expectations and SLI.


FWIW....the 1/2 of the class is returning pilots from leave (after furlough in 08). So the company had to see how many were coming back before calling off the street guys.

 

[GuppyWN]

Well. I still "try" to be professional and polite. You're right though, this whole Airtran PURCHASE has made me a little pissy.

A month ago all of them would have told you how much their job sucked and how much they hated their company. Today all you hear is "oh my God I just love what we have here at Airtran" or "we didn't want this 'merger', we wanted to stand alone."

If we would all just be honest with each other it'd sure be nice now wouldn't it?

Rant off. Silence mode re-engaged. Thanks for the reminder.

Gup

 

[8v8tr]

Gup-when all this is said and done how bout we just buy each other a beer or two! We probably will both need it! BTW, I would say that the most vocal guys at either airline are the 10%ers, and really would never be happy anywhere they work!

Me, I just want a stable job where I can support my family and not have to be worried about being laid off every couple of years.

 

[ParrotheadGTI]

the most vocal guys at either airline are the 10%ers, and really would never be happy anywhere they work!

quoted for truth.

 

[MRW]

8v8tr,
So your saying you would be happy with a staple and no furlough clause at SWA...good pay and great security.

 

[johnsonrod]

Are the last batch of newhires likely to fly the 717 or the 737NG? I'd probably want to get some 717 time before eventually transferring over to the 737NG for the rest of my career...

 

[ParrotheadGTI]

Are the last batch of newhires likely to fly the 717 or the 737NG? I'd probably want to get some 717 time before eventually transferring over to the 737NG for the rest of my career...

Even split 12 717 & 12 737 for the October 18th class.

Won't know about November until it gets a little closer.

 

[8v8tr]

8v8tr,
So your saying you would be happy with a staple and no furlough clause at SWA...good pay and great security.

MRW....where i sit on the list it would not really matter, but would a staple be fair and equitable for the group? Would that not make 1700 pissed off pilots and 5800 happy ones a good place to work? What would happen to the combined carrier then? Probably not good for the long haul.

We both know that there is winners and losers in the SLI, but I think once the merger is complete we will have one HE!! of an airline and one where we all can retire and make some $ and not have to worry about our jobs every few years!!!

Plus I am pretty sure with the new legislation on the books a staple is not possible.

FWIW

 

[Crash Pad]

Well. I still "try" to be professional and polite. You're right though, this whole Airtran PURCHASE has made me a little pissy.

A month ago all of them would have told you how much their job sucked and how much they hated their company. Today all you hear is "oh my God I just love what we have here at Airtran" or "we didn't want this 'merger', we wanted to stand alone."

If we would all just be honest with each other it'd sure be nice now wouldn't it?

Rant off. Silence mode re-engaged. Thanks for the reminder.

Gup

Gup somehow you have lived on this planet for longer than me and not learned the first rule of human nature. Here is the rule... if it is mine I can b!tch about it non-stop. I will, however, defend it to the death if someone else says something remotely bad about it.

Example: I'm a Bears fan. The Bears piss me off no end. They suck. The offensive line is made up of five giant retards. Martz is a one dimensional idiot. I wish they had started 0-4 like they usually do so I could just stop paying attention.

Lets say I'm in a bar and someone says "Bears suck"... Those would be fighting words.

Example 2: I complain about my wife, however, if someone else said your wife is a b!tch... we would have a real problem.

This works for airlines, wives, teams, cities of origin, pretty much anything.

I thought that was basic knowledge of human nature. I thought a group with as much drunken interaction as SWA claims would know that.

 

[Wesb737fo]

8v8tr,
So your saying you would be happy with a staple and no furlough clause at SWA...good pay and great security.

No...he said stable job...not staple job

 

[Britpilot]

A month ago all of them would have told you how much their job sucked and how much they hated their company. Today all you hear is "oh my God I just love what we have here at Airtran" or "we didn't want this 'merger', we wanted to stand alone."
Gup

You wouldn't hear that from me or most of our seniority list except from a few Captains maybe.

 

[Just thinking]

(Today all you hear is "oh my God I just love what we have here at Airtran" or "we didn't want this 'merger', we wanted to stand alone." ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

What you hear today is the frustrations of a pilot group that have worked extremely hard at making a company a better place to be and to make a company a successful operation IN SPITE OF management's complete incompetence.

Here is an example of a 4 DAY TRIP WORTH ^%$@#&

MO 08 119 ATL-TPA 1219 1336 0117 0040
MO 08 1423 TPA-IND 1416 1631 0215 0035
MO 08 1097 IND-MCO 1706 1918 0212 0040
MO 08 1609 MCO-DCA 1958 2201 0203 0747 0747 1042 DCA 1340
D-END: 2216L (NR 1000) REPT: 1156L Holiday Inn Eisenhower (703)960-3400
TU 09 189 DCA-ATL 1241 1439 0158 0041
TU 09 316 ATL-CLT 1520 1626 0106 0055
TU 09 496 CLT-BWI 1721 1840 0119 0125
TU 09 497 BWI-CLT 2005 2133 0128 0551 0551 0952 CLT 3207
D-END: 2148L (NR 900) REPT: 0555L Hilton Executive Park (704)527-8000
TH 11 311 CLT-ATL 0640 0753 0113 0102
TH 11 982 ATL-PIT 0855 1031 0136 0035
TH 11 983 PIT-ATL 1106 1248 0142 0040
TH 11 201 ATL-CAK 1328 1458 0130 0035
TH 11 204 CAK-ATL 1533 1723 0150 0751 0751 1143
D-END: 1738L T.A.F.B.: 7804 TRIP RIG: 0049
Total: 2129 0000 2218 3217

How's that for some efficient scheduling?????? Over 32 hours in CLT. This is the crap that this pilot group has been dealing with for year after year. Our IT department in MCO is disgusted with what they have to deal with..... they have to call technical support to be talked through the steps to repair problems because our MGMT team is too cheap to send them to a course to fix it. Our crew planners have to manually process THOUSANDS of trip swap requests because MGMT is spiteful and does not want automated program to work as it was designed. Take the time to ask FLICA what they think of our astute management. Our FA's will have their bids posted for the next month in a matter of hours from final submission..... the pilots will be held till that last possible moment several days later.
They embrace draconian methods and threaten instead of encourage. The pilot group is looked at as a liability instead of an asset.

Anybody who wanted to stand alone and did not want to merge may have been looking at the unrealized POTENTIAL that Airtran possessed. We did not lack an able body work force that possessed the skills and aptitude to succeed on a myriad of tasks.

What we did lack was a management team with any ability to see past their greedy self interest. We have a MGMT team with NO leadership skills. We have a MGMT team that is mired in past practices and poor foresight. We have a MGMT team that could care less about anyone that is on property and have demonstrated that time and time again.

I am sorely disappointed in the performance of this management team. I am extremely proud of this pilot group. They have risen above adversity and when dealing with poor management and poor union leadership they continued to perform admirably, taking care of the customers and taking care of the airline.

If and when GK speaks to the Airtran pilot group, I am certain that there will be a thunderous standing ovation that will go on for 10 minutes when he walks in the room. We want to succeed. We want to be part of something that is successful. Many of us had the same hopes and expectations that the old salts of SWA had when they started.
They were blessed with Herb and a vision that supported them.

We look forward to work WITH you in furthering the success of SWA.

 

[vixin]

Thats bad. The 4 day I just got off paid 31TFP at 114 per trip. Time to make those trips more efficient.

 

[GuppyWN]

That's why they have over 12 pilots per jet, and get 4-5 fewer days off per month than we do.

Gup

 

[OldManPilot]

Guppy,

Since the WN/AAI announcement I have been calculating our trips using WN TFP figures. I have found our trips to be very poorly planned. No big suprise. Almost every trip I fly falls under a WN duty rig. Tells me right there is way to much sit time and not enough work. I for one look forward to better scheduling (and the loss of some of our horrible schedulers). I am a commuter and when I fly in for work I would rather work hard and be productive then some of the low time trips we currently fly.

As far as the comments on this thread about stapling us. If WN were taking only the pilots and non of the aircraft perhaps a staple would be considered. We are bringing over 130+ aircraft with us. How is it remotely fair to staple all of our pilots and then upgrade 750 WN guys to captain to replace our guys who would be moved back to F/O's? How could that be anywhere near considered fair and equitable?

 

[RedDogC130]

Thats bad. The 4 day I just got off paid 31TFP at 114 per trip. Time to make those trips more efficient.

I have one next month pays 34.5tfp for a 4 day...haven't seen that kind of 4 day in awhile.

 

[dicko]

I have one next month pays 34.5tfp for a 4 day...haven't seen that kind of 4 day in awhile.

How many hours of flying does that equate to ? I'm assuming that it is predicted somewhere for a forward looking rest and duty calculation.

Still trying to get my tiny mind around the TFP concept.

Can you give an idea of length of overnights etc .. ?

Thanks.

 

[RedDogC130]

A bunch 29.something. Forgot the minutes....my pay rate is 101.99 tfp on 4th year rate

 

[Cometman]

are you all paid block or better