Airtran pilots

[DonVerita]

I thought that was kind of low considering, .......... well you know what I'm talking about. How about 75%?

How about you don't have any idea what you're talking about. Are you even an AirTran Airways pilot??

During the last round of polling, an indirect question was asked about taking a Strike. 60% came back affirmative, meaning YES, they would walk the line.

The significance of this number is that it was taken before any Strike Committee was formed or any spin up operations begun. Once those two items are completed, the number would go significantly higher.

Money is one motivator, but RESPECT is more powerful than that. What good does a fat pay raise do you when they take it away from you in reassignments? Or how about the ridiculously high insurance premiums? Been on Reserve lately? Nightmare. Gate agents having more authority than the Captain...how about that? These are all Respect items.

This is the final stop on the career path. This isn't some regional where you spend half your day planning your path to the next airline. Most people want to work for a big major airline. We are that now. This next contract will define who we are. It will be the core foundation for all future contracts...hence the full re-write.

For those of you who continue to drink the Kool-Aid...Wake T.F. up!! Do you want to walk on your knees for the rest of your life? If so, does us all a favor and go to Freedumb Air.

For those of you who continue to sit on the fence...what's your problem? Too much of a weak suck to stand up for yourself? Or maybe you think just because you pay union dues that a big bad-ass contract is just going to magically appear in front of you. Paying dues gets you into the party. If you want to dance with the prettiest girls, you've got to be self-assertive, make a move, and show your resolve. You are a major airline pilot now. Start acting like one!

Scroll back and do what -9 Capt. said in an earlier post within this thread. Spot on advice. That's how you show solidarity. That's how you get things done.

 

[DBCOOPER]

Specifically, what are the most important things you guys at Airtran are wanting out of this new contract?

I'm not sure what your contract is like now, all i see is the payscale. I hope you're pushing for some substantial pay increases in the F/O column especially after year one. I understand that 2 year upgrade thing is over, those year 3 and up rates could use a little attention in my opinion.

What's the reserve system like?

Thanks for any good info, I appreciate it.

 

[Lear70]

Reserve sucks everywhere. It sucks less badly here than many other places, but still sucks (like tonight).

10 days off on 30- day and less months, 11 days off on 31-day months. 70 hour guarantee.

3.50 daily guarantee, 4 hour min day, so if you fly even ONE day, you're already above guarantee (because it's DAILY cumulative credit). Downside: get assigned a CDO on reserve (like me tonight) and you LOSE 3 hours of pay automatically from just sitting reserve. Filed my first grievance tonight over it.

Additionally, there are a lot of gaps in pay protection on reserve, most centered around CDO's, including the 3-day off requirement after you fly one (they have to give you 3 days off after the completion of a CDO (or a series of CDO's) and some reserve lines only have 2 day off gaps in them so I just lost a reserve day and didn't get pay protected - in addition to the 3 hours I lost being assigned a CDO on reserve, so I just got hit for 6.5 hours of a pay cut for being assigned a CDO).

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel though... looks like January I'll hold a hard line (6 month reserve).

Mostly it's good though, even reserve HERE is better than my best month as a line holder at my last job (Pinnacle). Same number of days off (I drop days) and still around 80 hours of credit with 14-16 days off and most of the time I get decent trips.

They definitely HAVE to fix the gaps in reserve pilot rules in the next contract. I'd like to see them make it SO expensive to put a pilot on a CDO that it makes them cost prohibitive from an operational stadpoint or SO lucrative that every CDO will be snatched out of open time by a senior pilot (like making a CDO worth 8 hours for ONE, so even 3 back to back pays 24 hours for 4 days of work) and pay protect the 3 day loss after a CDO is assigned.

Pay, like you said, needs to come up SUBSTANTIALLY on the F/O side of the house, but I don't think that's a big focal point yet because most people here are still of the 2 year upgrade mindset. Might change if enough of the new-hires put in their 2 cents to the NC... might not. Who knows...?