AirTran QOL

[FLB717]

Just know that as QOL gets better on the 737 you will see the 717 become the more junior plane, but that will take a few years unless we get the 737-800 (13% over ride), then senior guys will run off the 717 like rats out of a ship. I would have been in the bottom of the top third when the 737 was launched and now I would be right in the middle of the Cap. list so it is going more senior even now.

 

[ron burgundy]

"This place will never go out of business!!"

These words were spoken by pilots at:

Eastern
Braniff
Pan-Am (Pan-Am 2, Pan-Am 3)
Independance
Kiwi
Midway
Jets-Go
Southeast
Great Plains
National
Vanguard
Panagra...

Shall we go on?

yes...please go on.

 

[kjokmo]

Airtran won't go out of business. Some one will just buy them and .....poof....gone.

 

[ron burgundy]

Life is great at FL. I had a 1900 job in florida for a while and landed this job a few years back. I've been able to fly brand new 717's and now I'm a Captain on a brand new 737. Aircraft are well maintained, pay is good and we have superb managment. I never thought I would be in this position at age 27!
I was fortunate enough to buy a home in Florida back in 2002 for 110,000
and just sold it for 275,000. I have had enough of commuting and I want to live in base. I would say QOL is fantastic!!

 

[gt1900]

Common Ron.. Life is pretty good.. However, you can never say never.................. I would say that overall AAI pilots seem happier than most pilot groups Ive seen as of lately.. You do have your ten percent that will never be happy, but every ailrine does.. While you are on reserve you can make some really good money due to the way our reserve pay works.. Schedules aren't bad either, I would say about 16 days off a month with around 80 hours of credit is around average.. FLICA should help adding and dropping trips and CASS is going to help a ton as well for the commuters.. If you want to work your arse off then you can do that all you want as well...... The contract is in a stalemate.. Its kinda like listening to two kids bicker.. The union sends a letter saying the company wants recesions and is trying to screw us, and the Company sends a letter telling there side of the story.. Most of the guys I talk to seem to think the truth is somewhere in the middle.. Overall, with the state of the industry right now, I would say things are pretty good.. They could be better, but they could be way worse as well.. Overall, I think most guys are happy..

 

[Whine Lover]

Wow.

I should have met the likes of Mr. Burgundy years ago. Airline pilot, Real Estate investor, "Knower of All Things" and all of this by the scrotally tender age of 27. Better yet, his sack does not have the festering, gray, wirey hairs of experience and/or reality to chafe the thighs of his perfect world.

Ron, if I PM you would you tell me the secret of becoming an AirTran candidate/pilot?

Life sounds so good there that I may have to rethink my decision to blow wino's in full public view as a means of regaining self respect.

Or, perhaps I should just eat Joe Leonard's daughter?

I am so glad that AAI will never go out of business. That is so...what do you kids say? Oh yeah...AWESOME.


YKW

 

[Whine Lover]

"Common Ron.. Life is pretty good..."


Who is "Common Ron"?

Is he an AirTran pilot that has not yet reached the exalted, Monarch like, status of Mr. Burgundy?

Does "Common Ron" not yet have a "Captain's I.D."?

Oh, wait....I get it. Maybe you meant ''C'mon Ron" as in "Come On Ron". (?)

I'm sorry, my lack of reading comprehension has hindered me in life... as does my reputation for being a smarmy A-Hole.


YKW

 

[-9Capt]

The contract is in a stalemate.. Its kinda like listening to two kids bicker.. The union sends a letter saying the company wants recesions and is trying to screw us, and the Company sends a letter telling there side of the story.. Most of the guys I talk to seem to think the truth is somewhere in the middle.. ..

The above statement says it all.

Most of the pilots here don't believe what their elected union officials are telling them. What secret agenda would your union have? why would they lie to the membership?

This is exactly the reason we'll never get a decent contract, I guarantee.

Wake up and use some common sense here for Christs sake!! Support your union and do your job the safest way you know how!!

 

[-9Capt]

Or, perhaps I should just eat Joe Leonard's daughter?

Trust me, you don't want to do that.

 

[Phaedrus]

ron,
Holy schnikeys brother, stuff a sock in it.
Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure he's offering flame, but in the very minute chance that he's not....

 

[Whine Lover]

"Trust me, you don't want to do that."

O.K.

So, maybe I should just blow Joe directly then?

I want to do this the right way...As an Airline Pilot I enjoy living on my knees, I just need to know what I should suck and when.

That's part of my "situational awareness".


YKW

 

[Murphy]

717 FO. Two months of reserve and one month of CDOs. Holding a buildup line. I enjoy working for AirTran. The only downer is the contract negotiations. I wish MGT would save the 39 cents and stop sending letters to my home. Put it towards fuel or something constructive. They are pissing away a perfect opportunity to convince 1300+ pilots that is not just a good, but an awesome place to work.

....and I am out of here.....

 

[Ty Webb]

It's been good to me, so far. I was hired after 9/11 and have been a 737 CA for over 18 months, very few places to do that at right now.

For newhires today, though, it's a different story, and we have been losing about 4 newhires a month to SWA, Fedex, UPS, CAL, Jet Blue and Emirates. We have even had a few fairly senior captains bail in the last few months, if that says anything.

Unfortunately, management is too busy stuffing money in their pockets on their way out the door to do anything other than pull out the old "Eastern Airlines Contract Negotiations Manual", and it is really starting to show.

This is really unfortunate, since the long-term costs of that decision will vastly outweigh any short-term savings.

They have done a great job of squandering the goodwill that used to exist. Wonder how long before Wall Street starts to notice, or maybe they have . . . the stock is down about 25% from it's high this year.

 

[Lear70]

The above statement says it all.

Most of the pilots here don't believe what their elected union officials are telling them. What secret agenda would your union have? why would they lie to the membership?

This is exactly the reason we'll never get a decent contract, I guarantee.

Wake up and use some common sense here for Christs sake!! Support your union and do your job the safest way you know how!!

Oh, don't get me wrong. My VERY FIRST communications from the company wasn't a "Welcome to airTran" letter, it was a "Your union is being greedy" letter. WTF??!!

NOT the best tone to start off your employee / employer relationship. Then in my VERY FIRST phone conversation with a scheduling supervisor she violated the contract. Twice. In one conversation. Checked it with my Check Airman, he was pi*sed. Again, not a good way to start but it didn't affect me that badly and I'm on probation so I just sucked it up and did the trips they wanted with a smile on my face.

Hey, I'm new, I like being here and if it's one day different in flying and not a big family event I need off, no big deal.

On the other hand, for the most part after reading the contract (and yes, I did read it cover to cover), I LIKE the current contract, minus the pay scales on the F/O side (that $20k a year pay cut SUCKS). I'm solidly in the camp of increase pay scales up to current COLA from what it was when the agreement was last signed, put COLA and longevity raises in the new numbers, fix a few QOL issues and some contractual loopholes I keep hearing about, and put the thing to bed.

It's not about not believing the Association, I have NO DOUBT they're telling the truth, no doubts whatsoever. For me it's about not necessarily being so gung-ho to rewrite a contract that is, for the most part, already equal to or better than most of the top tier carriers in terms of overall compensation, trip / duty rigs and QOL, and pay protection.

Obviously I'm in the minority or that wouldn't be the way the negotiating committee is being steered by the Wilson Polling data and YES, I KNOW I'M NEW, so I'd really APPRECIATE someone to explain it to me so I can understand WHY the more combative and obviously longer and more difficult road we're taking.

Not a slam, I really just don't get it and I'd like to understand. Or should I wait for access to the private board to ask these questions?

 

[ron burgundy]

People, why are you so uptight? I answered a simple question. QOL is good at Airtran.. For me. You are angry that us "young kids" are doing as well as we are.
New era..new business model.. new attitude..I would be angry if I were you too.I would probably go to Rio and s..k c..k on a street corner to regain
some self esteem. I'm looking forward to a postcard from you.

AND IF THIS WHINE LOVER GUY KEEPS CHIMING IN..WE ARE GOING TO "BUY" HIM AND STAPLE HIM TO THE BOTTOM OF THE LIST!!!

DID I MENTION ...I"M KIND OF A BIG DEAL?????

 

[Oh-ryan]

Ron, I got your back on this one... not that it means a whole heck of a lot. But gees... "Whine" and "Phaedrus" please spare us the Debby Downer rants. We are all aware of the downside of this industry, but if Ron is happy at AirTran that's great... let him be happy.

If you feel the need to cause hate and discontent take it out on the pilots you fly with like you usually do. I am sure a 4-hour burner with one of you guys is a real thrill. Here is a better idea, kick some puppies on the way to work... your copilots will thank you for it.

 

[Whine Lover]

Kicking puppies is sick.

I prefer 6 hamsters in a shoe box and a 20 oz. Ball Peen.

THEN I get to sit in my Bully Pulpit for hours spewing all I don't know about everything on the planet while Gimpy the Co-Pilot Circus Boy handles absolutely everything.

And Mr. Burgundy, you shall be him one day...you will pull my gear, and load my box, and ...wait, that doesn't sound right.

Anyway, you know what I mean "Mr. Buckhead-Living-Hat Wearing-Delta-Wanna Be".


YKW

 

[-9Capt]

The above statement says it all.

Most of the pilots here don't believe what their elected union officials are telling them. What secret agenda would your union have? why would they lie to the membership?

This is exactly the reason we'll never get a decent contract, I guarantee.

Wake up and use some common sense here for Christs sake!! Support your union and do your job the safest way you know how!!

Just for clarification:

I wasn't addressing anyone in particular. However I firmly believe that this pilot group has a serious solidarity problem.

 

[-9Capt]

Then in my VERY FIRST phone conversation with a scheduling supervisor she violated the contract. Twice. In one conversation. Checked it with my Check Airman, he was pi*sed. Again, not a good way to start but it didn't affect me that badly and I'm on probation so I just sucked it up and did the trips they wanted with a smile on my face.

Lear,

I know its hard to take a stand when your brand new, but don't let sched make you their b!tch. Sched knows who accepts non-compliant assignments and who doesn't. They know who will accept trips on days off also.

If they try to get you to violate the contract again, politely question the legality of the assignment and CALL THE CONTRACT COMPLIANCE HOTLINE IMMEDIATELY!! Let them know you're new, and they will handle it on behalf of the pilot group. Every pilot should have this number programmed in their phone.

Every time a pilot accepts a trip that isn't compliant, the company takes note of it. They then use this info at the negotiating table as a way to gain concessions. If it was important to us, we would hold them to it.

 

[j41driver]

I currently have around 2500 TT 800 PIC jet 1200 jet 3 types. Is this way too low?

Do you have 500 hours Part 121 PIC? Unfortunately, they won't look at anyone that doesn't have the 500 hours Part 121 PIC or Military equivalent. My personal opinion is that they're missing out on a large number of very good candidates by doing this but they didn't ask me. ;-)

I was hired in Sept 2005 and, at about 4500 TT or so, I was one of the lowest time civilian guys there. I have no idea if this is typical or not. Basically if you meet the minimums, apply. Good luck!