Are the Frontier pilots happy?

[freightrash]

Couldn't pass a checkride in a 1900? Wow, that's sad. Superior airmen indeed. Where I came from (8 years before going to F9), we flew them single pilot. The Metro, too.

Yeah, 8 years of single-pilot 135 cargo in the mountains. No dues paid here...

After 9/11, we got quite a few regional pukes (furloughs). Most of 'em were gone inside of 6 months...

Well I did the same thing you did before come to RAH.
Just don't generalize whole group based on your judgement.
There are lucked out people ended up at better places with
alot lower time and experience I have.
I am not upset with them. They are just fortunated.

 

[PGTB]

Do you honestly feel this is worth arguing over? F9 will be out of business by years end. Oil is going up to a point where BB and his boys will sell off the airline in peices and none of this will matter anyways. Update your resume instead of arguing on this board.

 

[Grey Ghost]

Do you honestly feel this is worth arguing over? F9 will be out of business by years end. Oil is going up to a point where BB and his boys will sell off the airline in peices and none of this will matter anyways. Update your resume instead of arguing on this board.

You are absolutely right!

 

[USMC319]

Do you honestly feel this is worth arguing over? F9 will be out of business by years end. Oil is going up to a point where BB and his boys will sell off the airline in peices and none of this will matter anyways. Update your resume instead of arguing on this board.

PGTB has a crystal ball. Awesome! Frontier is the only airline that is effected by fuel spikes. Good to know. Don't worry, if the NMB determines a STS the airline will be dead long before any bankruptcy that you envision.

 

[PGTB]

True that other airlines are dealing with high fuel cost, but Frontier is one of the few that has been losing money even in these past 2 years when others have been making millions and even billions. F9 is living "pay check to paycheck" and if you cant make money at $50 a barrel you cant at $100.

 

[USMC319]

Well your statement is half true. Frontier was making money even with high fuel prices when it was an Airbus only operation. Ever since RAH started flying the little airplanes under the "branded" flying as code share, Frontier has been hit very hard with much higher CASMs. The EMB-135, EMB-145, and the EMB-170 have been killing us. Until the branded operation is flying and accounting for Airbus 320 series and EMB-190/195 ONLY, it will continue to lose money in this fuel environment. It is still hopeful to the Frontier group that RAH holdings will divest the F9 operation to another mainline carrier in exchange for CPA contracts, then you guys can just worry about your own Fee For Departure future.

 

[The Drizzle]

It is still hopeful to the Frontier group that RAH holdings will divest the F9 operation to another mainline carrier in exchange for CPA contracts, then you guys can just worry about your own Fee For Departure future.

That's likely best for the pilot group but since that would be best for the pilots, I'm pretty sure it won't happen.

 

[Cardinal]

PGTB has a crystal ball. Awesome! Frontier is the only airline that is effected by fuel spikes. Good to know. Don't worry, if the NMB determines a STS the airline will be dead long before any bankruptcy that you envision.

I'll allow him this one. We thought we'd ride out the last fuel spike and look what happened.

 

[F9 A319]

Couldn't pass a checkride in a 1900? Wow, that's sad. Superior airmen indeed. Where I came from (8 years before going to F9), we flew them single pilot. The Metro, too.

Yeah, 8 years of single-pilot 135 cargo in the mountains. No dues paid here...

After 9/11, we got quite a few regional pukes (furloughs). Most of 'em were gone inside of 6 months...

The problem with claiming you've "paid your dues" is that no matter what you or I or someone else has done in the past, there's ALWAYS someone else that has "paid more dues."

That comes in an infinite variety, from really big airplane pilots that had their career swept out from under them, or got tired of flying around the world - seeing places and shooting approaches I'll only dream of - to the combat proven former military pilots, to charter jet pilots that were on call for 10 years, to the Lifeguard pilots that had a 15 to 30 minute response time.

I had a lot of pretty crappy jobs in my career, but I didn't know any better at the time and basically enjoyed everyone of them.

I know of pilots that have washed out that flew C-141's (blew my mind and was depressing), were former Captains at Legacy or Mainline airlines (same thing) and pilots with 15,000 hours in single pilot freight turbine aircraft (that was frightening).

Years of experience and "paying dues" does not necessarily translate to being a good pilot or a pilot with a good attitude.

The exception, for me, was training 2 Air Force Academy grads that came straight from the military to F9. Both of them were so sharp, it made me proud to be an American, but I know even the Academies can put out marginal pilots.

And calling any group "pukes" is hypocritical in the extreme. I know of FO's that say, "God, I have to fly with a reserve captain puke."

Comparatively, "8 years of single-pilot 135 cargo in the mountains" ain't all that impressive to those that did it for 15 years or did it for 2 years and were lucky enough to find a job flying a G-4 or a BBJ or went overseas to get enough time to come back to a job they loved at a LCC, Legacy or a Fedex or UPS or liked living in Montana (or where ever) enough to make a career out of that.

It's really a silly argument if you think about it. There's always someone who had it easier than you and someone that had it a LOT tougher than you (or anyone).

Now for my own hypocrisy, I'm completely unimpressed with pilots that came out of a flight school with 250 hours, went straight into an RJ, have been there a couple of years and think the world owes them a career.

I guess pilots and other people that feel "entitled" just bug me to no end.

 

[SizzleChest]

PGTB has a crystal ball. Awesome! Frontier is the only airline that is effected by fuel spikes. Good to know. Don't worry, if the NMB determines a STS the airline will be dead long before any bankruptcy that you envision.

My RAH buddy reports that STS *WAS* determined and RAH "won" the application.... let the games begin....