ASA Hiring

[patriotflier]

Only 2 A/C types in DFW CRJ-200/700

CRJ200 in DFW is the most junior in the company.

Best of luck

 

[e120pilot]

Patriotflyer,

I would be the first to admit our reserve system needs some improvement, but it's by no means the "worst in the industry".

We have no airport reserves, and a 2 hour call out is pretty good at a regional. There are a certainly better reserve systems out there, but there are more than a few that are much worse.

Unfortunately with the stagnation, people are just having to do a lot more reserve than in the past. It sucks, but thats just the way it goes.

 

[shamrock]

Our reserve system might not be that bad but Scheduling could give any other airline a run for it's money in the stupidity and abuse category.

They either don't know the contract or they choose to ignore it when need be. Either way, they s*uck donkey balls.

 

[Mmmmmm Burritos]

Class seniority

Not sure if this is true for pilots, but all other positions (ramp, gate agent, etc) don't go off age seniority anymore. Someone brought up the "discrimination" card I believe. Now it goes by the last 4 digits of your SSN. What I dont remember if lower or higher is better. But basically, if lower was better, and your last 4 digits were 1234, and the other guy was 9876, then you would be more senior in the class regardless of age/experience.

 

[73belair]

That is discriminating on where you were born! I'm going to the union on that one!

 

[Mmmmmm Burritos]

Well, last 4 digits not so much, first three digits is discrimination for sure. Not for me though, mine starts with 1

 

[nfg]

Just got a call for a Feb. interview! I was hoping someone could answer these questions for me:

1. How exaclty does the reseve system work? I have heard people complaining about it, but never any specifics.

2. How long would it be approximately before one can hold a line in DFW or ATL?

3. How is the commute with sitting on reserve? I understand its a 2 hour call out, but what time do you usually start your duty day?

Thanks

 

[e120pilot]

nfg,

Congrats on the interview. I'll try to answer your questions:

1. On reserve, you get 10 days off per month. You bid for 4 "golden days" off, which are days which you can't be made to work. The other six days can be moved. You'll ususally do 5 on 2 off, with one 4 day stretch in there. The biggest complaint I've heard about reserve is that there is no seniority based call out. How scheduling calls people is completely random. You may fly every day for a week, then not at all for a month. I've done my fair share of reserve here, and it's not as bad as most people say. If you live in base, I think it's cake. If you plan on commuting, then it's a little tougher.

2. Getting off reserve is hard to say. Right now, junior lineholders in DFW are around 13 months, while ATL is around 2.5 years. However, that means absolutely nothing when it comes to what it might be in the future. We actually shrank in 2003, so people hired in the end of the last wave are seeing lots of reserve. I'd say if you're hired in the front of this cycle, you'd probably see a line in 6 months-1 year. Could be less(DFW), could be more(ATL).

3 Commuting on reserve sucks. Lots of people do it, but it's not the easiest since your days off are limited. I'm not sure what you mean by "when do you usually start your day?" I've been called at 5am or 9 pm, and everything in between. Reserve periods are 15 hours long, so usually as you get later in your reserve shift, it's less likely you'll get called.

Hope that helps. Good luck with the interview. If ASA gets some more airplanes for 05 & 06 you may be getting in at a good time.

 

[wil]

nfg- Reserve at ASA is confusing. I have no idea how they pick who is going to fly. You start your reserve period and remain on until the end of your period. For me, 10am-12mid. Of course, our booze policy is 12 hours so no night cap until your days off!! (which is a whopping 10, 4 off which they can't move). Don't know on line holding, they called me out for a trip Sunday to fly as F.O. so maybe we are short in DFW? As far as commuting, you will need a crashpad. Our call out is 2 hours from duty in. Important to remember that from the parking lot to ops could take up to 20 minutes or longer with train delays. Congratulations on the interview. I interviewed 4 years ago so I couldn't give you the new skinny on how the process works. All the best- Wil

 

[nfg]

e120pilot and wil,

thanks guys. That's what I was looking for. One other thing: does ASA have a commuter clause?

nfg

 

[73belair]

nope

 

[wil]

nfg- Sorry no commuter policy. We will have one in this new contract (I hope).

 

[FL000]

Just got a call for a Feb. interview! I was hoping someone could answer these questions for me:

1. How exaclty does the reseve system work? I have heard people complaining about it, but never any specifics.

2. How long would it be approximately before one can hold a line in DFW or ATL?

3. How is the commute with sitting on reserve? I understand its a 2 hour call out, but what time do you usually start your duty day?

Thanks

1) The reserve system is less about what is has and more about what it doesn't have. It is full of loopholes, too many to describe here, and some I probably haven't even seen yet. For instance, one might be on reserve for the month starting at 9am and ending at 12am. But if crew scheduling suddenly needs someone for a nap (stand up, high speed), they can put you on rest at, say, noon, then have you duty in at 9pm and be on duty all night. You'll get about 4 hours sleep and fly home in the morning. At that time, they can decide if they want to keep you on the "nap" rotation, or return you to your original 9-12 rotation.

Is is FAA legal? Sure. Is it contractual? Well, it's not NOT contractual. Are you actually getting rest from noon until 9pm? Of course not. But there's nothing in the contract to stop it. This is just a single example of myriad kinds of things people are talking about in our reserve system. There are holes that need to be plugged.

2) ATL - years...probably 2-3??? Just a WAG.

DFW - years also, but definitely fewer than ATL. Maybe 2.5. I don't know. I'll need some backup here.

3) Duty days start at 5am, 6am, 7am, 8am, 9am, 10am and noon. Those run either 15 hours or end at midnight, whichever is sooner. There are also "nap" reserve slots that start at 6pm and 7pm and end at midnight. Those are relatively senior because of the commutability and minimum time away from home. If you're on the daytime reserves, you'll spend 5 days a week at your crashpad or flying, and two days at home.

The exception to this is your 4 "golden days" which are always in a row and cannot be changed after final schedule is released. The other guaranteed six days off are usually in pairs, but can be changed and moved as needed by scheduling.

That's all I have for now. I'm sure you'll have more questions, and I'm sure others can add to what I've written. All whining aside, it's still a great place to be. It's a really good bunch of guys and gals working here, and the vast majority of us enjoy working at ASA.

 

[79%N1]

ASA hopefulls ---- also remember, at THE CURRENT rate, assuming things change little with growth and/or attrition --- the upgrade times at ASA are on pace to be 6-8 years. The ONLY hope is new aircraft, which I personally don't think ASA will see for a few years to come. Delta is the latest airline to subscribe to the 'contracting out' of labor, in the form of multiple affiliate carriers. This spells nothing but bad news for us at ASA and Comair. As a new hire, you will need to climb about 800 or so spots before you upgrade. I personally moved up 50 #'s in the past 15 months. At that rate, it would be about 12-14 years for me to upgrade. Our only hope is a spurt of hiring - somewhere!

Anyway, good luck. All in all ASA is a great place.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

somebody will always find a reason to feel discriminated or that their rights have been violated.
I personally think it should go by age because the oldest in the class will retire first and the youngsters in the class will have their opportunity to move to better bases/equipment.

 

[601Pilot]

ASA upgrades

I'm not sure where you got your info, but the
last upgrade awards were about 3.5~4 years on the
RJ and less on the ATR. The RJ awards are for DFW, of course, and the ATR for ATL.

It should definitely pick up some this year with
the 15 70s coming online and the increase in
attrition of Capts. leaving to Airtran and SWA.

 

[DDpaysoff]

Anyone who thinks the wholly owneds are going to stop receiving jets next year have been fooled by managment.

 

[Medeco]

I agree with the last two post

I have been commuting from ATL to DFW since March 2003 when I got out of training.

The summer months suck, but after school started back I have not had much problems, you can always jumpseat on other airlines too since DFW is busy and big, a big help during tight times. American and Airtran are always helpful. Airtran is expanding in DFW too, so that helps.

I actually held a relief line and nap line immediatly out of training, but went backwards in seniority on the CRJ200 as the EMB120 was retired and those guys came over.

So, I have commuted since August 2003 on nothing but reserve with a wife and kid back home in ATL. Overall it sucks, for freetime but the job is good and the people are great. The Delta pass priv is untouchable industry wide, even though it will be hard to use until you accrue vacation time, this alone is a major benefit to me, because I have not traveled abroad much prior to ASA.


RESERVE is chosen random. I can add a bit more though.

Every month the reserve pilots are printed out on a sheet which scheduling has. Each reserve period had a certain number of pilots

RES06(6AM) = 10 pilots
RES07 = 10 pilots and so on...

So, that printout is random in how the 10 pilots names are listed within that reserve period. When they need someone they basically look at which period best fits the needs of the trip and then they call out who is available.

That is a VERY basic explanation of the system, and when things go bad with weather and such, the system falls apart and they scramble, and give the shaft to people in various ways, too many to explain.

I also understand that the person in scheduling that "runs" it, as I would describe, not manages it. He is from the old school ASA and he is rumored to be anti technology, so the company is not using tools in the computer they already have available. I have no idea for sure if that is true, but it sure comes across that way.

So, to end on a better note, I am off reserve and holding at least relief lines as of Jan 2004, which is overall much better, because I can trade trips and pick up open time to replace any reserve days they give me within that relief line. Bottom line is you can manauver your schedule on Relief, and your their B1tch on reserve.

Good Luck,
Medeco

 

[bailout]

>>I'm not sure where you got your info, but the
last upgrade awards were about 3.5~4 years on the
RJ and less on the ATR<<

I think they are talking more about newhires, than existing pilots, and it depends on how many senior guys decide to stay as F/Os or bid over. There are @ 285 F/Os in ATL on the RJ right now, so if they started having capt classes of 10 a month, those bottom guys wont see capt for 2.5 years at best. Considering those guys have already been here 2 years or more, thats where the 4.5 - 5 years at best comes from. And also considering that we are not having ten a month right now, with the exception of a few here and there, that figure will double to 8-9 years.

 

[79%N1]

Exactly my point. If they started today upgrading 10/month - which they won't - it will take me an additional 5 years to upgrade. That will be a total of about 6.5 years. Now, we all know there are no plans for that kind of upgrading here. So, for every year that 120 pilots don't upgrade, add onother year to the wait. Sounds great, huh! Not like the old days up 8-12 months to jet upgrade. Hopefully, FO pay will be greatly addressed in these contract talks, but I doubt it.