Atlas Questions

[cr7driver]

Some Atlas Questions, please help.

What is the average cost of medical insurance for employee+1?
HMO or PPO? and who is the provider?
Gateway basing: I see that DFW is a gateway airport Atlas. It is my understanding that Atlas pays for the ticket to STN, but do they pay for the hotel there whilst sitting on reserve? Or does the employee pay for that?
Does Atlas type rate FO's on the 400? I f so, is it a PIC type or a SIC type?
Does the classic fleet at Atlas fly to Afghanistan or Iraq? If so, is there any hazzard pay or specialized training?
And lastly, would you leave a supplemental 747 Freight operator to come work at Atlas? At this point I am 12 from the left seat on the classic, been there 2.5 years.
How long is the upgrade at Atlas?200 or 400?

 

[B747FR8DAWG]

What is the average cost of medical insurance for employee+1?

Not sure of employee +1, but I am employee +3 and it cost me $65 a month

HMO or PPO? and who is the provider?

Both and it's CIGNA

Gateway basing: I see that DFW is a gateway airport Atlas. It is my understanding that Atlas pays for the ticket to STN, but do they pay for the hotel there whilst sitting on reserve? Or does the employee pay for that?


All is paid for by the company

Does Atlas type rate FO's on the 400? I f so, is it a PIC type or a SIC type?


PIC Type

Does the classic fleet at Atlas fly to Afghanistan or Iraq? If so, is there any hazzard pay or specialized training?

We don't go there

And lastly, would you leave a supplemental 747 Freight operator to come work at Atlas? At this point I am 12 from the left seat on the classic, been there 2.5 years.
How long is the upgrade at Atlas?200 or 400?

You're better off staying where you are, because we currently have 9 year FO's waiting on the left seat, and the list is long, and the wait is now 5 years longer, if upgrade is the main reason for leaving your current employer

 

[jumpingtheshark]

Could you validate hiring rumors close to 400 + next quarter due to growth?

 

[B747FR8DAWG]

Could you validate hiring rumors close to 400 + next quarter due to growth?

400+ WOW, that's a new one. I know we will be hiring early next year, but no numbers have been released yet from either the company or the union. We have been conducting interviews and I here we have quite a few candidates in the pool. There are rumors circulating that we (Atlas) are looking at acquiring 2 to 4 -400 freighters next year, RUMOR ONLY!

 

[jumpingtheshark]

Thanks, yeah I meant for the next year or so...
seems like something like that would be hard to keep quite.

 

[cr7driver]

Thanks for the help.
Well, at the zone we are furloughing First Officers and downgrading 6 or so Captains back to FO. I am sure that this is a typical Evergreen end of the year tactic and "hopefuly" it will pick back up sometime in the spring or maybe earlier. I am in no immediate danger, but chances of upgrading have just been pushed back until there is positive movement on the list. I just hate this constant hire/fire stuff that the zone is famous for. Allthough, in the time that I have been here, they have only furloughed once and that was for a 2 week period and then hired for all of 2007. But we did lose 22 FOs this year to greener pastures.
What I like about Atlas:
No more jumpseat worries as the commute is payed for from gateway to base. Better pay than I will ever see at the zone. Better benefits package. Having a diverse business model (80% ACMI and 20% military). Here at the zone, that is exactly reversed. In fact we have maybe only one ACMI contarct and thats it, the rest is ad hoc stuff that we pick up.
Type rating (PIC) on the 400. Evergreen is supposed to get 400s, but that may or may not happen. The LCF 400 is here, but they hardly fly at all. Atlas/Polar does not fly into any active warzones. Evergreen does, and they don't compensate you for it. This to me is a big reason to leave.
What I like about the zone:
Upgrade less than 2 years "if" things pick back up. Chance to build PIC time and then get out! I stand a better chance of bidding a good schedule here. and hence my QOL is not bad at all. Had Thanksgiving off and will have XMAS off as well. Hate the jumseating bit, but like that they pay for our hotels. I have to say that overall I have been pretty happy here, but things are starting to change.

Well the decesion is tough. Can y'all weigh in with some more thoughs.
Thanks again.

 

[B747FR8DAWG]

Choose wisely, and don't let all Atlas - Polar animosity cloud your decision, the fighting is done by a few individuals on both sides of the fence!

 

[Classicdriver]

The other issue at the Zone is, what is D. Smith going to do? As he gets older, no telling. No one to leave it to, and I don't think the buyer will have the passion to run the airline with older planes like he does. I bet it will get bought just for the certificate, no telling the result.

And no telling how long the Air Force will continue to pay us a premium to fly with the old gas guzzlers we use. At some point, their going to care.

It's a tough call. If your on the east coast, fairly easy to get to STN. The guys doing it now say its not bad, and their getting a lot of overtime, flying 80 to 90 hours. I guess Atlas wants to get their moneys worth for the ticket to get you there and back. It does cost you a day off on each end. There are cases where it doesn't, but don't count on it.

If you come on in the first quarter, you'll be at the beginning of a hiring cycle, always a good thing. Don't count on the merger with Polar either way. Its a wild card. Don't let it stop you. 95% of the guys at both places are great. We all have the 5% noise makers.

Rumors abound, 3 to 7 -400's in the next six months?? We should know soon. I think the battle is over the classics!

Hope this helps.........

 

[cfire]

cr7driver,

I am an ex-Zoner and I work at Atlas. I noted your request on pprune also. That thread it closed now.

I currently have the PPO (most expensive) plan at $165 a month for employee plus 3 and $15.00 for dental with same dependents. Typical $15 co pays and thats it. That is the top level of insurance in which you just go to the specialist in plan that you want without a HMO primary care Doc telling you what to do first.

I put a couple of years in at Evergreen and called it quits after the last furlough. That was when they were union but without a contract yet. I didn't like it there and my wife didn't like me there either. Working at Atlas has it's ups and downs but I have found it much - much better than when I worked at Evergreen. My shortest month at the Zone per month was 20 days on. Normal for me was 21 to 23. I understand that is not the case now per your contract, but I don't keep up with it now. Apples to oranges, the guys I left behind spent the next 5 years waiting for upgrade when it was said it was only 1 or 2 years away. Then they spent the next 6 years bouncing back and fourth between Captain and F/O between furloughs when I caught up to them at the 5 Towns. I'm not sure what current growth is at the Zone, but it's really a judgment call no one can advise you of.

Upgrade schedules are really a shot in the dark depending on a number of things. If the merger goes through for Atlas with Polar into the fold and the arbitrated seniority list that came out of that comes into play. It's a little complicated due to the arbiters award. Right now, we are scheduled for around 60 upgrades this year(08) at Atlas due to knew A/C coming on but post merger, if it happens, the furloughed Polar guys may affect that trend some for new hires. Until the merger, Atlas will be upgrading for a while and may continue. If merged, the upgrades depend a little on if it is attrition or for growth if furloughed Polar guys come back for any spots per the arbitrated ruling.

Rumor has it that even a few new hires will be domestically based instead of heading directly to STN. That base award is scheduled to be out in the next couple of weeks. If you get based in STN you probably won't get reserve very often. Atlas doesn't fly out of STN and it would be a waist of money. STN is a hold over for the union busting operation (AACS now AABO). If they get rid of STN they have to get rid of those guys (about 55 now). So that is why they keep it instead of having a useful base like AMS or FRA in Europe where the flying is.

As to the other questions, I think it was covered earlier. On another note, if you are offered a postion at Polar (common hiring pool) due to their hiring for DHL reserve requirments. You may want to stay at the Zone. Better chance of upgrade for certain.

I would discount a few of those on the Pprune thread (rob rilly - miami freight). They appear to be the ones that got hired at Polar and/or upgraded when they got Atlas A/C (@5) and routes transfered over to them during Atlas's initial contract negotiations when management was making a negotiation point and thought the same would never happen to them when it was their turn. A lot of sour grapes on both sides for that and other things.

As to miami freight's slight at the end of his post over there, that was covered by ALPA National as to Polars MEC fraudulent charges of "Scabbing." The Polar MEC wants everyone to believe their lies because it covers their own failings during the strike to their membership. This is how Polar and their MEC thanks those that were the only ones to help and went on a sympathy strike for them. Atlas, the only cargo airline to go on strike for another carrier in ALPA history per ALPA National legal department.

ALPA NATIONAL ADR FINDINGS CLICK PDF DOWNLOAD LINK ON THIS PAGE.

So when you hear a Polar guy bad mouthing Atlas crews, ask him why the ALPA President has to apologize for them.

​

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

Kalitta (747s) has home basing, they're getting their first -400 in Feb, and upgrade is reportedly under a year.

Might want to check them out.

cliff
YIP