Bluetruthpilots

[PsubS]

Until these past few days, specific demographics were a well kept secret. You could get a feel for the age distribution of the pilot group by casual observation but there was no way to definitively determine where you were going to fall over time. Every other airline I know of distributes this information as a matter of course. JetBlue did not. And now I think we've found out why.

Look, I think the company has done many things that are not quite "above board." But examine this whole "they kept it secret from us..." line of thought.

IF they had kept this list "a secret" for almost 12 years, and IF they had wanted to keep the seniority list a continuing secret, why would they have given Chuck permission to create the function...and post it to the pilot page at this point? It would have been no big deal to squash the initiative, yet our management approved it.

Come on...there are bigger fish to fry than creating yet another conspiracy theory that diminishes your ability to get the important issues out front.

 

[Blue Dude]

PsubS, I'd agree with you if nobody had been trying to get this info out there for the last 12 years, but there have been numerous attempts, all of which were put down firmly. I have no idea why it's out there at this particular time, maybe because the app was created by an in-house project pilot rather than Joe Blow line pilot working on his own for free. Maybe hosting it inside stripped away the last of the ridiculous "legal" objections and they ran out of excuses. None of this redefines past behavior in a better light, and calling pilot retirement demographics a "well kept secret" is not exaggeration.

This is not "conspiracy theory". It's describing actual past behavior. I applaud the fact that it's now out there, but it could have and should have been done a decade ago, before we hired 2000 pilots who couldn't have had full knowledge of what they were getting themselves into. If knowing actual seniority progression is the final straw for many of them, who then leave when other airlines begin hiring, JetBlue will only have itself to blame for keeping critical facts to itself.

 

[B6Busdriver]

Suffering is good.

Life is difficult. Other than difficult what should I expect?

 

[PsubS]

BD, I know you attempted a great thing and tried to make it a reality a while back...and it is stupid for them to have squashed your project.

BUT...my argument remains the same. IF the company was trying to keep the "demographics" a secret for the past few years, why would they--with ZERO prompting from the pilot group--suddenly decide to allow it to happen?

I believe it was the corporate legal's agenda to not let it happen in the first place, though I don't know this for sure. Was it a conspiracy to keep those new hires in the dark about their upward mobility?

Duuuuuude. Come on!

 

[Blue Dude]

We'll have to disagree on this one. I don't think it was a dark corporate conspiracy, just the usual short-sighted idiocy. It's still gonna bite them in the a$$.

 

[Flyby1206]

Attrition has slowed to a stop and seniority/longevity costs keep rising. Maybe they wanted to light a fire under our a**es to get some people moving out the door instead of sticking around hoping for movement?

 

[MikeSF340]

I was hired at JetBlue less than a year ago. I had no inside information and knew no one at the company. You have to be a FRIGGEN IDIOT to not know that JetBlue is a very young pilot group. I didn't need a seniority list to tell me that. The company is 12 years old, what the hell do you expect. If this list is the catalyst to get you to leave I feel sorry for you. Don't embarrass yourself and admit you didn't know what the seniority situation was here when you got hired. It's your job to know.

 

[crash312]

BD, I know you attempted a great thing and tried to make it a reality a while back...and it is stupid for them to have squashed your project.

BUT...my argument remains the same. IF the company was trying to keep the "demographics" a secret for the past few years, why would they--with ZERO prompting from the pilot group--suddenly decide to allow it to happen?

I believe it was the corporate legal's agenda to not let it happen in the first place, though I don't know this for sure. Was it a conspiracy to keep those new hires in the dark about their upward mobility?

Duuuuuude. Come on!

Very good question. It was probably about to be made public anyway. It is called due diligence. Our friends at AMR and APA are the ones to thank.

 

[PsubS]

Ahhh....yet another conspiracy theory broaches the interwebz...

 

[Lake Alice]

I was hired at JetBlue less than a year ago. I had no inside information and knew no one at the company. You have to be a FRIGGEN IDIOT to not know that JetBlue is a very young pilot group. I didn't need a seniority list to tell me that. The company is 12 years old, what the hell do you expect. If this list is the catalyst to get you to leave I feel sorry for you. Don't embarrass yourself and admit you didn't know what the seniority situation was here when you got hired. It's your job to know.

I think most people hired didn't care as they were told upgrades were 2-3 years away. While this hasn't proven to be true the assumption was made based on projected growth and orders at the time. If Neeleman was still here we'd all be 330 captains by now and straining to hire enough F/O's. For the record a buddy who just went to recurrent was told we expected 150 in attrition this year but since no one was hiring no one left. Hence we're fat on F/O's.
We'll see next year if the majors start up again. All those retirements need to be replaced.