Compass and quick upgrade: the real numbers!

[meatwallet]

Today (9/7) another class of 6 started at Compass. I believe they are starting with seniority #94. That means that numbers through 100 are already taken. Classes of 6 will be starting on Sept 14, 21, 28, Oct 5, 12, etc.

Five crews/aircraft, with 11 management pilots on the list who wont be doing any line flying.

A/C totals at month's end schedule:
Dec 9
Jan 12
Feb 14
Mar 17
Apr 19
May 21
June 23
July 25
Aug 27
Sep 29
Oct 31
Nov 33
Dec 36

So it looks like anyone starting class at the end of Sept or in Oct won't be looking at an upgrade until the end of May or June at the earliest!

What are they telling you guys (BTW, July 25th class is just finishing in YUL and have yet to be awarded CA slots)? I think there is alot of false advertising going on in the HR dept.

Also, I've heard that newhires are not getting their employee badges on the first day=no jumpseating.

 

[Beetle007]

And if a large number of DC-9s at NWA get retired in the near future like people are saying, you might see some NWA hires going to compass as captains.

Remember that NWA has recalled furloughed pilots in the past few years only to furlough them again after a few months. I could see them hiring pilots to meet the short term needs then sending many to Compass. Not really a bad deal for the NWA new-hires, but it wouldn't be much fun for the Compass guys. I only really see this happening if they change the age to 65 and simultaneously retire a large portion of the DC-9 fleet.

 

[DashTrash400]

They originally hired me for a 28 Sept class date and told me a Feb upgrade. I mentally adjusted that to Apr-May, which even may now be optimistic. They later moved me up to 21 Sept.

How are seniority numbers within a class assigned? Age? SSN? Randomly?

 

[DashTrash400]

The funny thing is that 1st year NWA furloughees would roughly double their pay by getting displaced to Compass. I don't think it's going to happen, though - NWA isn't going to retire DC9s en masse without an aircraft between the 76 seat E175/CR9 and the 148 seat A319, not in the markets they currently serve. I hope! *gulp*

 

[BOHICAgain]

They originally hired me for a 28 Sept class date and told me a Feb upgrade. I mentally adjusted that to Apr-May, which even may now be optimistic. They later moved me up to 21 Sept.

How are seniority numbers within a class assigned? Age? SSN? Randomly?

by age as yesterdays class seniority is at 102

 

[DrewBlows]

That's actually a more aggressive delivery schedule that I would have guessed. I haven't interviewed yet so I can't say what they are telling interviewees, but even an 8-10 month upgrade would be faster than my current company and I'd move up over 1000 seniority numbers instantly.

By the way, what does the sim evaluation consist of?

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

Other posters reported that NWA has increased their -9 capt bids per month from 10-15 to over 20.

They are also reporting tha NWA now needs 500 pilots ASAP, and NWA is trying to open up the training pipeline to accomodate more new hires per month.

cliff
YIP

 

[NWA Furloughee]

"NWA isn't going to retire DC9s en masse without an aircraft between the 76 seat E175/CR9 and the 148 seat A319, not in the markets they currently serve. I hope! *gulp*"

Actually NWA's A319s are configured for 124 seats. Still a big jump from 76 seats, but not as big a gap as 148. Looking on the bright side (sarcasm alert) if you are a management type, substituting a 76 seat aircraft on routes formerly flown by a DC-9 or A319 improves your load factors considerably.

 

[skid]

They originally hired me for a 28 Sept class date and told me a Feb upgrade. I mentally adjusted that to Apr-May, which even may now be optimistic. They later moved me up to 21 Sept.

How are seniority numbers within a class assigned? Age? SSN? Randomly?

Class seniority is based on age. Much larger age group in my class than I expected. Varied from upper 40's to mid 20's in age. I thought I would be in the middle of my class but am 2 nd to last as always.

Hey Dash trash are you tired of waiting 6 years at QX to upgrade too? I got out about 2 years ago. Since then I have gone through 3 full initial trainings for aircraft, soon to be 4. You can see what my luck has been like.

 

[NWA Furloughee]

Hi Cliff,

You said:

"They are also reporting that NWA now needs 500 pilots ASAP, and NWA is trying to open up the training pipeline to accommodate more new hires per month."


For the October bid deadline, forty three pilots who bid in the previous month are no longer bidding, here is the breakdown:

21 pilots aged 60 and over
9 pilots 55 up to 60
13 pilots ages 38 up to 55

That is a loss of approximately 1% of the active pilot base in only one month. Keep in mind that these numbers do not include pilots resigning from the seniority list while on furlough status (forced or otherwise). The number being reported for July was 38 resignations.

While it is anyone's guess what NWA's fleet will look like in a couple of years, a solid argument can be made that they are seriously behind the power curve trying to staff the aircraft they have today. Losing 400+ pilots a year requires a max training effort just to maintain the status quo.

Regards,

 

[Flying Illini]

"NWA isn't going to retire DC9s en masse without an aircraft between the 76 seat E175/CR9 and the 148 seat A319, not in the markets they currently serve. I hope! *gulp*"

Actually NWA's A319s are configured for 124 seats. Still a big jump from 76 seats, but not as big a gap as 148. Looking on the bright side (sarcasm alert) if you are a management type, substituting a 76 seat aircraft on routes formerly flown by a DC-9 or A319 improves your load factors considerably.

Yeah, but it hurts those of us that use you guys for a ride to and from work!!! Screw mgmt, bigger (emptier) planes now!!!

 

[DashTrash400]

Class seniority is based on age. Much larger age group in my class than I expected. Varied from upper 40's to mid 20's in age. I thought I would be in the middle of my class but am 2 nd to last as always.

Hey Dash trash are you tired of waiting 6 years at QX to upgrade too? I got out about 2 years ago. Since then I have gone through 3 full initial trainings for aircraft, soon to be 4. You can see what my luck has been like.

Yipes. I hope my luck is better than that. I think a 6 yr upgrade at QX is optimistic, I was heading more for 7.

*Sigh* Another one with seniority by age. I'll prolly be last once again. At least this time I'll be the bottom biatch for only 7 days instead of 6 months like at QX!

 

[johnsonrod]

Yipes. I hope my luck is better than that. I think a 6 yr upgrade at QX is optimistic, I was heading more for 7.

*Sigh* Another one with seniority by age. I'll prolly be last once again. At least this time I'll be the bottom biatch for only 7 days instead of 6 months like at QX!

Are the Compass domiciles MSP, DTW and MEM? What percentage of Compass newhires are former Mesaba Avro drivers?

 

[Flying Illini]

Are the Compass domiciles MSP, DTW and MEM? What percentage of Compass newhires are former Mesaba Avro drivers?

MSP only.

 

[antix12]

Are there plans for Compass to open domiciles at DTW or MEM in the future?

 

[CRJ_Driver]

I'm pretty sure DTW is in the cards for aircraft #20 and beyond but not sure about MEM.

 

[DashTrash400]

They start flying out of Detroit in December, dunno whether it'll be a crew base right away; I assume it will be one before the end of 2008, and prolly MEM as well.

 

[Fly4hire]

Hi Cliff,

You said:

21 pilots aged 60 and over
9 pilots 55 up to 60
13 pilots ages 38 up to 55

The number being reported for July was 38 resignations. Regards,

And almost all of those were at the tail end of the furlough list who chose to resign. They do not reflect active line pilots quitting. We are getting maybe 2-3 a month of those. The rest are medicals.

It's not the mass exodous you'd like to portray

 

[NWA Furloughee]

And almost all of those were at the tail end of the furlough list who chose to resign. They do not reflect active line pilots quitting. We are getting maybe 2-3 a month of those. The rest are medicals.

It's not the mass exodous you'd like to portray

Good Evening Fly4Hire,

Where did I say it was a mass exodous? I merely reported that 43 pilots who were on the property in September did not bid for October. The person who compiled the data explained to me that pilots with medical issues are counted under another category and did not make up any of those numbers. While most of the losses were directly related to normal or early retirement, that is not the case with pilots under 50 who leave and that number is bigger than 2 or 3 a month.

While it is true that many of the resignations in July were near the bottom of the list, not all of them were. Year over year from July 1, 2006 to July 1, 2007 my seniority# changed by approx 340 numbers and that doesn't include any changes related to the 38 pilots who resigned at the end of the month.

Regards,