Delta Air Lines Orders Up to 70 Bombardier CRJ900 NextGen Jetliners

[Nevets]

Is your MEC willing to agree to cancel the TPA agreement?

To what end?

The way I understand it is that nobody will be taking any concessions with the JCBA. Unless L-XJT considers PBS a concession. Anyways, the final system hasn't been decided yet, and lots of rumors about which one the company favors and who's side they are on.

If PBS is not a concession, then why did you guys negotiate a pay raise for implementing yours? Would it have been more of a concession without vacation low?

The aerodata transition is a huge revenue enhancer, as it allows much quicker calculations (and recalculations when they inevitably add three more bags right at departure time), increasing the odds of making D-0 and A-14, which means more money from DL/UA.

The 200% last year was because at the time they were not expecting the additional Comair or Pinnacle flying, and they were expecting the airline to downsize. It is more cost-effective to pay overtime than to hire, train, and then furlough guys for just a few months.

The employee appreciation events are designed to increase morale and productivity. (Whether they were implemented persuasively enough may be debateable, but the concept has been proven successful in general).

Management isn't perfect (Surejet? seriously?), but I do think they are trying to run the best airline they can. We're not being run by some masochistic Ornstein type that intentionally abuses employees as part of the business model. If the company was returning 25% profit margins, then we could argue for our fair share, but when we're just struggling to remain profitable at all, and keep from becoming the next failed regional to wither and die, we do have to start accepting reality.

If we were facing draconian concessions (like the Pinnacle guys), then holding firm with dignity would be warranted. But being asked to accept the wrong brand of PBS vendors (for the XJT guys), or something like losing vacation low (for the ASA guys), and you're ready to burn the place down? I'm just saying we all need to put the reality of the industry into perspective.

If you new how much of a Mickey Mouse operation this has turned into since being under new management, you would realize our position. We didn't need all these BS morale programs when we were being paid correctly, our contract wasn't being reinterpreted and purposely ignored in certain instances, and I can go on with the disaster every single new thing they have introduced when the old way was working perfectly fine. You are right, this management is FAR from perfect! But you seem to have a koolaid excuse for every single line item we point out.

If you want to talk about the ideal situation, it should be the pilots and management jointly working together vs. our competition. That's who the real "enemy" is. Or you could possibly make the case that Delta is our real adversary.

Being able to say "we sure showed you" to management as the company goes out of business is kind of silly. Unfortunately, regional airline survival is a very real concern in today's age of bankruptcy court abuse.

We had that at LXJT back in 2008. Not so much now. Gee, I wonder why?

Some rumors I heard is that Uncle Jerry could overbid the ERJ operation and win a replacement bid with CRJ operations. There are a ton coming on the market from the Delta operators. Plus, with CRJ-200 being a training platform for the 700/900, that makes them more valuable than the ERJ's. Even if we do work out our differences, I see most ERJ's headed the desert or overseas before the CRJ's for that reason alone. If UAL does allow larger planes and with Skywest Inc. having purchased first rights, What 70/76 seater makes since to you? We have no established training or maintience program for an EMB-175. We could start a CRJ-700/900 program next week.

I don't know how we got to such a hatred level between our two groups. There are certainly some aspects of your guys contract I like. Some with ours. I do know that the negotiating committee has marching orders to terminate your B-fund and find a way to buy you guys off. A cash payout to L-xjt pilots and not to L-asa pilots will certainly encourage 1700 no votes on our side. So, how then to make the joint contract good enough for 50.1%?

Personally, I think we should be positioning ourselves to make it palatable for a merge with Skywest. The era of divide and conquer needs to die. We need to all be on the same team and work together to beat our real competition, other Regionals.

The ERJs are history. This was true regardless of who owns us. The leases begin to expire next year and the last one expires in 2021. I think the perceived hatred comes from some LASA pilots posting basically for the LXJT pilots to get on board with a concessionary contract. We just don't want to take any concessions in our contract and don't feel that we need or should. Like the talk about getting rid of the B fund. You guys should be saying that you want in on that instead of telling us to play ball. Thats where the "hatred" comes from. We will make it palatable for Skywest when we can show them that its better to have an employment contract and not just ride coat tails.

And the board is made up of people who dont want your two pilot groups souring their bread and butter airline. Aint ever happening.

Not unless they like sour dough.

 

[777forever]

If PBS is not a concession, then why did you guys negotiate a pay raise for implementing yours? Would it have been more of a concession without vacation low?

PBS saved the company money because it scheduled more efficiently requiring less pilots. ALPA negotiated a certain percentage of that cost saving into pay raises.

Pilot QOL and pay improved, while company saved money by needing less pilots/not having to hire

 

[ASApuppy]

PBS saved the company money because it scheduled more efficiently requiring less pilots. ALPA negotiated a certain percentage of that cost saving into pay raises.

Pilot QOL and pay improved, while company saved money by needing less pilots/not having to hire

The fallacy with this is that the BrainTrust of our operation, also known as Crew Scheduling, has never figured out how to operate with any less reserves. So, I honestly don't think PBS saved the Company any $. But, I love it.

My wishes that will save the company money....


1) Better variety in trip construction. Make 4 days less than 15% of the trips. Bring back daylines and 2 day trips. Like it used to be. When most of the pilot population is stuck flying 4 day trips, and all the open time is 4 day trips, it makes it a bit hard to help out.

2) Allow for straight trip or partial trip drops. If someone needs a day or two off, they typically will take it. By allowing us some flexibility ahead of time, the company is not stuck with last minute sick calls to cover.

3) Change the rules about phone contact and junior assignments. It should be no jeopardy to answer the phone. Both sides have drawn a line in the sandbox and then retreated to their corner. We both need to step toward each other with mutual respect. If staffing on a given day is too tight for somebody to drop a round trip into it, then it should be automatic that that day becomes premium pay. Obviously, we need to come up with limitations so that the pilot group does not turn the entire schedule into premium pay. I'm open to discussion.

 

[ASApuppy]

And the board is made up of people who dont want your two pilot groups souring their bread and butter airline. Aint ever happening.

Please tell me your solution for staffing the aircraft when hiring does pick up at the legacies in the next year or so? You do know that with hardly anyone hiring now, both airlines are having difficulty filling new-hire classes?
The days are already here were the Regionals tell the mainline partners what they can do each month, as far as block hours, rather than the other way around? In other words, we will shrink each month when hiring resumes in earnest.

How much better would it be for staffing if you could send underutilized crews from FAT to DTW to cover an IROP? Commuting would go down, Attrition would go down, recruiting would be easier. How much would be saved from duplicate, reduntant positions? The days of 10% plus margins are over. We have been struggling with 1% for years now. Do you really think the board is that much on principles over profits?

 

[XPOO]

Please tell me your solution for staffing the aircraft when hiring does pick up at the legacies in the next year or so? You do know that with hardly anyone hiring now, both airlines are having difficulty filling new-hire classes?
The days are already here were the Regionals tell the mainline partners what they can do each month, as far as block hours, rather than the other way around? In other words, we will shrink each month when hiring resumes in earnest.

How much better would it be for staffing if you could send underutilized crews from FAT to DTW to cover an IROP? Commuting would go down, Attrition would go down, recruiting would be easier. How much would be saved from duplicate, reduntant positions? The days of 10% plus margins are over. We have been struggling with 1% for years now. Do you really think the board is that much on principles over profits?

That's just it. You don't know, and I don't know. No one on here knows. We aren't privy to the sort of information that would lead us to conclusions of what the long-term planning is. However, the management and the board at SkyWest has always been and maintains to be a step ahead of the rest of the industry. It's been seven years since ASA was purchased and brought over as a subsidiary. In that amount of time, SkyWest has maintained and flourished while others have come and gone, or in the process of going. I'm all for your beliefs in fighting for fair pay and quality of life, but we'll continue to disagree on your view of how the company should operate until I personally see proof that the current model isn't working.

 

[Jon Rivoli]

Please tell me your solution for staffing the aircraft when hiring does pick up at the legacies in the next year or so?

Hiring probably won't be as dramatic as you think. There are several years worth of pilots flying freight and by then "AGE 70" and beyond.

Quit waiting for the future, live in the now. And, have a backup plan.

 

[Jetjockey]

Back in the early 90's when AMR purchased all of the regionals to make American Eagle, it was AMR's plan to run them separately. ALPA filed a single carrier petition with the NMB to force AMR to bargain with them as a single unit. Single carrier status.

Here is the pdf from the filing. http://files.ali-aba.org/thumbs/datastorage/skoobesruoc/pdf/25JamesSingleCarrierCG055_thumb.pdf

If the pilots of all 3 carriers (SKWY,ASA,XJT) could come together under one collective voice, there would be incredible gains and leverage.