Flexjet Recalls Two Flight Attendants, Janitor

[glasspilot]

P.S. No disrespect Dooker, you're still the master.

 

[EatSleepFly]

Interviewed at a 135 company last week that was hiring someone because of "significant growth" over the last 8 months. Said that's great - thinking they must have good marketing ppl. Later they said the growth was in large part to Flexjet increasing their charters significantly with them. :erm:

It's funny you say that, because awhile back I had a phone interview with a charter company who flies very similar equipment and they said the exact same thing. Unreal.

 

[RP170]

Later they said the growth was in large part to Flexjet increasing their charters significantly with them. :erm:

Same crap is happening at NJA. During the busy days they are just outsourcing the flying to EJM or other charters. They can do this up to 44 days per year!!!!! Makes it much more difficult for any of us to ever get recalled. Just like scope is the real threat to the major airlines, outsourcing flying via charter is the huge threat to fractional pilots.

 

[Dooker]

Same crap is happening at NJA. During the busy days they are just outsourcing the flying to EJM or other charters. They can do this up to 44 days per year!!!!! Makes it much more difficult for any of us to ever get recalled. Just like scope is the real threat to the major airlines, outsourcing flying via charter is the huge threat to fractional pilots.

Exactly. It's a scope issue, pure and simple. The problem is, the passengers all have signed off on this. They know about it when they buy into the programs. If they have no-charter clauses, they pay more. Simple-simple. Some ballsy individual at Flex actually made note of the fact on the company forum (Bluebelly) that we were booking a ton of charter over the holidays. He must've hit a nerve because none other than Dave Gross himself saw fit to hammer out a response stating, in effect, that it was more cost-effective to have fewer pilots on property and to rely on charter during peak demand than to have a bunch of idlers hanging around in hotels and on standby during off-peak times.

Well, sure it is. And it all looks fantastic until one of these operators bends metal or, worse yet, kills somebody.

 

[jonjuan]

Same crap is happening at NJA. During the busy days they are just outsourcing the flying to EJM or other charters. They can do this up to 44 days per year!!!!! Makes it much more difficult for any of us to ever get recalled. Just like scope is the real threat to the major airlines, outsourcing flying via charter is the huge threat to fractional pilots.

No kidding. Just think of how many nja furloughees are flying 135 charters either in support of or in competition with nja. How many furloughees are there who now or soon will be flying for the charter brokers who get most of their new growth from the 800 lb gorilla?

 

[jonjuan]

Exactly. It's a scope issue, pure and simple. The problem is, the passengers all have signed off on this. They know about it when they buy into the programs. If they have no-charter clauses, they pay more. Simple-simple. Some ballsy individual at Flex actually made note of the fact on the company forum (Bluebelly) that we were booking a ton of charter over the holidays. He must've hit a nerve because none other than Dave Gross himself saw fit to hammer out a response stating, in effect, that it was more cost-effective to have fewer pilots on property and to rely on charter during peak demand than to have a bunch of idlers hanging around in hotels and on standby during off-peak times.

Well, sure it is. And it all looks fantastic until one of these operators bends metal or, worse yet, kills somebody.

Or until one of the frax bends metal or, worse yet, kills somebody. Then what? (knock on wooood).

 

[Dooker]

Or until one of the frax bends metal or, worse yet, kills somebody. Then what? (knock on wooood).

It could happen, sure. But historically it seems a lot more likely to happen with smaller charter outfits. I can name a few right off the top of my head: that Challenger in Montrose a few years back (icing), Gulfstream in Houston (wrong navaid tuned), Lear 45 in TEX this past winter (never should have been on the approach in the first place), Challenger in TEB four years ago that was so out of CG it couldn't even rotate. All of them were charter. A big part of what we're supposed to be selling is safety, and I think the record supports the fact that well-rested, well-trained crews flying well-maintained aircraft are waaaaaay safer than a lot of what you find out there in the charter world.

 

[Boxer]

Yeah, what he said.

 

[GSXR600]

I guess the only way out is for the costumers to refuse charter aircraft at all times. But there are a lot sweet talkers in the company that convince the costumer to take the charter aircraft because the next one is 1000 miles away!

 

[smartelephant]

Exactly. It's a scope issue, pure and simple. The problem is, the passengers all have signed off on this. They know about it when they buy into the programs. If they have no-charter clauses, they pay more. Simple-simple. Some ballsy individual at Flex actually made note of the fact on the company forum (Bluebelly) that we were booking a ton of charter over the holidays. He must've hit a nerve because none other than Dave Gross himself saw fit to hammer out a response stating, in effect, that it was more cost-effective to have fewer pilots on property and to rely on charter during peak demand than to have a bunch of idlers hanging around in hotels and on standby during off-peak times.

Well, sure it is. And it all looks fantastic until one of these operators bends metal or, worse yet, kills somebody.

These "idlers" he speaks of once had good paying jobs at other companies but chose to join the Flexjet family because they actually believed the crap HR sold them in the interview. What a bunch of morons(me). "Oh, don't worry about layoffs" the head lady once said. "We see that as an absolute last resort. We're proud of the fact that we've only had to furlough once(post 9/11), and we brought them back within 3 months." Learning to not believe someone is a hard lesson to learn. But, since I've had 10 months to think about it, I feel the point has sunk in(sad music starts to play in the background while the chocolate ice cream comes out of the freezer). Whatever.

 

[RP170]

These "idlers" he speaks of once had good paying jobs at other companies but chose to join the Flexjet family because they actually believed the crap HR sold them in the interview. What a bunch of morons(me). "Oh, don't worry about layoffs" the head lady once said. "We see that as an absolute last resort. We're proud of the fact that we've only had to furlough once(post 9/11), and we brought them back within 3 months." Learning to not believe someone is a hard lesson to learn. But, since I've had 10 months to think about it, I feel the point has sunk in(sad music starts to play in the background while the chocolate ice cream comes out of the freezer). Whatever.

We all got the same BS story from NetJets too in the interview. It would have been nice to have known that RTS was writing contracts that you could basically wipe your a$$ with. That's how poorly constructed they were. Unfortunately, now we are looking at recall dates several years from now, if ever.

If I only knew then what I knew now, I'd currently be sitting in the left seat of an Allegiant MD-80 making $137/hr effective in May, doing all day trips out of one of their domiciles that I live in.

Hindsight is always 20/20.

 

[SDCFI]

Layoffs are one thing, but what about this CAFO crap Flex is getting away with? I'm not one so I can't confirm this, but I heard that if a CAFO is paired with a true FO but they don't actually fly (airline last day for ex.) they only get FO pay even though they're the Captain of record. I think it's a b/s idea to begin with but if this is true then I have lost all respect for the waterview, not that I had much to begin with these days. Supposedly there's one person who refuses the CA trips out of protest, if everyone here had those kind of ballz this would be a better place.

I also heard TC tow the company line that not working overtime days won't do anything to help get people back. Thanks, but I think I'll still turn them down. Perhaps if we all turned down OT and shady CAFO deals we WOULD get some of our comrades back.

 

[Ref]

Layoffs are one thing, but what about this CAFO crap Flex is getting away with? I'm not one so I can't confirm this, but I heard that if a CAFO is paired with a true FO but they don't actually fly (airline last day for ex.) they only get FO pay even though they're the Captain of record. I think it's a b/s idea to begin with but if this is true then I have lost all respect for the waterview, not that I had much to begin with these days. Supposedly there's one person who refuses the CA trips out of protest, if everyone here had those kind of ballz this would be a better place.

I also heard TC tow the company line that not working overtime days won't do anything to help get people back. Thanks, but I think I'll still turn them down. Perhaps if we all turned down OT and shady CAFO deals we WOULD get some of our comrades back.

It probably doesnt matter what he says about overtime anyway. I would bet there are more than enough people begging for as much as the company will give them.

 

[dime line]

Layoffs are one thing, but what about this CAFO crap Flex is getting away with? I'm not one so I can't confirm this, but I heard that if a CAFO is paired with a true FO but they don't actually fly (airline last day for ex.) they only get FO pay even though they're the Captain of record. I think it's a b/s idea to begin with but if this is true then I have lost all respect for the waterview, not that I had much to begin with these days. Supposedly there's one person who refuses the CA trips out of protest,

if everyone here had those kind of ballz

this would be a better place.

I also heard TC tow the company line that not working overtime days won't do anything to help get people back. Thanks, but I think I'll still turn them down. Perhaps if

we all turned down OT and shady CAFO deals we

WOULD get some of our comrades back.

Kinda sounds like a "union"

 

[ArtVandalay]

I can tell you this, if I were a CAFO, and they asked me to be captain for a day or whatever, I would tell them to F themselves. You either make people captains or F/O's. This, I use you when I need you crap has to stop. I encourage all you CAFO's to refuse captain days because no matter what BS the CP tells you, it is for THEIR benefit, not yours.