Flexjet Scamagement Hits a New Low

[Imissmypilot]

For the Mre and Warlords among us, I didn't want the latest schizophrenia to p*************** us by.

If they are so happy with the constant court victories they are claiming why are they appealing them?

If they are happy to give the affected pilots their VSP, why all the feet dragging?

 

[GlorifiedCabbie]

Self-serving LIES. How can this ONESKY leadership be respected when they cannot face the truth?

 

[1folinepilot]

The VSP was never intended to actually be paid out to the employees. The program was specifically designed to force our Union to litigate and waste our resources in an attempt to make our Union look bad.

This is no differebt than the 30,000$ raise Kenn and his managers promised us but had no intention of giving us.

Nothing is stopping Kenn and his managers from doing the right thing. Our Union has actively encouraged a better working relationship to include enhanced wages, better staffing, a generous VSP, but Kenn and his managers decide to fight us and lie to us

 

[GlorifiedCabbie]

I have to agree on that one. Kenn could have gotten away with a smaller raise years ago if he decided to negotiate in good faith. He decided to fight, so HE will end up with pilots that will never be happy. Why are pilots bailing from Dead Label?

 

[1folinepilot]

Red Label is nithing but a FOK club to go for another Union decertification vote.. Kenn is giving out of seniority upgrades to mid and large cabin airplanes in exchange for no votes. Look at who is in that group. People like the overtime whore CK who received a phenom type with a 3000 training then after 3 rotations in the airplane he received a Legacy 500 red lable slot. CK was one of the original 4 that founded the inhouse puppet union for Kenn.

 

[Imissmypilot]

I'm not making excuses for them (my views on Red Label have been made clear) but I think Kenn will be surprised with how expensive of a failure the scam will be. With the exception of a few truly delusional ones, many Red Label pilots are silent supporters of the union but are just looking to cash in while they can. The screws to even these precious golden children are being slowly turned and everyone is getting fed up. A tour full of over 14 days and 10/24 warnings are happening to everyone and it is frankly unsustainable. Now it appears Red Label captains will be surrendering their pay bump to the PIC when they are not crewing their planes. It's a smart way to infect the regular line with a little company generosity but ultimately it will fail. Also RH is now openly admitting the freebie bonus they got because metrics could not be produced was a one time deal.

I truly believe pilots and owners are waking up to the scam of red label. Even an idiot can recognize we are losibg airplanes and customers. Fancy AIN articles aside, this place is going down in flames all due to one man's arrogance.

 

[CALRepublic]

"I truly believe pilots and owners are waking up to the scam of red label. Even an idiot can recognize we are losibg airplanes and customers. Fancy AIN articles aside, this place is going down in flames all due to one man's arrogance"

Are you talking about the article "Flex's business grows 20%"?

What a bunch of BS that was. He's boasting about taking customers from the competition. He talks about how half of his new business is people who switched from other fractionals, people "who used to patronized other fractional providers"

But he forgot to mention that he is undercutting everybody. He's selling Gulfstreams for Hawker prices in order to gain market share. He's bleeding red ink, but his clientele is growing. He's pulling a mesa airlines. I hope this scumbag doesn't start a race to the bottom in the frax industry, because that would not be good for anybody

 

[Fresh Air]

Red Label is nithing but a FOK club to go for another Union decertification vote.. Kenn is giving out of seniority upgrades to mid and large cabin airplanes in exchange for no votes. Look at who is in that group. People like the overtime whore CK who received a phenom type with a 3000 training then after 3 rotations in the airplane he received a Legacy 500 red lable slot. CK was one of the original 4 that founded the inhouse puppet union for Kenn.

If I may clarify a bit: CK did not receive a Red Label slot. He and the other recent transfers to the 450/500 and the 300/350 transferred as new hire SIC's. They get no Red Label pay, bonuses, or special scheduling. They are in a RL fleet, so they get to do the RL work without the RL perks. And the way Flexjet is so incredibly PIC heavy, it will be a long long time before they will see the left seat of anything, even after SLI. I know most of those guys, and get the feeling that this was seen as just an opportunity to get off the sinking ship that is Flight Options. As far as Kenn trying to buy "no" votes, that probably won't work out for him. Except for 2 of them, (I think) the recent transfers are all MIGS, and after a year of doing coffee, papers, & ice for RL Captains for crappy Options pay, I'm pretty sure that they won't be changing their minds. I agree with you that the way they are handing out type ratings like candy is pretty crazy, but that appears to be the Flexjet way.

 

[Imissmypilot]

If I may clarify a bit: CK did not receive a Red Label slot. He and the other recent transfers to the 450/500 and the 300/350 transferred as new hire SIC's. They get no Red Label pay, bonuses, or special scheduling. They are in a RL fleet, so they get to do the RL work without the RL perks. And the way Flexjet is so incredibly PIC heavy, it will be a long long time before they will see the left seat of anything, even after SLI. I know most of those guys, and get the feeling that this was seen as just an opportunity to get off the sinking ship that is Flight Options. As far as Kenn trying to buy "no" votes, that probably won't work out for him. Except for 2 of them, (I think) the recent transfers are all MIGS, and after a year of doing coffee, papers, & ice for RL Captains for crappy Options pay, I'm pretty sure that they won't be changing their minds. I agree with you that the way they are handing out type ratings like candy is pretty crazy, but that appears to be the Flexjet way.

Just to be more clear: Giving type ratings like candy and PIC overload is not the Flexjet way: it is scamagement's attempt to buy votes from their likeliest resource of already union-averse pilots. The transfers aren't his only gameplan and it would appear are actually broken pawns even if they try to deny it.

While we have always been slightly captain heavy for operational purposes, the real craziness of our current list did not happen until Kenn started trying to buy votes. We have many guys on Red Label who would still be SIC for a while longer based on the old method but aren't now due to the seniority gutting nature of red label plus before the program in the early days of the union debate they upgraded a slew into the regular fleet only to claim how good things were going and for a minute it worked.

As far as type rating candy, for Flexjetters it only happens as a result of transition - upgrades, fleet rollouts, fleet phase outs. Nothing more than usual and not so prolifically among regular line pilots. In the past decade, I've only had the one initial and most of us would say the same. I believe what you're referring to is the number of Options transfers who are getting several in less than a year or two and/or low seniority 45's and 300's transferring to Red Label.

So please ammend your thinking. Old Flex was a best practices model. The new Flexjet is the lipsticked pig of Kenn Ricci's wet dream. Man, can you imagine how bad it would be without the threat of a union hanging over his head?

 

[Imissmypilot]

I truly believe pilots and owners are waking up to the scam of red label. Even an idiot can recognize we are losibg airplanes and customers. Fancy AIN articles aside, this place is going down in flames all due to one man's arrogance.

Are you talking about the article "Flex's business grows 20%"?

What a bunch of BS that was. He's boasting about taking customers from the competition. He talks about how half of his new business is people who switched from other fractionals, people "who used to patronized other fractional providers"

But he forgot to mention that he is undercutting everybody. He's selling Gulfstreams for Hawker prices in order to gain market share. He's bleeding red ink, but his clientele is growing. He's pulling a mesa airlines. I hope this scumbag doesn't start a race to the bottom in the frax industry, because that would not be good for anybody

It goes beyond the undercutting. It actually is delving into the category of scamagement's specialty: deceptive truth.

Go back and read the article with this thought in mind: Options is no longer selling shares. They will phase out in 5 years and roughly lose 20% a year to the Flexjet side. Ding ding ding. Every single Options customer we are converting to the Flexjet side is technically a new acquisition from the "competition".

Now here's the scary part: if you dive into the numbers closely, it would appear best case scenario is we are at stagnantion but the truth is probrably we are shrinking by a small but noticeable percentage.

And it's going to get worse. When owners start recognizing the inflated price of Red Label (and those are the only shares being sold according to sales) they are going to ask if it's really the smartest move. I could go on for quite a few paragraphs on why that is but if you don't understand why by now, me explaining it won't help.

 

[GlorifiedCabbie]

It goes beyond the undercutting. It actually is delving into the category of scamagement's specialty: deceptive truth.

Go back and read the article with this thought in mind: Options is no longer selling shares. They will phase out in 5 years and roughly lose 20% a year to the Flexjet side. Ding ding ding. Every single Options customer we are converting to the Flexjet side is technically a new acquisition from the "competition".

Now here's the scary part: if you dive into the numbers closely, it would appear best case scenario is we are at stagnantion but the truth is probrably we are shrinking by a small but noticeable percentage.

And it's going to get worse. When owners start recognizing the inflated price of Red Label (and those are the only shares being sold according to sales) they are going to ask if it's really the smartest move. I could go on for quite a few paragraphs on why that is but if you don't understand why by now, me explaining it won't help.

Deceptive truth. That sums up the way this management team has been operating for two decades. Don't forget, it's basically the same management team and philosophy, but now that they own the Flexjet name, the used car salesmen of aviation has a new storefront. So Options and KR's way of doing business is growing but he can't really claim that in public.

 

[doh]

I'm really looking forward to the outcome of this first arbitration.

 

[GlorifiedCabbie]

The thing that will scare the ONESKY mouthpieces the most, is the truth. I want full disclosure, but there is a gag order.

 

[Club ORD FO]

A gag order on the contract arbitration?

 

[doh]

I haven't heard about a gag order. I was told to expect a letter from leadership. It's my understanding the news is pretty good.

 

[GlorifiedCabbie]

Yes, there is good news and I also heard there will be an announcement soon. As for the "gag order", details aren't to be released until the "summary" at the end of the sessions. So DF should not be making phone calls until the session is over.

 

[doh]

DF is dancing the Desperation Samba...

 

[doh]

And cabbie, what do you mean "until the session is over"? They finished on the 2nd.

 

[GlorifiedCabbie]

I was told that some clarification was needed. The summary will be out soon. I can't wait.

 

[doh]

Whoop, der it is.