Hawaiian Question

[flygirl556]

Hey Guys,

I got my stuff in at HA a couple of weeks ago and was wondering how the seniority breaks down with FO's. For instance how senior is SEA? How senior is getting off res on the 717 (#s, DOH, etc).

Thanks in Advance, and congrats on the new planes and routes.

Flygirl

 

[Flyer1015]

Did you get a call for an interview?

 

[xanderman]

Hey Guys,

I got my stuff in at HA a couple of weeks ago and was wondering how the seniority breaks down with FO's. For instance how senior is SEA? How senior is getting off res on the 717 (#s, DOH, etc).

Thanks in Advance, and congrats on the new planes and routes.

Flygirl

Most junior guy in SEA has at least 10 years at the company... Don't know the rest.

 

[808pilot]

have any calls gone out yet?... haven't heard anything....

 

[flygirl556]

Thanks for the intell. I have not gotten a call for an interview yet and I understand it will take a while. I grew up in HI and moved to the mainland after high school. I'm at Skywest now which is good but getting home and living near my family again would be awesome. I have a good guy walking my res in after I filled out the online app a couple of weeks ago. This process may be a long one but well worth it in the end.

FlyGirl

 

[flygirl556]

Is HAL around on life as a new hire, reserve, HNL vs SEA basing etc?

 

[HAL]

Life as a newhire at HA is pretty much like that at the rest of the airlines; 18 days of reserve a month, and you're usually assigned to the trips nobody else wants (lots of Vegas redeyes if you're on the 767, late evening shifts if you're interisland). It's hard to say how long you might be on reserve, as it depends on when in this cycle you're hired, and how many are below you on the seniority list. It's actually been a while since I sat reserve so I don't remember the details, but the duty period is 12 hours with a 2-hour callout for some, and 3-hour for others, depending on how much you've flown that month. They 'level' the reserves so everyone should theoretically fly the same amount on reserve during the month. i.e., if you have fewer hours than the other reserve pilots at some point in the month, you are first on the list to be called. If you get 717 or A330 when you're hired, you will be in HNL. With the 767 there's two bases, but the only west coast base is the small SEA 767 base. Right now the F/O's are still pretty senior there, as the majority could hold Captain on the 717, and the top third could hold 767 Captain in HNL. But on the last bid the bottom spots in SEA got close to the bottom of the guys hired in 2001. That was just before they stopped hiring for 7 years before starting up in 2008. I know there's a couple of people in the 2008 - 2009 hire classes that may want to go to SEA, but not many. This is just a guess but if you're hired this year you may only have to wait for two or three years to be able to hold SEA. The new-hires on this latest bid are split between the 767 HNL and 717, so you might get either one.

Commuting really isn't that big a deal, especially if you are coming off the west coast. I did it for 2 1/2 years after returning from furlough, and it was a non-event. Especially after you're senior enough to hold a line, it's no problem to bid blocks of trips so you only have to do it two or three times a month. I think overall we have probably 20% of the 767 guys commuting from the mainland, with a couple coming from as far away as Atlanta and Washington DC.

From 'inside sources', I've heard that they are going to interview up to 200 more in the coming month, with a decision for the first class made in August. Those who interviewed last year but weren't offered a job are being asked to come in and 'update', which means essentially running through the interview/sim process again.

Good luck, and let me know if there's more you want to find out about life at HA

HAL

 

[flygirl556]

Thanks for all the good information HAL! You answered a lot of my questions.

 

[Dan Roman]

One thing we have been able to keep in our contract is the ability to string 12 days off in a row. Obviously the co tries to go after that contract time but it is quite popular with the people on reserve as you can turn that into 24 off in a row without using vacation.

 

[skid]

One thing we have been able to keep in our contract is the ability to string 12 days off in a row. Obviously the co tries to go after that contract time but it is quite popular with the people on reserve as you can turn that into 24 off in a row without using vacation.

Is this something that is easy to do with the reserve scheds at HAL? That would make things a lot easier if you do have to commute. I would assume this is also something that depends on seniority and coverage required when it comes to the reserve line holders right?