This statement proves that you do not have a clue. There is a key omission, one that has been repeatedly made by you and that was repeatedly made by our previous neo-management: Flight Options is in the CUSTOMER SERVICE business and NOT the seat revenue business. Far beyond flying the airplane, in the fractional business the pilots are key to the customer service experience.
I know you've heard this before, but let me provide you a short refresher course. You cannot draw exacting parallels between pilots who fly for the majors and those who fly fractional. Pilots in the fractional market have much broader responsibility than our pilot bretheren in the majors, which you condescendingly describe as only "to fly the airplane on the flight". We are not dispatched, as you would define it in Part 121. The sheer number of airports that we serve day in and day out exceed those serviced by the majors by a factor of about 100 world-wide. This one fact demonstrates a huge divide between the responsibilities of the two pilot groups. In fractional operations, the pilot-in-command has the ULTIMATE responsibility for flight planning, airport and weather evaluation, determining maintenance status and that the aircraft performance is satisfactory for the airports of intended operation (can you say Aspen?). A similar statement reminding us of this responsibility is made on every one of our assigned trip sheets.
In addition to our primary responsibility of flying the airplane safely and efficiently, we are the front line sales force - or face - of the company. But it doesn't stop there. In the hierarchy of a fractional pilots responsibilities, and a very close second only to assuring the safety of flight, is the HUGE responsibility of assuring our owners never see the gross inefficiency and insanity that happens behind the scenes in the OCC prepararing for their flight. I and my crew are the ultimate filter, making sure that all the catering, ground trans and other unique requests are fulfilled. Don't get me wrong, there are some capable people at CGF. Some even still really care about the owners. But the "i" dotting and "t" crossing on items that typically wouldn't fall into your definition of "pilot" takes up a substantial amount of our time. And in the end, if the owners trip meets or (hopefully) exceeds their expectations, then we've done our job - regardless of whomever else's job I or my crew had to do to assure this level of service.
You, like our recently departed neo-management continue to be lost in your anti-union rhetoric and airline mentality. Neo-management lost sight of what makes a company like ours run, forsaking all semblence of customer service. They failed our customers, investors, pilots and all "team members". The pilots at Flight Options had recourse to gain recognition for our unique and far reaching responsibilites. We sought representation. Perhaps other employee groups also had this recourse and have chosen otherwise. But make no mistake: neo-management opened this door and now here we are. You can continue to attempt to draw parallels to your life experience with unions all you want. I, and (as evidenced by the recent cooperative attitude) current management believe that a comprehensive CBA will be a positive for the future of Flight Options.
I suspect the day Flight Options pilots ratify the CBA, B19, Skumza, et al will never be heard from on FI again
