Is Allegiant Airlines currently hiring?

[FLYN4LVE]

Here's the best way to describe Allegiant to a prospective newhire....

If you were working at Delta, American or United and had the option of getting 1/4 of your retirement, 2/3 of your pay and gave up all work rules to have a line where you were home every night would you bid it? Some people out there would. Those are the ones that are happy here.

It would be awesome if they could guarantee that the lines will remain out and backs. That could end pretty quickly.

 

[GogglesPisano]

Some perspective from the outside: It's the "negative" guys who usually pressure for change, by complaining or leaving. You can thank them for the upward pressure on your pay and benefits. The "Just happy to be here," folks have never improved working conditions at any airline, ever'

 

[temcgrew]

Some perspective from the outside: It's the "negative" guys who usually pressure for change, by complaining or leaving. You can thank them for the upward pressure on your pay and benefits. The "Just happy to be here," folks have never improved working conditions at any airline, ever'

Yeah, thanks for that. Just as long as I don't have to fly with you and listen for hours upon hours of you blabbering about how the company steals from you, purposely tries to make your life miserable and screw you over.

On the other side, I don't agree with that assumption. There has only been one AAPAG president who was negative and that was the last one who ran a union drive while he was president. The other ones presided over two big pay raises.

 

[temcgrew]

Here's the best way to describe Allegiant to a prospective newhire....

If you were working at Delta, American or United and had the option of getting 1/4 of your retirement, 2/3 of your pay and gave up all work rules to have a line where you were home every night would you bid it? Some people out there would. Those are the ones that are happy here.

If you choose Allegiant over Delta, American or United then you would be a complete idiot. If you can't even get called for an interview then what's your point? So while you are at Allegiant in the mean time, don't be jealouse of the better job that you couldn't get and waste your time complaining about what you DO have.

 

[Daytonaflyer]

Is that normal to not even give you your two days off together? Can they really do that?

Yes, they do it very regularly. Some pilots on reserve only get one day off at a time. And this can continue for months

 

[Daytonaflyer]

UEJ500 has been here 8 years, so he has no idea what it's like to be junior at Allegiant. He probably upgraded to Captain in less than a year and spent fewer than 6 months on reserve. And he probably gets 18-20 days off a month. He also gets first dibs at open time, so he probably makes pretty decent money. For the newer guys, you will get none of that. Here is what you can expect if you come to Allegiant.

Upgrade...many FOs have been here nearly 5 years and upgrade is still not in sight. If you are new here, it could be many more years. 2.5 years ago the new managment told us they expected to have 1000 pilots within 3 years. We haven't gained a single pilot since then. In fact, the pilot group has barely grown at all in the past 5 years.

TDY... there is a very high probability you will be sent to another base for 30 days at a time. This may happen 3 or 4 months in a row at different bases around the country. During your TDY you may only get 1 day off in a row and the company absolutely refuses to get you home on your days off. That's right, they WILL NOT help get you home on your days off. Therefore you may have to jumpseat cross country from a small city like Bellingham, WA or Ft Myers, FL to get home. Also, up until this month, the company would not get pilots a rental car on TDY. You were couped up in a hotel room for a month or more with no way to go anywhere unless you paid for a rental car out of your own pocket... about $800-$1500/mo. Now the company has begun renting one economy car for every two pilots on TDY. If you're the only TDY'd pilot, who knows.

Displacement... it happens quite often ever since the new management got here. They will displace you to a different base and they don't have to pay you a single penny in moving expenses unless they close down the entire base.

Health insurance... the worst in the industry. Walmart employees actually have better insurance than we have at Allegiant. Let me repeat that, WALMART employees have better health insurance than Allegiant employees. Our insurance doesn't pay a single penny until you spend enough out of your pocket to reach your yearly deductible. That's $1500 deductible plus about $1400 in premiums for individuals and about 4 times that for families before Cigna pays a penny.

Vacation/PTO... they're one in the same. Pilots only accrue about 3-4 hours of PTO per month depending on years of service. You cash out a little over 17 hrs of PTO to take a week vacation. Even the office employees here at Allegiant, like secretaries, accrue over 9 hours per PTO per month.
If your vacation falls on the day of a scheduled trip, you lose the pay for that trip. Pilots usually lose money for taking a vacation.

 

[brokedash]

At least G4 insurance will kick in after the dedutable is met. Walmart employees don't get health insurance. Also there is a change in admin on the ops side coming.

 

[goofyfoot]

UEJ500 has been here 8 years, so he has no idea what it's like to be junior at Allegiant. He probably upgraded to Captain in less than a year and spent fewer than 6 months on reserve. And he probably gets 18-20 days off a month. He also gets first dibs at open time, so he probably makes pretty decent money. For the newer guys, you will get none of that. Here is what you can expect if you come to Allegiant.

Upgrade...many FOs have been here nearly 5 years and upgrade is still not in sight. If you are new here, it could be many more years. 2.5 years ago the new managment told us they expected to have 1000 pilots within 3 years. We haven't gained a single pilot since then. In fact, the pilot group has barely grown at all in the past 5 years.

TDY... there is a very high probability you will be sent to another base for 30 days at a time. This may happen 3 or 4 months in a row at different bases around the country. During your TDY you may only get 1 day off in a row and the company absolutely refuses to get you home on your days off. That's right, they WILL NOT help get you home on your days off. Therefore you may have to jumpseat cross country from a small city like Bellingham, WA or Ft Myers, FL to get home. Also, up until this month, the company would not get pilots a rental car on TDY. You were couped up in a hotel room for a month or more with no way to go anywhere unless you paid for a rental car out of your own pocket... about $800-$1500/mo. Now the company has begun renting one economy car for every two pilots on TDY. If you're the only TDY'd pilot, who knows.

Displacement... it happens quite often ever since the new management got here. They will displace you to a different base and they don't have to pay you a single penny in moving expenses unless they close down the entire base.

Health insurance... the worst in the industry. Walmart employees actually have better insurance than we have at Allegiant. Let me repeat that, WALMART employees have better health insurance than Allegiant employees. Our insurance doesn't pay a single penny until you spend enough out of your pocket to reach your yearly deductible. That's $1500 deductible plus about $1400 in premiums for individuals and about 4 times that for families before Cigna pays a penny.

Vacation/PTO... they're one in the same. Pilots only accrue about 3-4 hours of PTO per month depending on years of service. You cash out a little over 17 hrs of PTO to take a week vacation. Even the office employees here at Allegiant, like secretaries, accrue over 9 hours per PTO per month.
If your vacation falls on the day of a scheduled trip, you lose the pay for that trip. Pilots usually lose money for taking a vacation.

Moral of his story is this....being junior sucks. Which is of course in stark contrast to every other airline in the world where being junior is fabulous.

The Senior guys get 18-20 days off, snag all the open time, make all the money, yada yada yada. The junior guys have to deal with all the crap thats left over. Seniority....thus it goes. Of course perspective is everything.

Here's mine: Been here for 2 years and change....I hold a line every month in my base. I could hold a line most months in the most senior bases and could be over half way up the FO list in the more junior bases. I work an average of 7-9 hours a day 3 days a week. I've spent a grand total of 2 nights in a hotel other than recurrent and PCs. I bid reserve occasionally just for fun...Sure, I've had to fly some rescue missions here and there and even spent the night in a hotel once, but I've also had a couple of months where I never worked the entire month. My job is ridiculously easy. It's almost embarrassing talking to friends and neighbors about my schedule. I've heard the 1000 pilot term mentioned too, by GB....once...2 years ago...and he didn't say within 3 years. The term most often used by management is slow, steady growth....which is exactly what has happened. I have 70ish people below me on a seniority list with 370ish pilots. Seniority is what it is, and that will never change, but 2 years and a few months is not a lot of time.

If you want to apply here don't let a lot of the negative crap being thrown around stop you. Lets face it, it's mostly just guys that are looking for other jobs on these forums....the vast majority of Allegiant pilots are happy here and are too busy with their families, hobbies, and side careers to waste time on pilot forums.

We need a contract, we need a pay raise, we need better retirement and insurance, we need better TDY and displacement language, and better PTO/vacation usage...but that's all in the works. Management will eventually stop pouting that we voted in a union and and play ball. The super senior guys here have only been here for 7-9 years and can attest to the massive improvements that have taken place. That will continue...it'll take time, but it will happen.

 

[GogglesPisano]

Yeah, thanks for that. Just as long as I don't have to fly with you and listen for hours upon hours of you blabbering about how the company steals from you, purposely tries to make your life miserable and screw you over.

Don't worry, you'll never have to fly with me. Glad you're happy with what you have.

 

[vixin]

Walmart employees don't get health insurance.

Not true. My mother worked at wally world after my father past. She was part time. Had what I would consider pretty good health care from wally world. It only cost $38 per month.