JetBlue Q

[CaptainMark]

deleted

 

[jj21211]

jetblue call

This was too weird. I just got called today. Totally unexpected, havent updated for some time, thought I was kicking a dead horse. Same deal. I have a decent paying F2000 job 10 minutes from my house, fly with great people, and here comes the call I would have loved to have two years ago.
I really miss 'living the dream' with my pre 9/11 Usairways job, with Aruba, St. Croix, SAN, SFO, longs, but there are no replacement gigs like that anymore.
I have some thinking to do as well, but probably not very much. Thanks for a very timely thread, hope all my former AAA buds are doing well!

 

[CaptainMark]

that is a different deal...JB is probably a great place to work..but i guess your decision is based on how comfortable u are with the future of your corporate job...one friend called me about 6 years ago and had gotten hired at UPS but was going to turn it down because his citation job was down the street with good pay...he asked me and i told him it was a no brainer..go to UPS...he started in on how the company was long term with good retirement benefits and the CEO was looking at g4s etc..he did leave and 6 months later they sold the jet, the hangar and got rid of the flight department..he sends me a Xmas card every year...good luck on your decision...

 

[G4G5]

I am sure that B6 is a great place to work, and that the people are nice. I would think that the same thing applies at LUV.

That's not the point. You need to look at:

What is right for you and your family. Can you move to B6 and get a higher quality of life?

You need to talk to a financial planner and take a close look at the recovery point. You will be going from $110k to in all reality ERJ190 FO rates for the next 2 years. How much retirement will you be losing by not making the 110K and contributing you current amount. Compound that annual loss by 21 years. Then do the same for year two, and so on.

At 39 can your family take the financial hit. Mine couldn't. I have a couple of close buds who got me an early interview at UPS last Jan. When I mentioned to my pregnant wife that we would be living on $26k for the next year, she almost had the baby on the floor. It takes a long time to over come a $100K+ salary loss, when you start to compound it out over time. Then you have to commute on top of the pay hit. I had to say, "no thanks".

Can you pay your current liabilities with your new salary (car, house, yada yada). You may say yes but when mama has to give up HBO and other things that she is use to. Then the first time you are on the road and something goes wrong, well, forget it. If mama ain't happy, nobodies happy.

I may live to regret it but so far I am not regretting quiting Delta and NWA for AA. Nor am I regretting saying no thanks to USAir and B6. But I need to preface that with, that's me. You need to do the soul searching. Do the number crunching. Have the talk with the old lady. Then sit down and think it out.

Conversely, you may not like Netjets and may have your own reasons why B6 could make your life better.
The one piece of advice I will give you is if you go for the interview. In all reality you will take the job. The romance of something new and the possibility of something better will just make you look at you present job in a new ad negative light. From experience, I can tell you. Don't go into it with the attitude of, let me get them to offer me the job first. Because you will talk yourself into taking it.

Have the questions answered first. Save B6 the time and money and give the spot to someone else, if it's not what you absolutely want.

Good luck.

 

[JB Bus Drvr]

Lot of good posts here. I've been with JB for almost five years and it's been a good ride so far. That being said, there's a lot to be said for senority, equipment and not commuting. Tough choice. I would say that in my own circumstances, I left a job for life, virtually, to come here. It ended up being a good move, but if I had to do it today, I'd stay where I was at. Again, senority. I'd be happy to see you in my right seat, but there's no problem if you end up staying at NJA.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[side stick-n]

hydrarkt,

Tough decision for you. Here's a few other tidbits that might help. The 190 reliability issues are coming to an end. Most of the bugs have been worked out and we are seeing days of 100% reliability and schedule integrity. We will also be opening a BOS crewbase in June. When comparing your pay, I would guess you're looking at close to 36 months before making over 100 grand again. (Yes, I feel confident the 190 capt pay will pass this mark within the next 24 months) One of the previous post indicated that the last 320 captain is probably already on the property. The numbers would indicate that at the present order of aircraft. However, based on the past actions of DN and company, that may or may not be the last of the expansion.

 

[Sctt@NJA]

It may be about the pay. NJA tops out MUCH higher than jetBlue ($167k DA2000EX versus $137k jetBlue top CA)

I was just looking through the NJA contract and happened to look at the BBJ payscale. More trivia than reason to stay or anything:

Current top NJA earner is on year 6 of the BBJ scale (this scale works by year in type unlike most of the others that work by year with company) $198,375 BASE PAY! With special assignments and extended days ect. I would expect we have a small number of guys with 250k or more on their W2s by years end.

This scale continues up to year ten: $229,851 base pay

Cola increases (max 2.5 percent) after year 10 in that program.

These are the numbers for the reserve schedule, which from what I understand tends to be popular with the BBJ guys.

 

[Lear70]

How many people actually will make it to BBJ Captain among current NJA pilots? 2%? 3%? Gotta compare apples to apples, and the 2000EX is an obtainable aircraft, that's why I used to the comparison.

There's no way I'd fly the reserve schedule if I couldn't help it. I like 14+ days off.

 

[Sctt@NJA]

Very true. As I said it is more trivia than anything else. Very few can expect a BBJ opportunity here.

 

[Uppercrust]

Lot of good posts here. I've been with JB for almost five years and it's been a good ride so far. That being said, there's a lot to be said for senority, equipment and not commuting. Tough choice. I would say that in my own circumstances, I left a job for life, virtually, to come here. It ended up being a good move, but if I had to do it today, I'd stay where I was at. Again, senority. I'd be happy to see you in my right seat, but there's no problem if you end up staying at NJA.

Good luck with your decision!

Would you be happy to see me in your right seat???