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JetBlue Quality of life compared to regional?
- Thread starter bigbird
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Longhorn
Evil Genius
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2001
- Posts
- 1,294
Bigbird,
You will hear many different replies to this depending on the seniority and equipment but I will throw in my 2 cents.
Hotels:
The hotels we stay in for the most part are nicer than the ones I stayed at when I was at a regional. Hyatt, Wyndham, Park Plaza, and Four Points for the most part. There are the standard Holiday Inn and I believe we still stay at a Hampton in Boston for the short stay. We also stay at a few Double Trees which I personally like. We had a sleep inn in Buffalo but we are not there anymore and stay downtown.
QOL:
Overall I would say it is very good AFTER you are off reserve. I have friends that were going crazy on reserve until they held a line and then were very happy. It is very easy to get 15-16 days off when you are off reserve although it will more than likely mean you are working weekends. On reserve you have 12 days off and you can drop one of the reserve days using your PTO (personal time off). As for other reserve questions, maybe another guy can help you with that as I have not been on reserve in a long time now.
We do use a program called Flica which makes moving your schedule around a piece of cake but you have to be proactive about it. Once your monthly bid closes there are numerous windows that close until you get to the free for all window. There is a 48 hour drop/swap window as well as a pickup window. Once those are done, you have no limits other than the reserve coverage and legality to hold you back from doing whatever you want to your schedule.
As for the company treating you like a human being, I would say yes. While its not like it was 4 years ago, you are still treated much better than you would be at most regionals. 99% of the crews are great and a lot of fun to fly with. You have enough long overnights where you can enjoy where you are and make the job enjoyable. As for the mgnt, the chief pilots throughout the company are great and will go to bat for you, or at least that has been my experience. I only know the guys in JFK and BOS and I have never had a problem with any of them. If you bring an issue to them and you are in the right, the will stand by you. There has been a few issues with scheduling though in terms of them not wanting to use reserves at times and modify line pilots schedules but I think that is being looked at as we speak. My theory is go to work, have fun, stay under the radar and go home to enjoy your life away from work.
Are trips commutable? Well, yes and no. On reserve you are open to whatever you get. We do have a 14 hour long call and 2 hour short call system. Once again, someone else will have to comment on that as I have never uses it. Once you hold a line, getting commutable trips is not that hard. If you are on the 320, then yes you can get them but the price is a trip that is littered with red eyes. Once you are senior enough to get a commutable non red eye trip, then life gets easier. On the 190 though, the commutable trips can be tough to get. I seem to get almost all commutable trips on one end or the other mixed with commutable trips on both ends but I bid about the 50% mark on the 190 as a CA. I have friends that bid around the 70% mark that get stuck with 7am show times but 4pm release times. It also depends on the month. With the 190 going west, I am sure you will see a greater variety of trips with different show times. We do have a couple red eye trips on the 190 now that come in from Santo Domingo DR and I think those trips finish around 4am or so.
The only few issues that seem to be the biggies here are the pay and merger protection. As for the pay, the 320 guys NEED a cola raise. They have never had it. As for the 190's, the rates have to come up to a wage level that is much more acceptable for this industry. I would like to see 80-85% of the 320 ca rates for the 190 ca rates and the 190 fo's matched to the 320 fo's. Stronger merger language is also a must or the people on the fence about an in-house union will for sure fall to the side of the union. Our pilot comp group is about done with its research and we should hear back from the company on adjusted rates here in the next 30-60 days so we will see.
Overall, I am very happy here and think its much better than a regional. Is it as good as UPS/FedEx...no, but it could be. While nobody is ever happy with everything, for the most part its a good place to work...it just needs a little tweaking.
I hope this helps, if you have any other questions, please PM me and I will try to answer or find an answer for you.
Take care,
Longhorn
You will hear many different replies to this depending on the seniority and equipment but I will throw in my 2 cents.
Hotels:
The hotels we stay in for the most part are nicer than the ones I stayed at when I was at a regional. Hyatt, Wyndham, Park Plaza, and Four Points for the most part. There are the standard Holiday Inn and I believe we still stay at a Hampton in Boston for the short stay. We also stay at a few Double Trees which I personally like. We had a sleep inn in Buffalo but we are not there anymore and stay downtown.
QOL:
Overall I would say it is very good AFTER you are off reserve. I have friends that were going crazy on reserve until they held a line and then were very happy. It is very easy to get 15-16 days off when you are off reserve although it will more than likely mean you are working weekends. On reserve you have 12 days off and you can drop one of the reserve days using your PTO (personal time off). As for other reserve questions, maybe another guy can help you with that as I have not been on reserve in a long time now.
We do use a program called Flica which makes moving your schedule around a piece of cake but you have to be proactive about it. Once your monthly bid closes there are numerous windows that close until you get to the free for all window. There is a 48 hour drop/swap window as well as a pickup window. Once those are done, you have no limits other than the reserve coverage and legality to hold you back from doing whatever you want to your schedule.
As for the company treating you like a human being, I would say yes. While its not like it was 4 years ago, you are still treated much better than you would be at most regionals. 99% of the crews are great and a lot of fun to fly with. You have enough long overnights where you can enjoy where you are and make the job enjoyable. As for the mgnt, the chief pilots throughout the company are great and will go to bat for you, or at least that has been my experience. I only know the guys in JFK and BOS and I have never had a problem with any of them. If you bring an issue to them and you are in the right, the will stand by you. There has been a few issues with scheduling though in terms of them not wanting to use reserves at times and modify line pilots schedules but I think that is being looked at as we speak. My theory is go to work, have fun, stay under the radar and go home to enjoy your life away from work.
Are trips commutable? Well, yes and no. On reserve you are open to whatever you get. We do have a 14 hour long call and 2 hour short call system. Once again, someone else will have to comment on that as I have never uses it. Once you hold a line, getting commutable trips is not that hard. If you are on the 320, then yes you can get them but the price is a trip that is littered with red eyes. Once you are senior enough to get a commutable non red eye trip, then life gets easier. On the 190 though, the commutable trips can be tough to get. I seem to get almost all commutable trips on one end or the other mixed with commutable trips on both ends but I bid about the 50% mark on the 190 as a CA. I have friends that bid around the 70% mark that get stuck with 7am show times but 4pm release times. It also depends on the month. With the 190 going west, I am sure you will see a greater variety of trips with different show times. We do have a couple red eye trips on the 190 now that come in from Santo Domingo DR and I think those trips finish around 4am or so.
The only few issues that seem to be the biggies here are the pay and merger protection. As for the pay, the 320 guys NEED a cola raise. They have never had it. As for the 190's, the rates have to come up to a wage level that is much more acceptable for this industry. I would like to see 80-85% of the 320 ca rates for the 190 ca rates and the 190 fo's matched to the 320 fo's. Stronger merger language is also a must or the people on the fence about an in-house union will for sure fall to the side of the union. Our pilot comp group is about done with its research and we should hear back from the company on adjusted rates here in the next 30-60 days so we will see.
Overall, I am very happy here and think its much better than a regional. Is it as good as UPS/FedEx...no, but it could be. While nobody is ever happy with everything, for the most part its a good place to work...it just needs a little tweaking.
I hope this helps, if you have any other questions, please PM me and I will try to answer or find an answer for you.
Take care,
Longhorn
Whiskerbizkit
Inside her \|/
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2004
- Posts
- 373
Coming from what was considered the " best regional " I can tell you it is 100 times better here. There are our issues but you will have that everywhere. As for QOL, it dependes on what AC and base you are at. Reserve at JFK compared to reserve at LGB or FLL is night and day. I spent 12 month on reserve and flew an average of 5 days a month, but I live in base. Now I have a 15 off 90hr day trip lines.
Ive met alot of people at 3+ years at jB, but yet to meet anyone who said that. Things aint perfect at B6, but he!!, it isnt anywhere. 2 facts: JB is an airline, an some people will never be able to find happiness.
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