A350 said:
G4G5:
Min guarantees are just that.....if you want to fly the minimum go ahead. It keeps the productivity up because the benefits that come with the job are spread out over a fixed number of hours at a minumum....
Of course, if JB has to slow down growth then they will just hire fewer pilots. If they have to stop growth, then they won't hire pilots. If they have to furlough, that is where the 5 year contract comes in. Of course, they say they will pay the pilots for the duration of their contract as furlough pay....but that can go away if there is no money.....
Point is, there are no guarantees, except death and taxes. Your cushy job in the left seat of the G5 is only as secure as the idiot writing the checks.
Facts are facts. JB has a great product, a fuel efficient fleet, and great employees. Our costs are low. If we are paying 2+/gal for fuel, so is everyone else sans hedges. So if we lose a few bucks in the 4Q, I can't imagine what other companies will lose.
A350
You never answered my question? Why even have a line holder min guarantee at all?
You came on here and told me that I was wrong. It's pretty clear that you don't understand how the system works.
Jetblue didn't have to put it in the contract, so why did they?
They did it to attract and retain pilots. What the company is saying is; this is the minimum that we will guaarantee you every month. If you choose to base your lifestyle on a 95 hour month so be it but it is NOT guranteed. Benefits have nothing to do with the with the number of hours you fly.
The insurance company could care les if you fly 70 or 95 hours. Does Jetblue get a rebate if you fly more? Does the insurance company send them a bill if you fly less? No, human resources goes to an insurance company and say's "we have x number of employees, " Benefit prices are derived upon then total number of employees. They are not"spread out over a fixed number of hours at a minumum...."
Where do you think they came up with 70 hours from? They didn't have to offer a guarantee at all especially one that high. Not when others like American (64), Delta (65), NWA (can go as low as 63), UAL (65) are offering much lower gurantees.
How many UAL pilots do you think are seeing 65 hour lines? Not many, most lines are built well north of that.
When the contract was written they were competing with every legacy for talent, they had to offer something descent. They knew based upon other LCC's with similar costs that they should be able to meet that guarantee with no problem Airtran (70), SWA (78)
Min guarantee has nothing to do with pref bidding or scheduling efficiencies. An airline could care less if they are pay you 40 hours a month. Whats the difference to them? They still have to pay your bennefits weather you fly 40 or 80. The only difference is your salery, they are saving 40 hours of salery a month.
In fact, during slow times they would rather pay you 40 hours, as long as reserve pilots aren't timiming out. During slow times that is actually the most efficient thing to do. Maximize reserve flying, because you are paying them already. Then offer the remaining block hours to line holders. If their is not enough left so be it. It's still cheaper then having to furlough and recall. What stops them from doing this is the line holder min guarantee. Which in your case is 70 hours.
That's why when you do salery comaprisons you do it based upon hourly wage and min guarantee. Sure plenty of Jetblue pilots are working beyond 70 hours and plenty of United pilots are flying beyond 65 hours. Thats not the point, contracts are written to allow all airline pilots to fly above min guarantee. To put it simply, it's how much money can you guarantee mama will be in the checking account at the end of the month.
imp:
