Low Blow by UA

[Tug Driver]

I was told that ACA pilots are among the highest paid pilots in the regional industry. I was also told that the ramp/cs agents at ACA make far less than do the (same job title) agents at Skywest and AirWisky.

where am i going with this??...

it was just passed down the ranks, that starting in september, several ACA out-stations will start working several AirWisky flights. As in 4 out of 5 per day. keeping one ACA flight per day, just so it can still be called an ACA station.

therefore the AirWisky pilots are working for less money (compared to ACA pilots) and the rampers who are working the flights are doing it for a cheaper price(cheapest) as far as UAL is concerned.

it just seems a little fishy to me. does anyone else have a conclusion, that would make sense of this???

 

[Patriot328]

BAIN






Use several services from different airlines and you can minimize cost.

 

[Mr DC3]

Are you sure that ACA pilots make more than AirWiskey pilots?

 

[DairyAir]

ACA pilots make more than Air Willy?

If this is true show me the math I still am not sure what ACA agreed to . As far as who runs the stations I think that Air Wisconsin would rather have ACA or Skywest run the stations because it is more cost effective for us not to have to deal with it. Anyway it sucks all around and the pay difference amounts to maybe a grand or two at the end of the year. Also if UAL waits until after Aug. 1st to agree to anything our concessions will be predicated on our pay rates after our annual contract raise which I believe is 1.5%. So our net loss would be 5.5%. The fact that we are all going to have to take concessions is beyond me anyway, go figure.

 

[smellthejeta]

I was told that ACA pilots are among the highest paid pilots in the regional industry. I was also told that the ramp/cs agents at ACA make far less than do the (same job title) agents at Skywest and AirWisky.

where am i going with this??...

it was just passed down the ranks, that starting in september, several ACA out-stations will start working several AirWisky flights. As in 4 out of 5 per day. keeping one ACA flight per day, just so it can still be called an ACA station.

therefore the AirWisky pilots are working for less money (compared to ACA pilots) and the rampers who are working the flights are doing it for a cheaper price(cheapest) as far as UAL is concerned.

it just seems a little fishy to me. does anyone else have a conclusion, that would make sense of this???

Tug,

We (ACA ramp) went through a union drive not too far back (which failed because most of the signatures on interest cards at time of certification belonged to terminated employees or employees that quit). Somebody managed to ge their hands on a payscale comparison chart and posted it in the baggage service area.

I don't recall seeing SkyWest rates on the chart, but I do remember seeing Wisky's and several other regional airlines. ACA's current ramp/cs (same payscale) were equal to or better than all but one of the other airlines. The only one that beat us out was Wisky, and even then it was less than $2/hr.

Do they pay better than ACA? Yes. Substantially better? Hell no. UAL pay was pretty good in comparison (I heard, before paycuts, their scale topped at $20/hr. Not bad for a rampie) I only paid attention to hub rate comparions; out-stations started off at $.50/hr less than the hub rates, but those numbers are off because the last round of raises was based on a percentage increase of the current year's pay rates.

What is more amusing to me is when the vast majority of flights at a station are operated by UAX, but because they handle 1 mainline flight, it is a mainline station. *That* is expensive.

If you want to look at "subtle" messages, try this. Last year, UAL brought ZW their first IAD flight, to ATL. It was done under the guise of our contract that supposedly prohibited ACA flying routes into a DL hub with UA colors. Okay, fine. But, what is there to be made of the inauguration of IAD-RDU service iwith a Bae-146? I also heard that ZW will be running IAD-BNA as well. With what equipment, I'm not sure. ACA also took a lot of ZW's flying and gates out of ORD.

Bottom line, the difference between ACA/ZW pay is not great enough to read between the lines for a hidden message. Just out of curiosity, who do you drive a tug for?

 

[OOramperpilot]

Rampie wages.

To follow on to smellthejeta's post, he is correct. Whiskey is definately the leader for ramp and C.S. rates in the regional industry. SkyWest is currently just above the 60th percentile compared to other regionals. I'm pretty certain ACA is still above us as well.

Additionally, it is pretty common for UAX and DLC carriers to farm out station work where it wouldn't make sense to hire our own folks. Look at DFW for instance. Around 60 SkyWest flights a day but all ground handling is done by ASA. ASA simply has the stronger presence there and a staff that knows the terrain. Not to say that we won't have our own staff there one day, but right now you would be hard pressed to staff an operation that size without phasing them in gradually. Wouldn't happen over night at what we pay.

Contract stations have been the norm for almost two years now, especially since we are now flowing into one another's territory. It's been a proven fact that nobody knows how to work a regional flight like another regional airline. In our mainline handled stations (UA and DL) the ground folks in general, couldn't care less about our flights and if you look at the stats, our performance suffers as a result. That is not to say there aren't a few exceptional mainline folks out there that take care of us like one of their own, but they are few and far between.

 

[Tug Driver]

i work for ACA at MBS

that is what we were told.

and it does not make sense to me. our operation runs very smooth. we take few if any delays.(not totally true, when we get screwed with flow from ORD). but aca wasnt even in the loop. they were not the 1st ones to tell us.

we got a call from air wiskey saying that we were going to start operating 4 of there planes per day starting in sept. and that we all need to go to DEN to learn how they do the load plan.

we were like, ummmm, ok, thanks for keeping us posted. sure UAL can do what ever they want without reason. but it would be reassuring to know why. our station, as im sure the other out staions that are being affected, are thinking about job stability right now. whats preventing UAL from making it an air wiskey station all together?

what a freakin waste of time.

if something tastes good, then you shouldnt take it off the menu.

 

[Rottweiller]

Re: Re: Low Blow by UA

Tug,

If you want to look at "subtle" messages, try this. Last year, UAL brought ZW their first IAD flight, to ATL. It was done under the guise of our contract that supposedly prohibited ACA flying routes into a DL hub with UA colors. Okay, fine. But, what is there to be made of the inauguration of IAD-RDU service iwith a Bae-146? I also heard that ZW will be running IAD-BNA as well. With what equipment, I'm not sure. ACA also took a lot of ZW's flying and gates out of ORD.

The IAD - ATL shuttles were given to ZW because of the DL contract issues. Can't say for sure about the RDU flying apart from UAL cited capacity requirements and we have been doing BNA for some time now both from IAD, ORD and DEN, yes it's still an ACA station and ACA still have flight there, more than ZW.

As for ORD, well ZW have been picking up more flying there and because of it from next week we will be getting back the F2 gates and 2 of the E gates, and full use of F9 and possibly extra use of some more C gates for the early morning mass arrival and departures.