Mesa/Go pilot jumpseat abuse

[islandhopper]

Yesterday in Honolulu the MEC Chair of Mesa, JA invited the Aloha Airlines Council 80 MEC out to lunch. Several Aloha Council 80 members took up the invitation and got together for a very productive meeting. Mesa crews were indeed given very short notice about the mandatory training in HNL. While mesa corporate may have evaded breaking the "letter of the law" concerning ALPA policy regarding abusing the jumpseat, many of us agree the jumpseat has indeed been abused.

As of yesterday, Aloha has re-confirmed our welcome to Mesa pilots in our jumpseats. Mesa has been put on our CASS list. If you are a mesa pilot and feel you are being forced to jumpseat for what should be company paid travel, please notify the Captain of the flight you are attempting to ride on out to Hawaii. Your fellow ALPA pilots will support you 100%

We understand the situation Mesa pilots are being put under. We are all just trying to have a normal life and MESA CORPORATE POLICY seems to be to create havoc, division and flare the emotions of Aloha, Hawaiian, Island Air and mesa employees. We will not be whipsawed.

JO loses TWICE today.

E KOMO MAI, welcome to the go pilots in Hawaii. Mahalo to James, Cameron, and all the Mesa / Go pilots we met yesterday. ALOHA A HUI HOU see you guys on the line. Welcome to OUR ISLANDS.

you have my permission to cc this to any aviation forum on the internet.

 

[mckpickle]

FYI, MESA is not in CASS so adding them doesn't really do them any good.

 

[justgrieveit]

FYI, Mesa is in CASS as of today.

 

[mckpickle]

FYI, Mesa is in CASS as of today.

Are you sure? Being approved for CASS and having it turned on and running are two seperate issues. I've not seen a CCU (Cass configuration update) stating CASS was operational. IE CHQ/Republic was CASS approved 3 weeeks ago but the system still hasn't been trned on yet.

 

[scar1900]

Mesa is CASS. Full, up and running, FAA aproved, whatever you want to call it, it is live and fully operational.

Islandhopper, classy post. As our MEC said in its email "Management and companies compete...not pilots." You guy are of course (as always) welcome on my airplane.

 

[islandhopper]

Mesa is CASS. Full, up and running, FAA aproved, whatever you want to call it, it is live and fully operational.

Islandhopper, classy post. As our MEC said in its email "Management and companies compete...not pilots." You guy are of course (as always) welcome on my airplane.

Thanks scar! I think I am the most mis-understood mesa basher out there. I dont have anything against the mesa pilots uness they are either...

A) a freedom a-lister
B) supporting JO's predatory schemes

and while not a deal breaker for me like A or B I also have a big problem with
C) pilots that are AFRAID to stand up & DEMAND WHATS RIGHT.

Glad my message got through to at least one of you guys. Aloha!

 

[Cloudroller]

islandhopper - if you were at mesa what would you demand?

 

[islandhopper]

islandhopper - if you were at mesa what would you demand?

I am not at mesa and therefore will not pontificate to my fellow pilots what I THINK they need. However, here are a few suggestions as to how you may set out on getting what you think you might need.

1) Dont take no for an answer on the things you MUST HAVE
2) dont allow yourselves to get whipsawed
3) dont forget mesa brags about having $300 MIL in the bank which they earned because of YOU.
4) Be ready to walk out of negotiations several times and let the well timed company imposed final last offer deadlines pass without any reason for panic.
5) reassure your fellow pilots that are having a hard time accepting #2 and #4

 

[MesabaDriver]

MESA IS NOT in cass yet. I had to remove a JS out of my JS because he told the gate he was CASS so she took his word for it. She never pulled up his info. When I asked for the verification she didnt have it, so i had her pull up the config list and MESA wasnt authorized for the cockpit at that point. This was 6/12/06 2pm ct. Sorry.

 

[pilot772]

MESA IS NOT in cass yet. I had to remove a JS out of my JS because he told the gate he was CASS so she took his word for it. She never pulled up his info. When I asked for the verification she didnt have it, so i had her pull up the config list and MESA wasnt authorized for the cockpit at that point. This was 6/12/06 2pm ct. Sorry.

According to Union leadership CASS for Mesa went live on June 9th Apparently some airlines computers have not updated yet. From what I am told there is a number the gate agent can call to verify and that number has been used to verify Mesa is in cass. not sure why the computers haven't updated yet maybe the weekend.

 

[Ralgha]

It takes awhile for the other airlines to catch up and get CASS set up with you. For one thing they have to run a systems test of your stuff, that's probably not going to happen on a weekend.

 

[Soverytired]

I just wanted to clarify this, because it's one of the most mis-understood rumors flying around out there about Mesa.

The $300 million bucks "in the bank" is in debt instruments, that were sought out when Mesa's continuted flying for 2 bankrupt carriers seemed rather uncertain. So Mesa basically has a credit card with a $300 million spending limit.

That's not to say I wouldn't like a chunk of it . . . but I don't think that's really what it's there for.

 

[mckpickle]

According to Union leadership CASS for Mesa went live on June 9th Apparently some airlines computers have not updated yet. From what I am told there is a number the gate agent can call to verify and that number has been used to verify Mesa is in cass. not sure why the computers haven't updated yet maybe the weekend.

This is not true!!! There is no phone number for CASS. Thats the whole point of CASS. IT's a stand alone computer system with no other inputs. There has been no communication from ARINC saying that cass is running and to run a systems check. There has not even been anything about mesa in the Cass Configuration Updates.

 

[proud_dude]

This is not true!!! There is no phone number for CASS. Thats the whole point of CASS. IT's a stand alone computer system with no other inputs. There has been no communication from ARINC saying that cass is running and to run a systems check. There has not even been anything about mesa in the Cass Configuration Updates.

I'm confused... are you saying that there are pilots out there who are jumpseating to work when they really shoud be "must rides" on the company's dime..

 

[Rook]

it is live and fully operational.

That's no moon...it's a battle station!:laugh:

 

[mckpickle]

I'm confused... are you saying that there are pilots out there who are jumpseating to work when they really shoud be "must rides" on the company's dime..

I think thats what the debate is about however that is not what I was speaking to. I am only speaking to information about MESA being in CASS. I'm emailing ARINC now to find out the official word.

 

[mckpickle]

I just received an email from ARINC. They only thing they have done is gotten a contract with ARINC. They have not implemented or tested their software yet. This is not a quick process and I'm sure will not happen in the next few days/weeks.

So, to sum up, MESA is NOT in CASS.

 

[MesabaDriver]

I looked at the master Config list today and MESA is still not listed. I have never heard of a 800 number to verify with CASS, we had one before this whole CASS system for the NW, XJ, 9E riders. I think the 800 number would defeat the purpose of the system. Maybe by the end of the week you guys will be in it. Also you can be in CASS and allowed to ride upfront but the real kicker to CASS is the digital picture. Your digital pics make you eligible to occupy the JS on unsecured cockpit flights like FDX etc.