Need some Virgin America Info...

[Fubijaakr]

However, please don't insult us all by pretending VA pay is something that it isn't. It's better than a Beech 1900 paycheck, to be sure....the thing is....you're driving an Airbus, for Christ's sake.

Current scales are less than Virgin pilots got paid in NIGERIA.....That is, of course, before Sir Richard decided to cut his losses and abandon the Brand there..... Good thing you have an absolute guarantee that will NEVER happen here.

It may be better than a 1900, but QX Q400 guys are making more TODAY than VX Capts.

 

[NEDude]

His hourly raises currently max out at 111K versus the 108k he currently makes. Selling vacation back? Not something to be bragging about. Simple math indeed.Their LOWEST paid FO is on par with your HIGHEST paid Captain, and you think that's a talking point? Really?

Okay I don't really know how to respond because in so many ways it doesn't make sense. You actually think the LOWEST paid FOs at Delta are making $119/hr?! If that is how you read that then perhaps you need to go back to school. That is their HIGHEST paid FO on the A320. And that is for a legacy carrier that has been around 7 or 8 decades longer than VX. Our highest paid captain is not at $120 either, it is $133.

Tell yourself whatever lie you please, but $120/hr and $133 aren't that much different. Especially when $133 is the most you'll ever make and FO's make that anywhere else.

You honestly think $133 is the most we'll ever see? Really?! So there will NEVER, EVER be a pay raise at Virgin? Glad you are so sure of that. Since you have apparently found a way to prove Einstein and Stephen Hawking wrong and have the ability to see the future, please tell me who is President on 2045. Your statement has absolutely no basis in fact - you disregard historical precedent: there have been pay raises in each of the past two years and have been informed by management another one has been approved for this year. You disregard any future possibility of unionization and contract negotiations. You disregard any influence of future supply and demand. Your statement that $133 is the most I'll ever see is just as moronic as someone trying to tell us that they know who will be President in 2045. As for FO's making $133 "anywhere else" I suppose by anywhere else you mean anywhere else but Alaska, USAirways, United/Continental, AirTran, Allegiant, Frontier, JetBlue, Spirit and every single regional out there.

Me? I could care less what you choose to accept as a paycheck.

Your posting on here says otherwise.

Current scales are less than Virgin pilots got paid in NIGERIA.....That is, of course, before Sir Richard decided to cut his losses and abandon the Brand there..... Good thing you have an absolute guarantee that will NEVER happen here. After all he wasn't making $ in Nigera, so it's apples v oranges....

First of all Virgin still owns the same percentage of the airline they always have - so they have not cut and run. More ignorance on your part. Second of all nobody has ever claimed that Branson would not cut and run from VX - he is after all a smart businessman (his Billions prove that). As for what they were making in Nigeria - well you'd have to pay a lot to get people to go there. Personally it would take me a minimum of half a million a year to consider going there. It is apples and oranges. You can't look at what one country is paying and compare that to this market. If you do then you should be bashing Delta because they do not pay their A320 pilots as much a Shenzen Airlines.

Seriously, though......You've got the inside scoop. Please enlighten me... Do they dump you on the CA disability system when you get sick or not? I'd like to know the truth. Who pays your bills if you break your leg and are out of work for six weeks?

Honestly don't know the inner workings of the system. But we do have private short and long-term disability insurance that is comparable to what I have had at other carriers.

 

[Busdriver320]

Please enlighten me... Do they dump you on the CA disability system when you get sick or not? I'd like to know the truth. Who pays your bills if you break your leg and are out of work for six weeks?

You get 6 consecutive days with the same 'illness' and then you get put on CA program. It's a BS deal many of us have been advocating to see changed. From what I've heard it's being discussed as part of the comprehensive work rules changes being talked about between mgmt and a pilot committee right now. Word is we'll be going to a bank system like everyone else.

To be clear, here's how it works:
You get sick with the flu in Feb, you call off a 4-day and you get paid, no questions asked. You miss the next trip and you only get paid for the first two days of it, then you get to fill out the CA paperwork and collect from CA. Because VA is a CA company they can do this. Like I said, a BS deal.
Beyond that, say you call out again in June for a boil on your a$$. Again, you get paid for the first consectutive six days and have to file for CA SDI if you go beyond that.
If you have some sort of catastrophic illness and go out for awhile, you get paid for the first six days, then start drawing from a "catastrophic sick bank" that you accrued six days per year of (4 years = 24 days) at 3.5 per day. When that runs out you go on CA SDI for 6 months. After that we have co. paid LTD through a private insurance provider.

I'd bet many CA companies do this for the plain fact they can. CA has made it easy for companies to shuck this liability.

 

[Chairman]

You get 6 consecutive days with the same 'illness' and then you get put on CA program. It's a BS deal many of us have been advocating to see changed. From what I've heard it's being discussed as part of the comprehensive work rules changes being talked about between mgmt and a pilot committee right now. Word is we'll be going to a bank system like everyone else.

To be clear, here's how it works:
You get sick with the flu in Feb, you call off a 4-day and you get paid, no questions asked. You miss the next trip and you only get paid for the first two days of it, then you get to fill out the CA paperwork and collect from CA. Because VA is a CA company they can do this. Like I said, a BS deal.
Beyond that, say you call out again in June for a boil on your a$$. Again, you get paid for the first consectutive six days and have to file for CA SDI if you go beyond that.
If you have some sort of catastrophic illness and go out for awhile, you get paid for the first six days, then start drawing from a "catastrophic sick bank" that you accrued six days per year of (4 years = 24 days) at 3.5 per day. When that runs out you go on CA SDI for 6 months. After that we have co. paid LTD through a private insurance provider.

I'd bet many CA companies do this for the plain fact they can. CA has made it easy for companies to shuck this liability.

To add on this. If your out for your second trip for a different reason than the first sick call you start a new 6 day sick period...

Chairman

 

[Fubijaakr]

Sorry, Dude, but your highest paid Capt. TODAY makes $120....that's LESS than a QX Q400 Capt made flying his Q400 TODAY.

There are NO VX Capts making $133 an hour TODAY.

Those are FACTS. Sorry if they hurt.....

 

[Flyiguy]

Sorry, Dude, but your highest paid Capt. TODAY makes $120....that's LESS than a QX Q400 Capt made flying his Q400 TODAY.

There are NO VX Capts making $133 an hour TODAY.

Those are FACTS. Sorry if they hurt.....

Sorry, Dude, but you're wrong. Highest paid VX Captain is making $131 an hour TODAY.

 

[yellowfever]

Sorry, Dude, but you're wrong. Highest paid VX Captain is making $131 an hour TODAY.

And that is very sad! Without retirement?

 

[Q400 Gear Bitch]

It may be better than a 1900, but QX Q400 guys are making more TODAY than VX Capts.

apc shows 18 yr qx megawhacker drivers at a $111/hr. Our senior guys are at $126/hr. What other benefits are you throwing in there? Show your cards or change your argument! Agreed our wages suck, but I was a QX gangly ganster and this is a much better gig.

 

[Snapshot]

Okay I don't really know how to respond because in so many ways it doesn't make sense. You actually think the LOWEST paid FOs at Delta are making $119/hr?!

At 12-14 years, which is what we're talking about, yeah. They are. Try to keep up.

Even the mighty Delta has 12 yr fo's a $119/hr on the A320.

Whatever, I'm not here to nitpick semantics. I don't care one way or the other. What I was really curious about was the disability thing.

You get 6 consecutive days with the same 'illness' and then you get put on CA program.

Wow. Just Wow.

 

[tzskipper]

Snapshot-

That is the same program that my last (ALPA) airline had. Six days of medical and then transition to short term disability.

I think (according to friends) VA offers a buy-up option (by Hartford Ins.) to the CA SDI, bringing the income up to 60%(?) of their previous average monthly income, tax free. In addition, there are additional "catastrophic" sick days that are paid out monthly in addition to the SDI payments. All in all, a crewmember will generally take home at least what they were taking home prior to their illness.

VA continues to make their normal contribution to the crewmember's insurance premium payment, and the crewmember continues to make their normal contribution out of their paycheck. At no time while ill (on SDI) is a crewmember responsible to pay the full insurance premium.

S