To Datafox,
Will just try to give you a general outline of life here at NetJets......
1) The pay......I took a healthy cut to come here from Comair as what would have been my 7th year there as an RJ captain........
As far as I can see, that is the ONLY drawback to my having come to NetJets and I hope that upon ratification of the contract that is currently under negotiations, that I will surpass what I would have been making at Comair.
2) I live in the northeast and was commuting out of MHT to CVG when flying for Comair. Prior to the strike and 911, there were more flights out of MHT than there are now. Getting to work meant a 75 minute drive to MHT, waiting around for a flight (and the associated anxiety of whether I'd get on, or whether it would be weight limited, or weather issues, etc). Then there would be the 2 hour flight to CVG. And the drive to the crash pad and the associated costs with a car out there, the crash pad, etc.. All this commuting was done on my time, BTW.
Now, I drive an hour to Portsmouth, hope on a nice bus and enjoy the ride to BOS where I either, A) Find a Citation X waiting for me or I hop on an airline to wherever they would like me to get one. They pay for the ticket, I get the miles and, oh, did I mention, this is all part of my first day of work. It's on their time, not mine.....
You can live just about anywhere as long as it's within 100 miles or 3 hours of any of the 25 "gateways". That covers a pretty good portion of the US. You can change your gateway by simply giving notice to the company. No "bidding" necessary. Want to live up north in the summer and then go to PBI for winter? No problem. Just tell them in writing and you can move gateways with 30 days notice, I think it is.
Schedules......we are required to have a minimum of 10 hours of rest in every 24. The drawback here is that you can get your "day" shifted from one of the clock to the other but I haven't found this to happen too often. But, it does happen. Sometimes the expectations for how far you can get pushed is a bit much, but as I hear it, calling in fatigued is not an issue with the company at all. I haven't had to do that yet, but I have had some demanding days. I've also had some days sitting by the pool or walking on the beach.
I work the 17 day a month schedule. You can't "bid" specific days off every month, but if you need your kid's birthday, or the anniversary, or whatever you need, you submit a request for a "scheduled day off" and you are likely to get it. You can submit those as far out as you would like. Want next May 4th off? Tell them and you will probably get it.
The schedules come out about 2+ months in advance so you can plan for the next few months without much problem. Just got the projected November schedule yesterday.
There is a 7on/7 off schedule available to more senior pilots. Work every other week and you know that schedule about 4+ months out. There is also a "flex" schedule which is kind of like voluntary reserve, if you will. It pays more (I think about $5k-$6k a year) where you have just 4 "hard" days off per month and can work more than the 17. Some guys like this and enjoy the system. If you're flexible, it can work out well in a lot of ways.
We get $1.60 an hour in per diem but a majority of your meals are catered by the same people who supply the food to the owners.....in other words, it's usually pretty **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**ed good. Order what you want within reason (no lobster tails or smoked salmon, though I've had more than one owner leave platters of that completely untouched to have ourselves a feast) and it shows up for your flight. Grilled chicken strips, steak tips, excellent salads, sandwiches....just about anything you'd like and the quality is usually first rate and is a complete meal with sides, bread, desserts, etc.. So, a lot of per diem goes into your pocket.
While not the rule by any means, if you go out of your way for the pax or the company to get the job done, you just might find them offering to buy you dinner...it happens......not all that often, but it happens and reflects some of the support that I've found here that I sure as hell didn't experience during my time at Comair (pre-strike.......it's significantly better now over there, from what I'm told).
We mostly stay in Hiltons, Marriotts and Hyatts with the occasional Holiday Inn thrown in. You get to keep the points and redeem them for vacations. Plenty of guys go to Hawaii a couple of times a year on their airline miles and Hilton points.......It's one great beny.
The planes are well maintained. Your plane dirty? Call the company and they'll have it detailed overnight for you...Even the wheel wells get cleaned on these things and the leading edges get polished and waxed........I've seen the tires amorall'ed for cryin' out loud.
You will work hard. The "X" and the Ultra work more than some of the other fleets. I did 13 legs and 21+ hours in 4 days where we went overtime for 3 of those 4 days. You get paid for overtime for anything over a 12 hour day. You can also work "extended days" beyond your 17 day schedule....those are worth about $450 per day.
While you are dispatched, you are responsible for checking the weather, fuel loading, customs, loading the baggage, getting the coffee, ice, papers, catering, getting the lav serviced, vacuuming, stocking airplane (these things carry a small convenience store worth of stuff) and being ready all the time on time. Things change all the time....destinations, report times, aircraft, catering, pax loads, etc. so you have to be someone who can be flexible and roll with it.
You go to varying destinations and the scariest thing that I've encountered so far is going into Belmar-Farmingdale Allaire airport in NJ with a ton of light aircraft in the pattern and skydivers coming down at me. Non-towered airfields with a lot of traffic are more of a challenge than LaGuardia when you flew in to it the first time.
Yes, there are problems here.....The pay is low, no doubt. I hope that will change. The company appears to be growing faster than it can keep up and that causes problems in scheduling, communications, maintenance etc sometimes, but for the most part, everyone there that you deal with (with a few exceptions) is trying their best to get the job done. Your phone call will be answered (eventually) and most everyone from the program managers to HR is usually helpful well beyond what I experienced at Comair. I've needed help with the health insurance provider and our HR department has been exceptionally helpful. Phone calls actually get returned and people do care. Overall, (again with some exceptions) the people here great to work with. Friendly, helpful and cooperative. Give them 100% and you'll get it back.
There are instances where a pilot has had an emergency at home where the company has allowed the crew to take the aircraft home to get the affected crewmember home asap. That's more common than you might think. If they can't do that, they usually have an airline scheduled for you before you land at your destination.
They expect 100% honesty. You can screw up and get your butt chewed but good, but if you lie to them, you'll be gone in a heartbeat. They also value your attitude and ability to work with the owners, most of whom are pretty decent folks. They expect you to bust your butt to provide the service that they are selling and they'll generally back you up with anything that you need to provide that service. I know one pilot whose owner wanted chocolate. Well, we don't carry much of that 'cause it melts and makes a mess, but the ca called up the destination FBO and had them run out to Godiva and buy a bunch of chocolate. It put on a platter and waiting for the owner at the bottom of the airstairs upon arrival. That is kind of stuff they just love around here and if you want it for your owner, they'll get it.
We were getting trasnported between cities on the ground via limo services, but in a cost cutting move, that is being phased downwards (not out, just down); however, if you can find your own limo service at a rate comproble to a cab (which most are), you can book it yourself and put it on your expense report.
That's a minor thing, but reflects the high quality of life that is experienced here.
Frankly, I just love the flying......it's varied and I've gone to a bunch of places that I would never have seen at Comair or any other airline. I feel that the overall responsibility is greater than the scheduled airlines in terms of managing your own flight, but we have program managers, dispatch and maintenance on the
other end of the fllight phone if you need support.
With the exception of the money (which I hope changes) and missing the many outstanding pilots and flight attendants that I worked with and my friends at Comair, I have to say that I really do like it here. It's a good place to be, from my perspective.
