Pinnacle Air Services

[OLD DOG]

I'll drink to that.

 

[MNR]

The FAQ still dosent answer all my questions. I guess I will be making some phone calls tomorrow.

 

[starcheckdriver]

The FAQ still dosent answer all my questions. I guess I will be making some phone calls tomorrow.

If you are referring to the FAQ sent to JetRide pilots, I agree. But, in their defense, I think they did a great job being proactive and not waiting for us to bombard them after the fact. Things look good from what I see and it should be an exciting change for both companies.

 

[JJET44]

.

What do you Pinnacle guys wear for uniforms?

Black non-descript shoes, blue wool pants, white Van Husen aviator shirt (short and long sleeve), tie, epaulets, no wings, blue wool jacket for cooler temps w/ sleeve strips and wings, Peronne leather jacket for colder temps with epaulets and velcro patch. Optional sweaters. Pilots must match at all times.

OK

Just at the bar with a fellow pilot (on our days off) and talking about how much we hated wearing bars in the airlines.
My question, WOOL PAINTS? SERIOUSLY?
That must be hot in the summer not to mention, I can't wear wool, I break out. Are you sure it's wool and not something else?

Another thing. Who pays for uniforms

 

[MNR]

The current Jetride pants are Grey wool....little different than a sweater. I think I read somewhere in the thread that they pay for their own uniforms. We will see.

Everything sounds good on papar, the FAQ answered most stuff. Jetride mngt seems happy about this, they have been good to us since they came on and replaced the other crew flying the office. I will reserve final judgement however for after Aug 31st. I would also like to know more about the benifits and salery...all they said is I would be getting an "offer". .... just lots of questions to be answered at this point that I am sure will all come in time.

 

[Rokit88]

why would you wear a shirt with epilauts but not wear bars? That looks stupid. I personally like the white dress shirt and grey pants.


rokit88

 

[TennLear60]

Our pants are not wool. Thay are plaid polyester. We wear those groovy oversized collar shirts with the pastel colors. You choice in color depending on your mood. Oh, and really wide ties and super cool platform boots. I am currently working on my afro. I have some cool gold chains to help accentuate my chest hair.

For real though. Glad to have you guys aboard. Lot's of changes to come. I haven't heard if there will be a change in uniform for you or not. Our uniform pants are actually a cotton polyester blend. Cool in the summer, but not warm in the summer. I like to wear the barn door long johns. Your choice there. Basic pilot shirt with striped epaulets. Pants and tie are navy blue. No wings or name tags are worn. Just an I.D. badge. We just got sweaters last week. They have holes for wings or name tags. I don't know if we are going to have anything to fill the holes though. Winter time is the leather jacket with velcro epaulets and badge.

Quick question for the 60 guys. What do the JetRide 60's have? Collins or UNS?

J

 

[Rokit88]

all of our 60s have collins boxes, but I've heard that were going to have to upgrade them soon.

 

[starcheckdriver]

I would also like to know more about the benifits and salery...all they said is I would be getting an "offer". .... just lots of questions to be answered at this point that I am sure will all come in time.

I was at the announcement meeting and therefore received the HR package already. It is very in depth and covers everything. The offer letter states your current salary, how much vacation you will get in 2006 from Pinnacle, and what you need to do to accept or decline the offer.

Summary of bennies:

1. Medical, dental, and vision for about $4 bi-weekly

2. Optional LT disability, ST disability, cancer coverage, heart coverage, additional life insurance coverage.

3. Pinnacle provides 100% paid life insurance equal to 1 year's salary (better than the $10,000 Airnet provided)

4. Health care is a PPO with 80/20 coverage, $500 deductible, $20 co-pay for primary care and a Rx card with $10 generic and $30 or so for brand name drugs

5. 401(k) with company matching of $0.50 on the $1.00 up to 3% of salary (same as Airnet, I think)

6. Direct deposit forms for pay beginning Sept. 8

The bennies look as good if not better than Airnet's. They are significantly cheaper too. As far as bennies go, it looks like JR guys are getting a better deal than what we currently have.

 

[starcheckdriver]

One thing that might change for JetRide is the per diem to come into line with PA's policy. I met a couple PA guys that said you get the government rate for lodging and meals and then just book your own hotels.

Our DO said yesterday that you guys get some kind of debit card for this money? Is that right? Or do you just put the hotel on your own credit card and get the government per diem rate reimbused to you later?

 

[75TH_RANGER]

we pay for the hotel and meals on our credit cards. then each friday we get a per diem check. the amount varies, depending on what city your in. low rate cities are $141, and high rate cities are $226

 

[starcheckdriver]

Do you also get a day pay rate for days your fly? Maybe $50, I heard?

 

[75TH_RANGER]

yeah $50 for days your on the road

 

[FL410guy]

Wish I could get my hands no a Penni Ops Manual.

 

[MNR]

Talked to the CP today. They said we won't notice any changes except benifits and where our check comes from at first.

I hope they don't change to the Pinnicle per diem policy. I think I even was in class with a guy from Pinnacle at one point who explained it to me. He was excited about it because he could make money if he got good rate on hotels. It seemed to me at the time that I have better things to do than shop for hotels around airports for a rate under my per diem. I am also not interested in carrying those kind of charges on my credit cards. I was never a fan of adding my per diem to what I made anyways. I am not interested in paying for my hotels out of my perdiem no matter how high it is. Its a good way to get screwed imho. Try to find a hotel on a Superbowl or Derby weekend.

There won't be any moving across cirtificates is what I was told. So even though the senority lists are the same the Pinnacle guys will not be able to bid the Jetride aircraft right away. It would involve new indoc etc. if they switched over. I am sure eventually they will merge us into one cirtificate but it will happen slowly is what I was told. Other old policys will change but slowly. Biggest change I see is the jump seat thing. We have one at our base that leaves every week hes off. Gonna be hard to commute.

You will see their ops manual long before you have to use it. Most of the stuff is probabily boilerplate anyways. Not sure if they are an eligable on demand operator and are able to use the 80% number etc. Not that it really matters because like I said from what I have been told we will be operating as seperate cirtificates for a while. The Pinnacle guys will notice more changes at first I think because they will be dispatched out of the Jetride office as of Sept 1st.