skybus is so cheap......

[vixin]

Vixin... I don't know if your a he or a she (betting the latter), but you can debate till you're blue in the face.. THE FACTS ARE, those old timers at WN are why you are where you are.. that outfit would never have gotten off the ground, and you would be working for some place worse. I dont agree with this. I am here because I wanted to be here and applied. If SWA wasnt around or one of the leaders I would have applied elsewhere. I would not apply to companies like Stybus. If your ego is so big as to believe that where one works in this industry has anything to do with how good a pilot he is rather than pure luck... I dont really understand where this came from. I just fly airplanes for a living, I am not Chuck Yeager never claimed to be. I am just a down to earth line pilot.

Would you EVER have believed me, if in 1999 I came to you and said that the day would come when America West would launch a hostile bid on Delta? Or buy USAir? Nope I wouldnt times change.

Do you think that the guy who turned down Delta Airlines in 1979 to go to work for Easter because it was "the better outfit" doesn't kick himself in the ass and cry himself to bed every night? I hope he doesnt cry himself to bed. He should seek some counseling then. I have flown with guys that have been at 4/5 airlines. They lived threw it. Just like I would if something happened to SWA.

Do you think that those WN captains that are in your own definition scabs, most of whom are millionaires give a rats ass what you think? Nope I dont think they care. But I never called them scabs.

I'm not saying Skybus will be another Southwest.. but there is NO return on low risk. My neighbor down the street is a new hire at WN, he's doing ok.. but he'll never be where I can be if Skybus' business model takes off like Southwest did in the 80's..

Heck nobody nows where that may be. SWA may not exist in 20 years. Stybus may not last until next year. We will have to wait and see. Hes doing ok. Thats funny. This year he will make 50-75 depending on if he works or not. Next year he will be 100+. With the profit sharing, 401k, better benefits etc. You may have stock options that maybe worth something sometime. I hear they ask you to sign a little piece of paper to get those options. Some still havent received their options. Time will tell. But I dont understand why one would work for such low sorry wages and working conditions. Stability in this business is priceless. As you should know being ex AMR.

 

[HA25]

Yeah, ask any CommutAir pilot how his ESOP stock value is doing...

and ESOP and stock options are about as similar as a Beach 1900 and an MD11..

The fact is, nobody at Skybus is making a big pay day like over at the majors.. they're all betting on an IPO and from the CEO on down, it's all about building share holder value and selling it on the market.

stay tuned..

 

[HA25]

I hear they ask you to sign a little piece of paper to get those options. Some still havent received their options.

I can tell you this much, and I haven't heard anything solid to lead me to believe it to be true, but if they do that.. I will not be receiving any options. I have yet to be invited to an interview.. and once I am (if I am), I will report on my findings positive or negative.

nite..

 

[HA25]

Skybus is so cheap that they just closed this sweat heart deal..

http://www.sun-herald.com/Newsstory.cfm?pubdate=101907&story=tp8ch4.htm&folder=NewsArchive2

 

[PCL_128]

Skybus is so cheap that they just closed this sweat heart deal..

http://www.sun-herald.com/Newsstory.cfm?pubdate=101907&story=tp8ch4.htm&folder=NewsArchive2

And yet their pilots are still a bunch of scumsucking whores.

 

[climbhappy]

PCL_128 : why the attitude ? i went there yesterday and met 'em. i have the scoop. just wanted to get the details.
5000 shares as options when the company goes public in 09 or 10 could net each captain over 400,000. amoritize it over five years and that is the pilot compensation. they would be at the top of the industry for pay per #of seats.

fortune 500 companies and many others compensate their management that way. after all, aren't we aircraft managers?

greensboro is their base so i could be home every night, 15 days off , making 90 grand with 90 in pay credit.

By the way, the industry climbed in the $hitter sven years ago. 30 billion in losses later. pay was cut everywhere. you have the unmitigated gaul to call a guy a whore in 2007 after the industry has hit the bottom, oh seven years ago.

when regionals are advertising 300/1 at the jobs fair something tells me there is demand for pilots. you can choose.

by the way airtran had nobody, repeat nobody in the line when the doors opened in DC. we all went to the majors line.

airtran is just another skybus with an eight year history. let's compare apples to apples in eight years.

if more pilots undertood the art of making money, then you could appreciate the fact wall street has signed up on this plan to the tune of 160000000 for new planes.

problem is most pilots can recite the AIM, but don't know a put from a call.

when i read stupidity like "lowering the bar" and scumsucking whore, i can see you can't reason nor explain why airtran would be any better.

with out n backs from your hometown, making close to sixfigures with 15 days off and time for my side job, and options to boot, I'm laughing at your ignorance. have fun commuting and fighting for a contract you'll never get. have fun bitching all the way to phoenix ya puke. Nope, i take that back...i'd be acting like you! i don't work for them...yet

 

[CA1900]

and ESOP and stock options are about as similar as a Beach 1900 and an MD11..

If a company doesn't go public, they're equally worthless. That's my point.


Enjoy your deadheads crammed into a 156-seat A319. It'll make Southwest seem like First Class.

 

[PCL_128]

PCL_128 : why the attitude ? i went there yesterday and met 'em. i have the scoop....blah, blah, frickin' blah

Keep trying to justify it all you want, but you know as well as the rest of us do that taking a job at Skybus and flying an Airbus in the left seat for $68/hr is stabbing the rest of us in the back.

have fun commuting and fighting for a contract you'll never get. have fun bitching all the way to phoenix ya puke.

I live in ATL, hardly ever get called on reserve, and never fly to PHX. Thanks for playing, though.

 

[Ty Webb]

All hail "Climbhappy", the new Village Idiot!

with out n backs from your hometown, making close to sixfigures with 15 days off and time for my side job,

Anyone else see the irony here?

Ha-ha . . . I think our village has a new Idiot.

 

[HA25]

PCL, why is it that when I worked for Gemini, flying an MD-11 internationally for $35K first year, with $45K 2nd year pay, and our captains (all of whom are 7+ year) earning $90,000 to $100,000 on straight time with 17+ days on, did you have more respect for me than flying a small bus for around the same money?

Gemini paid a 65 hour guarantee and most CA's were at the $125 range.. with max at $144... trouble was, you spend 17+ days on the road and rarely saw close to 60.. now if you picked up OT and stayed out longer (not my idea of fun) you got paid that over guarantee.. This was an ALPA carrier flying the same type as Fedex and less than 1/2.. I left because I saw no end to that situation.. the companies leaders were not interested in building the airline, but rather milking it for what they can before those MD-11 leases ended.

Is it because Gemini is not competition to Airtran, but Skybus is? I'm not sure why you're so hell bent on Skybus and not for example Spirit, or VX?

 

[HA25]

the latest APC data shows FO's 1st year is between $37-40K.. I'm not sure many airlines can boast that.. heck CAL is about $25K and no medical for 6 months...

Objectively, skybus doesn't seem that bad, even if you've got to pay $2 for a bottle of H2O.. heck, just bring your own!

I also think it's good that they don't make you sign a contract, nor do they make you put yourself up in the hotel while in school..

http://airlinepilotcentral.com/airlines/major-national-lcc/skybus.html

notice how it says to disregard the above pay calc, as the hourly rate has NOTHING to do with the actual rate per hour.. it's based on trip credit.

 

[PCL_128]

PCL, why is it that when I worked for Gemini, flying an MD-11 internationally for $35K first year, with $45K 2nd year pay, and our captains (all of whom are 7+ year) earning $90,000 to $100,000 on straight time with 17+ days on, did you have more respect for me than flying a small bus for around the same money?

Gemini paid a 65 hour guarantee and most CA's were at the $125 range.. with max at $144... trouble was, you spend 17+ days on the road and rarely saw close to 60.. now if you picked up OT and stayed out longer (not my idea of fun) you got paid that over guarantee.. This was an ALPA carrier flying the same type as Fedex and less than 1/2.. I left because I saw no end to that situation.. the companies leaders were not interested in building the airline, but rather milking it for what they can before those MD-11 leases ended.

You have to compare apples to apples. Gemini was not in the same business as FedEx and UPS. Gemini was an on-demand supplemental cargo operator. So, when you compare Gemini scales and work-rules to other similar carriers, then you find that Gemini is pretty much right with the pack, if not in the upper end. Skybus is in the exact same business as AirTran, Delta, SWA, etc... Therefore, pilots working there are undercutting the rest of us in this industry.

I'm not sure why you're so hell bent on Skybus and not for example Spirit, or VX?

Spirit is paying market wages, albeit at the lower end of the average, but they are currently engaged in contract negotations to bring that up. Not to mention the fact that they are a union carrier and Skybus is not. As for VX, I have the same bone to pick with them, but they aren't nearly as bad as Skybus. Junior Captains at VX are making $95/hr compares to $68/hr at Skybus. Still not market wages, but not nearly as bad.

 

[PCL_128]

the latest APC data shows FO's 1st year is between $37-40K.. I'm not sure many airlines can boast that.

I'm on track to clear about $50k first year at AAI. Some guys who work harder are able to pull off $55k, but I'm much too lazy for that. $40k is nothing to be proud of.

Objectively, skybus doesn't seem that bad, even if you've got to pay $2 for a bottle of H2O.. heck, just bring your own!

With comments like this, I'm starting to wonder if this is just flamebait. This is fu&^ing pathetic.

 

[HA25]

did you read my APC.com link? YOU CANT JUST GO BY HOURLY RATE... it's like Southwest on the pay scheme. Over..

 

[PCL_128]

did you read my APC.com link? YOU CANT JUST GO BY HOURLY RATE... it's like Southwest on the pay scheme. Over..

When the management "teams" at the other carriers come looking for concessions in the next downturn and ask a bankruptcy judge to impose a contract on us, they will be looking at the hourly rate. Besides, I'm not just talking about the hourly rate. The gross compensation is pathetic also. Just $80-90k for a Captain is absurd.