SWA took one step closer to being a regional carrier

[Benhuntn]

I have a buddy with American...He has had 367 days off straight...course the pay has been less than he would like. I think I can live with only getting 17 days off a month.

PBS would kill any flexibility we have in our schedules. I prefer to make my lines better through elitt or trip/trade. I don't want the company trying make my lines better.

 

[chase]

DH2WN,

I didn't take your post as whining at all...hope I didn't imply that....the info flow was less than what most would've liked....in hindsight I think that was a sin of omission, not commission....we'll see how Feb & Mar goes, & then we'll see how the open time trips work as a solution to "productivity". Good luck on finding the lines you want....it is difficult though to tell what the "group" wants when changes are made to the scheduling process but only a small percentage vote & yet there is still criticism about "trying" new things to squeeze more out of the flying scheduling gurus....if there was an easy fix it would've occurred by now....does anyone think we have a system that couldn't be improved? I'm hopeful we'll find some choices the majority of folks can live with....until then we'll continue the test & see what happens. Thanks for the dialogue....cheers,

 

[AlbieF15]

Why does everyone want to "tar and feather" a guy who says he wants to quit his airline and go elsewhere? If several people say "no more" and walk somewhere else, what does that say to management? That is the ultimate vote of "no confidence" in the current situation.

Several folks have left JetBlue for Fedex in the last year. When the cost analysts have to look at amortizing training costs for replacement workers verses slight increases in pay and benefits, eventually if enough people leave it puts pressure on companies to keep salaries and benefits up.

I think the chance of anyone leaving SWA for another carrier is pretty slim--but again--if a guys leaves you may move up a peg and at least someone is sending a signal there are issues which could be improved.

 

[TAZ MAN]

Why does everyone want to "tar and feather" a guy who says he wants to quit his airline and go elsewhere? If several people say "no more" and walk somewhere else, what does that say to management? That is the ultimate vote of "no confidence" in the current situation.

Several folks have left JetBlue for Fedex in the last year. When the cost analysts have to look at amortizing training costs for replacement workers verses slight increases in pay and benefits, eventually if enough people leave it puts pressure on companies to keep salaries and benefits up.

I think the chance of anyone leaving SWA for another carrier is pretty slim--but again--if a guys leaves you may move up a peg and at least someone is sending a signal there are issues which could be improved.

Don't forget Albie that this pilot you are talking about is upset about something that doesn't seem to exist in full.

And most important, doesn't seem to work for the company he is saying he is leaving.

You are defending someone who is full of sh!t.

 

[AlbieF15]

...I'm not defending HIM, just saying whenever a guy says he is leaving company X the locals get all upset. My point is guys quitting is the most personal of work actions. I've heard and seen guys leave one company for another several times this year...

 

[MD-11 Pilot]

For those who are contemplating going to jetBlue, FedEx, UPS, vs SWA go to the first three.

We just implemented our new work rule changes that a whole 30% of the pilots voted on and deleted many days off that we once enjoyed while not increasing our daily productivity one bit.

We are now a regional carrier and I've just dusted off my logbook to apply to FedEx.

With all respect to pax carriers...please do not compare us to you! We are just freight dogs. I am sure Jetblue is a great company also..but do not compare us to them either...we are just freight dogs! Later in this thread we are compared to Home Depot! Please do not compare us to them! We are just freight dogs!

It really sucks to go to work and just carry boxes...no smiling passenger faces telling me what a great landing I just had..It also sucks when I have a two week long trip and just get two weeks off afterward. Then I bid a week vacation and end up with 30 days off in a row...exactly, home with the wife and kids for that long!!! It sucks!!!! Why can't I go to work for just 3 days? So what if I spend 2 days commuting for each trip; I will still be home for 24 hours in a row...One day I will grow up to be a real airline pilot!

 

[radarlove]

PBS would kill any flexibility we have in our schedules. I prefer to make my lines better through elitt or trip/trade. I don't want the company trying make my lines better.

Spoken like somebody with truly no idea of how preferential bidding works.

PBS increases flexibility by allowing you to choose the trips and put together a schedule instead of the company. Why would you think some random schedule generating dude can put together a better monthly schedule than you can? Pilots are always their own best schedulers.

I have no idea what elitt is, must be a LUV thing.

You SWA guys are so afraid of the future. I'm surprised you even use computers to bid. It might be time to enter the...eighties.

 

[viking737]

It really sucks to go to work and just carry boxes...no smiling passenger faces telling me what a great landing I just had..It also sucks when I have a two week long trip and just get two weeks off afterward. Then I bid a week vacation and end up with 30 days off in a row...exactly, home with the wife and kids for that long!!! It sucks!!!! Why can't I go to work for just 3 days? So what if I spend 2 days commuting for each trip; I will still be home for 24 hours in a row...One day I will grow up to be a real airline pilot!

??? What are you trying to say?

 

[GuppyWN]

Radar, The one thing I will NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, consider is PBS if it turns my 7 day vacation into a 7 day vacation. Last month I had 18 days off with a 7 day vacation bid.

Can you get 3 weeks off with a one week vacation award if you have PBS?

Gup

 

[radarlove]

Radar, The one thing I will NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, consider is PBS if it turns my 7 day vacation into a 7 day vacation. Last month I had 18 days off with a 7 day vacation bid.

Can you get 3 weeks off with a one week vacation award if you have PBS?

Gup

PBS is unrelated to vacation. It's just a way to pick the trips you want to fly and put them into your monthly schedule.

Vacation is handled differently at different companies. Bid your line on PBS, then overlay vacation pn top, what's wrong with that?

With PBS you get the month of trips you want, instead of the month of trips that some guy who doesn't know you puts together.

 

[b747dogg]

Let me see, less days off, Vote NO, I did!

Chase, have an opinion for once.

 

[Tripower455]

PBS is unrelated to vacation. It's just a way to pick the trips you want to fly and put them into your monthly schedule.

Vacation is handled differently at different companies. Bid your line on PBS, then overlay vacation pn top, what's wrong with that?

With PBS you get the month of trips you want, instead of the month of trips that some guy who doesn't know you puts together.

One of the main reasons that the company wants PBS is to turn 7 days of vacation into a 7 day vacation. As it stands now, it is very easy to turn 7 days into 17 (it used to be around 20-22. the best I ever got was 26, but the crew sodomizer figured out how to mess with it in the last year or so, or I am just unlucky in choosing vacation months). With PBS, it will build lines that end on Sat night, and start on the next Sunday, negating this current negotiated benefit.

There is NO WAY that I would ever vote for PBS at SWA. The problem with PBS is that the devil is truly in the details, and we, as a group, have a bad track record of not ironing out the gray areas before voting on contract issues, and we end up getting screwed by the fine print.

Why does scheduling need a "policy handbook" to decipher the gray areas of the contract? The contract IS the policy manual.

PBS would be an absolute disaster to our QOL.

 

[JethroF15]

With all respect to pax carriers...please do not compare us to you! We are just freight dogs. I am sure Jetblue is a great company also..but do not compare us to them either...we are just freight dogs! Later in this thread we are compared to Home Depot! Please do not compare us to them! We are just freight dogs!

It really sucks to go to work and just carry boxes...no smiling passenger faces telling me what a great landing I just had..It also sucks when I have a two week long trip and just get two weeks off afterward. Then I bid a week vacation and end up with 30 days off in a row...exactly, home with the wife and kids for that long!!! It sucks!!!! Why can't I go to work for just 3 days? So what if I spend 2 days commuting for each trip; I will still be home for 24 hours in a row...One day I will grow up to be a real airline pilot!

A total of 6 posts and you come up with this gibberish! I didn't see any previous post in this thread that attacked the freight dogs and required you to throw out a rather weak defense. As I see it you don't even have a dog in this fight. We have it good - for now - on the box side of the house. Enjoy your job and be humble. You're making the rest of us "freight dogs" look bad.

 

[USNFDX]

Spoken like somebody with truly no idea of how preferential bidding works.

PBS increases flexibility by allowing you to choose the trips and put together a schedule instead of the company. Why would you think some random schedule generating dude can put together a better monthly schedule than you can? Pilots are always their own best schedulers.

I have no idea what elitt is, must be a LUV thing.

You SWA guys are so afraid of the future. I'm surprised you even use computers to bid. It might be time to enter the...eighties.

Actualy Radarlove You have NO idea what your talking about.

PBS can be good or really really BAD depending on who is control of the software and the rule sets within. It can keep you 7 day vacation, a 17 day vacation, or it can turn 7 day vacation into a 5 day vacation (if you are a commuter). It all has do with how it's employed, and who is at the controls.

If the company (SWA, Fedex, .....) want's PBS, it's not to make your life better....IT IS TO MAXIMIZE PRODUCTIVITY, and YOU ARE NOT GOING TO LIKE IT!

Sure you can negotiate the rule sets, but in the end, as tripower stated, 'Th e devil is in the details' and the company is better when it comes to details.

 

[pilotyip]

And maximizing productivity to preserve pay levels and profitability is a bad thing?