Truth about Lynx?

[ViperKK]

couple of my old fo's are flying there now. it can't be bad as they say, can it?

no cancellation pay unless you drop below guarantee, then it's really just them paying guarantee. pilot pay is pathetic, ((second year fo pay is $TWENTY THREE$ an hour. health insurance if you have kids will set you back almost $FIVE HUNDRED$ a month. ((for the fo's, that one full paycheck)) junior asst almost every day. oh and the best part is that managment changes the work rules almost daily. ((no contract, lots of reinterpretation)) new hires are signing twoyear training contracts. ((they will make almost as much as the contract their second year))

$$FORTY THOUSAND$$ a year for a seventy four seat captain.
$$SEVENTEEN THOUSAND$$ a year for a first. is this a joke really?

i wonder when people will leave to go find something better.

move over mesa, it sounds to me like the new bottom feeder is in town.

to my fo's, get out if you still can.

 

[GOULET!]

I know very little about Lynx so Im not going to pretend like I do, however most people today are going for the quick upgrade and not the pay. Their pay scale is absolutely pathetic though.

 

[cale42]

Not sure who your hearing from Viper but it really isn't that bad.

The payrates are an issue.. everyone knows it..

However the schedules are ok, next month I have 14 off.. sat, sun, mon off every week.. blocking the in the mid 80's.. 22 nights at home. Plus block or better.. which is nice waiting in line for de-ice in DEN

I've been online for over 2 months and never been JA'ed, and we do get JA pay now 150%.

Cancellation pay hasn't been a big deal because F9 management is obsessed with completion percents.. we are in the high 90's for completion(not controllable.. just completion in general). I've not had a flight cancelled yet, but as we go the mountains this may become a bigger issue.

And as GOULET pointed out upgrades matter.. 12 FO's will be awareded CA this week making the upgrade time around 9 months currently.

I don't have kids but health insurance for a single male is on par with any other decent company that I know of. Rates are high these days.. thats not unique to any company.

Like any startup there is lots of room for improvement, and yes the changing rules can be frustrating, however so far every single work rule change has been beneficial to the pilots.

I can say WITHOUT QUESTION, Lynx is much better than Mesa, b/c thats where I came from. We may not be Skywest or RAH, but we are certainly not Mesa..

cale

 

[XPOO]

Damn, I thought this thread was going to be about golf clubs.

 

[cale42]

It's FI.. give it a few minutes and a well timed post and it WILL be about golf clubs..

 

[Capi_Cafre']

With the Q400 starting to catch on it's important to the industry to have the "bottom" rates for the type set absurdly low. That's the "truth" about Lynx. On the other hand you've got the first, and for quite a few years, the only operator, Horizon currently in negotiations with most of their folks making almost twice what their counterparts at Lynx are getting. I'm told by friends there that the new catch phrase is "airline services company" which makes it likely that at some point they'll be hearing "why should we pay you a hundred when Joe Blow will do it for fifty?"

Horizon has the only contract in the pax industry to survive the 9/11 era intact. Now that compensation is being driven by the bottom it's a problem when the best-compensated pilots in a type are working for a profitable company. It's in every airline's interest to see them crushed, and if recent history is any indication they shouldn't count on too much help from pilots at other carriers.

 

[tico]

Why is Lynx being called a start-up. How long has Frontier been in business. It is an airline being run by an airline so all the rhetoric about start-up is just that....It seems that maybe the compass/nwa deal is how an airline starts an airline....I dont know that but I am sure that they have had a union from day one as Lynx should have had as well. What happened to the frontier pilots on this one. It seems that as a union they could have flexed their influence and assured that Lynx was union as well.

 

[Raskal]

Why is Lynx being called a start-up. How long has Frontier been in business. It is an airline being run by an airline so all the rhetoric about start-up is just that....It seems that maybe the compass/nwa deal is how an airline starts an airline....I dont know that but I am sure that they have had a union from day one as Lynx should have had as well. What happened to the frontier pilots on this one. It seems that as a union they could have flexed their influence and assured that Lynx was union as well.

It's a good point. Compass is rep'd by the NWA mainline MEC (not sure if that's a good thing or not, you'd have to ask a compass guy) and had representation from day one. Where were the mainline reps in this whole Lynx venture?

 

[siucavflight]

Cale, you should learn that you can not confuse us here on FI with facts. We would rather post about what our friends neighbor heard about Lynx. Hearing it from someone who works there is not helpful.

 

[cale42]

I don't know the exact details but there is a grace period on a new certification before they can have union representation.. 1 year I believe.

Compass bought the old Independence Air cert.. so the rules were a lot different..

Most F9 pilots are actively interested in how Lynx pilots are being treated and handled, but there is not a lot they can currently do.

This is my understanding of the union rules.. however maybe someone can explain it more thoroughly..

cale

 

[Raskal]

I don't know the exact details but there is a grace period on a new certification before they can have union representation.. 1 year I believe.

Compass bought the old Independence Air cert.. so the rules were a lot different..

Most F9 pilots are actively interested in how Lynx pilots are being treated and handled, but there is not a lot they can currently do.

This is my understanding of the union rules.. however maybe someone can explain it more thoroughly..

cale

Thanks for the explanation cale.

 

[relief tube]

all that, and you have to say "Shasta" 20 times a day.

Wow, where do I NOT sign up for that.

 

[doug_or]

I don't have kids but health insurance for a single male is on par with any other decent company that I know of. Rates are high these days.. thats not unique to any company.



cale

How high? My current company is about $52 a month. last one was less (for more coverage)

 

[cale42]

Thats a great deal.. I think I pay around $120/month for pretty good coverage. Theres lots higher and lots lower.. but a little over 100 seems to be what I hear from a lot of people these days.(this includes lots of friends outside of aviation)

 

[tico]

I don't know the exact details but there is a grace period on a new certification before they can have union representation.. 1 year I believe.

Compass bought the old Independence Air cert.. so the rules were a lot different..

Most F9 pilots are actively interested in how Lynx pilots are being treated and handled, but there is not a lot they can currently do.

This is my understanding of the union rules.. however maybe someone can explain it more thoroughly..

cale

The grace period is only applicable if there will be an election per-se. However from day one the pilots of Lynx could have been represented by FAPA if an agreement had been reached to do so by Frontier Airlines and FAPA.
I would guess that FAPA saw no value in pressing to that end or Frontier Airlines saw no value either. The short sightedness on both parts is unfortunate. The airline will beat the union and the union will beat the airline back and forth over issues. And all the while, Lynx will provide an excellent avenue to the left seat and pic time and a job elswhere. Unlike Airbus, Bombardier does not pay for training. So that expense will of course be dis-proportianately high and as will be the disruption level as a steady stream of guys come and go. Hope that the new guy has a cooler head and can see his pilots as an asset......

 

[aewanabe]

Thats a great deal.. I think I pay around $120/month for pretty good coverage. Theres lots higher and lots lower.. but a little over 100 seems to be what I hear from a lot of people these days.(this includes lots of friends outside of aviation)

Wow. I paid about that for decent family coverage at RAH, and am pissed about paying 150/mo for not-so-great family coverage at JB. They've got you thinking 120/mo for just you is a good deal, huh?

 

[cale42]

Wow. I paid about that for decent family coverage at RAH, and am pissed about paying 150/mo for not-so-great family coverage at JB. They've got you thinking 120/mo for just you is a good deal, huh?

No one has me thinking anything.. read a paper, do a little research. AVERAGE prices in 2007 for insurance were around $70 for an individual and around $320 for a family..

So I pay on the high side.. you have been lucky to have unbeleivable deals. Lots of people pay lots more than the average obviously.. you are lucky to be way below.

Tico.. thanks for the explanation of the grace period.. I'm honestly not sure what FAPA's thinking or reasons were... the current situation is what it is though.. we'll see after the year I spose..

cale

 

[dude100]

Everybody picks on the fat kid or the new guy...whatever...

 

[flyf15]

Was in Denver yesterday taxiing by and saw a Lynx pilot standing next to the belt loader tossing bags... I kid you not.

 

[siucavflight]

Was in Denver yesterday taxiing by and saw a Lynx pilot standing next to the belt loader tossing bags... I kid you not.

Sure you did. I believe you. You are full of sh!t.

About insurance. Who cares it is only money.