UAX/SKW Jumpseating vs. United Greed

[Erlanger]

Our JS chairman is confirming that this does not affect our pilots. It is being discussed among UAX JS chairs but does not currently affect pilots.

I have a bad feeling about this though. Seems like United is testing the waters to see what will happen.

I do too have a bad feeling about this. It's a sad situation when airlines have to get revenue from employees instead of the public.

 

[relief tube]

The way I read it, pilots may only travel in the Flight Deck as authorized by CASS. Pilots non-revving/commuting in a cabin seat on a UAX flight operated by SkyWest must use their non-rev bennies or possess a paper NRSA ticket such as an ID 90 or ZED fare.

To me, that sounds like no jumpseating...just non-revving...is available for commuters.

so youre saying a ****************************** from airtran can jumpseat for free, and you gotta pay? I hope I didn't read it that way.

 

[flyboyzz1]

no the way it was worded prevented ANYONE from jumpseating in the cabin when someone was in the OMC except if they A) Are a UAX pilot with paid non-rev abilities or B) A non UAX pilot with a ID 90 or ZED fare.

It will be re-worded to exclude pilots from this memo and only effect FA's.... nothing like further crapping on SKYW FA's! TFAYD

 

[Fly2AK]

I seem to hear this a lot from people that don't have to pay fees to ride on their own equipment.

Trouble is, to ride on all SkyWests planes a Skywest employee must pay tribute to BOTH United AND Delta. If that weren't F'd up enough, Air Tran wants a fee too but if you opt for Air Tran then you can't do Delta. NOW, they're coming up with new ways to F with the jumpseat.

This is screwed up on so many levels.

I predict fuel burns will rise substantially in the very near future. Before anyone cires about how 'unprofessional' this would be, let me ask what a 'professional' should do - cut off his own n^ts?

A professional would work on career progression rather than continue to support the downward slide of their profession. United has over 1400 pilots furloughed so the regional guys can fly Boeing or Airbus routes with an RJ making a fraction of the pay they should be making. The company I now work for requires you to pay for each flight you take on their aircraft and the cost is anywhere from $50 to $1400 depending on the flight. Maybe it is time you demand a better paycheck and overall QOL so the Opt in cost is not an issue and you wouldn't have to commute as much then pay your dues and move onto a major. At least you have a job and it is back home with your friends and family, all of the regional pilots have bigger issues to deal with and that is making a regional pilots contract a more respectable contract and realize the regionals are killing a lot of the positions most of you want, ie flying a boeing or airbus someday. I spent nearly 9 years at the regionals and I am disgusted by todays trend with the regionals and it seem a lot of you just don't care, because you have your nice fancy RJ to fly! Obviously UA has the authority to control who rides in the cabin, so I guess there is some hope that all the majors haven't lost control of their company to the contract regionals!

 

[Flyerdan]

A professional would work on career progression rather than continue to support the downward slide of their profession. United has over 1400 pilots furloughed so the regional guys can fly Boeing or Airbus routes with an RJ making a fraction of the pay they should be making. The company I now work for requires you to pay for each flight you take on their aircraft and the cost is anywhere from $50 to $1400 depending on the flight. Maybe it is time you demand a better paycheck and overall QOL so the Opt in cost is not an issue and you wouldn't have to commute as much then pay your dues and move onto a major. At least you have a job and it is back home with your friends and family, all of the regional pilots have bigger issues to deal with and that is making a regional pilots contract a more respectable contract and realize the regionals are killing a lot of the positions most of you want, ie flying a boeing or airbus someday. I spent nearly 9 years at the regionals and I am disgusted by todays trend with the regionals and it seem a lot of you just don't care, because you have your nice fancy RJ to fly! Obviously UA has the authority to control who rides in the cabin, so I guess there is some hope that all the majors haven't lost control of their company to the contract regionals!

I am so tired of hearing this lame argument. SCOPE is negotiated by mainline pilots and they are the ones who allowed this to happen. Man up and put the responsibility where it belongs!

Maybe we should go on the majors forum and post a line on every thread with the mantra "thanks to the mainline idiots for giving up scope" much like the MESA SUCKS mantra we see on here.

 

[Max Q]

It's always funny to hear guys with a decade of regional experience talk about what a POS the "new guys" made of the industry. They make a mess and expect us to clean it up.

 

[FlyCMI]

so youre saying a ****************************** from airtran can jumpseat for free, and you gotta pay? I hope I didn't read it that way.

AirTran has not charged for the second jumpseat since 2007 or so. Even then, in most cases we had Captain's pay the fee to get the jumpseater on. If you have questions have your JSC contact the ATN jumpseat committee. They will be more than happy to answer your questions.

 

[rfa]

It's always funny to hear guys with a decade of regional experience talk about what a POS the "new guys" made of the industry. They make a mess and expect us to clean it up.

Yeah, got a laugh out of the guy's post as well.

 

[MILPILOT17]

Just remember it sucks to show up for a ride and have the Captain from the off-line carrier all pissed off! This knife cuts deep both ways. It is in the best interest of everyone to make life as easy as possible for on-line and off-line commuters alike.

 

[Cambereffect]

First United said everyone had to pay their fees last December. Then, after no one paid their fees because it was in the middle of the Christmas/Channukah/Kwanza shopping season they extended it another 30 days into January.

Now, since you can only pay your fees once a year, they come out with this immediate directive? So, crewmembers that did not opt in back in January are now completely screwed for the rest of 2010? This is effed up on so many levels.

United already found out last year what it was like to start a jumpseat war. With SkyWest doing nearly 50% of all United flying, this could get ugly real quick.

Yup, somehow I didn't get in the system (I wanted to opt in, trying to non-rev out of ORD on Delta only is hard), and now I am screwed for the rest of the year.
Why don't they want our money whenever just like Delta does? United is so f-ed up.

 

[Fly2AK]

It's always funny to hear guys with a decade of regional experience talk about what a POS the "new guys" made of the industry. They make a mess and expect us to clean it up.

Just to make things clear, I went into the regionals flying a turboprop. The RJ's came on property 6 years after I got there and my turboprop went away and thanks to 9/11 and the bottom feeders I was forced to fly an RJ at payrates I would never had agreed to hence my leaving and finding a better career path. Somehow the generation of guys in the regionals these days see United, Delta, US Airways, ect.... as a place that should give them all this flying and they should get the same benifits as the mainline guys. I am just tired of hearing all the bitching of the give me generation. It's about time you grow up, move out of your parents basement and make your profession respectable again! You sit here and bitch about the mainline carriers, yet if it wasn't for that mainline carrier you would not have a job. Be thankful for what you have!

 

[Max Q]

Just to make things clear, I went into the regionals flying a turboprop. The RJ's came on property 6 years after I got there and my turboprop went away and thanks to 9/11 and the bottom feeders I was forced to fly an RJ at payrates I would never had agreed to hence my leaving and finding a better career path. Somehow the generation of guys in the regionals these days see United, Delta, US Airways, ect.... as a place that should give them all this flying and they should get the same benifits as the mainline guys. I am just tired of hearing all the bitching of the give me generation. It's about time you grow up, move out of your parents basement and make your profession respectable again! You sit here and bitch about the mainline carriers, yet if it wasn't for that mainline carrier you would not have a job. Be thankful for what you have!

Let me just make things clear. Your generation ran this industry into the ground long before I got here.

 

[Fly2AK]

Let me just make things clear. Your generation ran this industry into the ground long before I got here.

No not my generation. It was the generation before me that snubbed their noses to the RJ's and it is the current generation that continues to fuel the growth of RJ's by flying a 90 passenger jet for nothing.

 

[Max Q]

For nothing? I don't know about you but I'm a 3rd-year FO, single, 26, no children, minimal student loan payments, two paid off cars, a house, and plenty of money left over at the end of the month for basic cable and beer. None of that would've been possible had I taken any other available route.

Before the regionals, I flew single pilot, single engine, in garbage weather 24/7 for peanuts. Corporate flight departments we're suffering all over the country, nobody wanted to learn how to fly, and the regionals were the best option at the time and still is for many "new guys". You're blaming us for not "fixing" the current state of this industry (especially in this economic climate) for conditions that a generation ahead of YOU created? Fix it how? Quit? And go where? Do what? Perhaps flip hamburgers, if I'm lucky.

The business model has changed. Decide whether you're going to be the butcher or the meat. The butchers are the guys that learned how to fly shortly after 9/11 (despite recommendations to explore other careers), are currently employed by the regionals, and will soon be capitalizing off the massive wave of attrition, forced retirement, and overall lack of interest in aviation by 20 somethings that are deterred by poor QOL and pay. I'll be the butcher if it means a better QOL. I didn't create this sorry job but if it's even marginally better than what I did before, you can bet your *** I'll interview for it.

While I'm here, I'll continue to support our union and refuse anything larger than 76 seats in mainline colors. If I ever decide that a move to a larger airline is feasible and it's my turn to vote on scope, I'll vote for a sub 76-seat airframe (if it's still economically sound) and my seniority will dictate whether or not I am stuck flying the POS.