US Airways Contract Projections

[B-atch]

Its sad to read about the strength of the USAirways Pilots. The same pilots who gave away their pension, AND NOW want to investigate accounting errors.
The same pilots who let their CEO make profits over the last 3 years but have yet to get a new route/aircraft/or contract.
The pilots that argue full pay to the last day, oh we will sign that and then get mad at ALPA.
The same pilots who were getting A350s in the image of EMB190s.

Please tell us how strong you are again?

Strong enough to be relevant....Enjoy your retirement..Let others fight for their cause. You got YOURS, someday we'll get ours. Its just a matter of time, and time weve got..

 

[CEO silly sap]

Faire enough my brother, fair enough.

 

[buxflyr]

Ok, so what are the projections for the new hires if there is a merger? Is there a furlough possibility?

 

[zymotic]

Strong enough to be relevant....Enjoy your retirement..Let others fight for their cause. You got YOURS, someday we'll get ours. Its just a matter of time, and time weve got..

Relevant? We are fractured in many directions, under a court injunction, and sorely lacking union talent.

You and I may have time but hundreds of pilots will soon retire under LOA 93. None of us will ever recoup the lost wages unless we get payrates significantly higher than Delta's which obviously isn't going to happen. More important, I will never recoup the precious vacation time I could have had with my family while my children are young.

 

[zymotic]

Ok, so what are the projections for the new hires if there is a merger? Is there a furlough possibility?

No one on here can do anything but speculate. There's always a furlough possibility anytime you start on the bottom of the list. Personally, I would recommend most shouldn't stay away from an opportunity to hire on with a major due to the fear of furlough. Get that seniority number and deal with the furlough when it comes. Been there and done that and it wasn't as bad as I expected.

 

[zasca]

Yeah, There is no way anyone hired in the next year will have to worry about Airways furloughing due to merger in the near term unless A: They sell all the E190's on the same day or B: AAirways goes bellyup after merger. 250 newhires a year for 5 years just to keep up with 65ers and already at min fleet size on Airways side alone. Assuming long term fences and furlough mitigation in the new CBA, not to mention how old AA is, I'd say you're pretty safe.

 

[Bringupthebird]

Yeah, There is no way anyone hired in the next year will have to worry about Airways furloughing due to merger in the near term unless A: They sell all the E190's on the same day or B: AAirways goes bellyup after merger. 250 newhires a year for 5 years just to keep up with 65ers and already at min fleet size on Airways side alone. Assuming long term fences and furlough mitigation in the new CBA, not to mention how old AA is, I'd say you're pretty safe.

Once the merger/CBA goes through and fleet minimums and block hour minimums are eliminated all bets are off. Add to that the very real possibility of a court awarding damages to the west pilot class and I would seriously look elsewhere or at least sit out the turmoil unless you are very junior at your present airline or are planning on moving to another airline once you get a few hundred hours turbojet.

The landscape is very different for furloughees today than it was 20+ years ago when I went through mine. The consolidation of airlines will make the peaks and valley of the business cycle more severe and when you are on the outside, there's less opportunities for ad hoc work to carry you over. Ask the guys that went to Vietnam or China to try and wait out the last downturn. They certainly wouldn't have gone if there was something better back in the states.

Finally, something specific to USAPA is the self-centeredness of the hardliners. Once they get their upgrade secured, they will only care about getting a contract that benefits them, regardless of the collateral damage it does to other seniority ranges. If you see USAPA being replaced with a less special-interest driven group of leaders, then there is hope that the pilots will re-unify and move forward with some degree of stability.

Otherwise, if you ignore the "Danger - Stay Out" sign you have no one to blame but yourself.

 

[Crzipilot]

yes a seniority number at US is not worth the seniority number at any of the regionals which someone might be working at now. Not to mention, taking the chance of getting out of the regional and sitting at US while still putting out apps and such elsewhere to see if you can get on at the carrier of your choice etc etc. You should sit at the regional and put your apps in at SWA or DAL or UAL and not go anywhere until you get on at the major of your choice..... Because of what might happen in the future...

 

[Bringupthebird]

No, because of what has happened in the past and is continuing to happen.

 

[The Drizzle]

Add to that the very real possibility of a court awarding damages to the west pilot class......

Otherwise, if you ignore the "Danger - Stay Out" sign you have no one to blame but yourself.

More poorly veiled threats against new-hires. Preaching the evils of the East while threatening to make hostages out of the bystanders kinda makes you a scumbag.



*sigh* I remember fondly a time where "The East" was just a giant, two story chinese buffet on Long Island.