What you need to see in the next XJT contract?

[goahead]

I'd like free beer and wings at every hotel upon arrival please.

 

[JustaNumber]

I'd like free beer and wings at every hotel upon arrival please.

That's been tried at a couple hotels we used to stay at. Trust me, you'd rather pay for better quality yourself! (Unless you really like cheap lite beer in a can).

 

[ASApuppy]

My 2 cents (which ain't worth that).

I don't care for more money than my peers. But I care deeply about the amount of control the company has over the quality of life items. I missed the George and John days, but I recall the days before King Tutt and his MiniMe (SH). Back then we rarely did 4 days. The Senior guys did day lines. Then is was 3 days, back to back 2 days, and naps. Heck even relief lines went senior to naps. I think we erred by applying duty rigs to naps in the last contract. Seriously, one already makes double time for a nap line, does it really need to be triple? Since we got that duty rig, the naps are half as many as there use to be and half the 4 day trip are full of 5am duty in's. Serious degradation of quality of life for more pilots than those that benefit from extra $$. We must be mindful of not spending 'negotiating capital' on items that the new crew rest rules will take care of. The 30 in 7 is gone and that's huge. I see 5 day trips as fitting right in. I would prefer not to do them, but I can imagine that if they were built fairly high credit that they would become quite popular with commuters if it went 3 trips total for the month.

Where we need to focus on scheduling is flexibility. We don't have any and the company is afraid to give us any. But I honestly think we have less "captivity", we would be more willing to pick up stuff. But when forced to work oppressive 4 days with no virtual variety or ability to swap, people give up caring. If I can't move a trip a day due to low coverage, I call in sick for the whole thing. Yes, I have limited bullets for that campaign, but I have a few. I like how some carriers offer extra pay for 'overtime' pay. Add that. Add an ability to drop a trip or part of a trip. Put some common sense into it. I realize we will never all have Xmas off, but we could make some step toward more flexibility.

I think we need to position ourselves to ease the obstacles in the way with a possible merger with SkyWest. I can't help but believe that our best future is one company, one list. With that, I embrace dual qual. It is better for our customer (is it not possible that we could have added a -700 or two into the mix at IAD?), and better for schedules. I know the money and the money for our Senior guys is important. I don't have an easy answer. The SkyWest and the new LXJT 70seat agreement are interesting.

 

[zawillif]

My 2 cents (which ain't worth that).

I don't care for more money than my peers. But I care deeply about the amount of control the company has over the quality of life items. I missed the George and John days, but I recall the days before King Tutt and his MiniMe (SH). Back then we rarely did 4 days. The Senior guys did day lines. Then is was 3 days, back to back 2 days, and naps. Heck even relief lines went senior to naps. I think we erred by applying duty rigs to naps in the last contract. Seriously, one already makes double time for a nap line, does it really need to be triple? Since we got that duty rig, the naps are half as many as there use to be and half the 4 day trip are full of 5am duty in's. Serious degradation of quality of life for more pilots than those that benefit from extra $$. We must be mindful of not spending 'negotiating capital' on items that the new crew rest rules will take care of. The 30 in 7 is gone and that's huge. I see 5 day trips as fitting right in. I would prefer not to do them, but I can imagine that if they were built fairly high credit that they would become quite popular with commuters if it went 3 trips total for the month.

Where we need to focus on scheduling is flexibility. We don't have any and the company is afraid to give us any. But I honestly think we have less "captivity", we would be more willing to pick up stuff. But when forced to work oppressive 4 days with no virtual variety or ability to swap, people give up caring. If I can't move a trip a day due to low coverage, I call in sick for the whole thing. Yes, I have limited bullets for that campaign, but I have a few. I like how some carriers offer extra pay for 'overtime' pay. Add that. Add an ability to drop a trip or part of a trip. Put some common sense into it. I realize we will never all have Xmas off, but we could make some step toward more flexibility.

I think we need to position ourselves to ease the obstacles in the way with a possible merger with SkyWest. I can't help but believe that our best future is one company, one list. With that, I embrace dual qual. It is better for our customer (is it not possible that we could have added a -700 or two into the mix at IAD?), and better for schedules. I know the money and the money for our Senior guys is important. I don't have an easy answer. The SkyWest and the new LXJT 70seat agreement are interesting.

Great post! Spoke my mind on mind on almost every issue.

The bottom line is we will never be treated as equals until our name is the same as the stock ticker: SKYW--and we are managed by the St. George team. We should all be striving for that ultimate goal. Until that day comes we should be improving productivity in certain areas while gaining efficiency improvements in others. Dual qual, dual base (where appropriate), more control over pairings, and a better ability to move trips would be a good start. If open time was always 150% there would be a lot less of it (in a properly staffed situation). Other than that I defer to Puppy's post.

 

[SPDBRD747400]

Crew meals!!!

 

[JustaNumber]

So if some of you are willing to consider 5-day trips if you could do only 3 per month, then we would NEED to increase min day to 5 hours. Otherwise you'll end up doing 4 5-day trips for min guarantee--no thanks.

 

[SpaceShipEarth]

So if some of you are willing to consider 5-day trips if you could do only 3 per month, then we would NEED to increase min day to 5 hours. Otherwise you'll end up doing 4 5-day trips for min guarantee--no thanks.

Not when the threshold is 90 hours.. 5x5x3= 75... congratulations, you're the next recipient of a reserve line!

 

[enuffalready]

So if some of you are willing to consider 5-day trips if you could do only 3 per month, then we would NEED to increase min day to 5 hours. Otherwise you'll end up doing 4 5-day trips for min guarantee--no thanks.

you guys are HIGH if you think there will be high value 5 days. Jan 1, will be many many hours in hotels... 5 day trips...same block. Thats why it should HELP with the "dual qual"/ "common cat". You will be able to mix in longer legs with the 50 flying.

 

[JustaNumber]

Not when the threshold is 90 hours.. 5x5x3= 75... congratulations, you're the next recipient of a reserve line!

Of course if you allow 5-days with current min day, each one could be less than 20 hours, and you could end up with four 5-days, 20x4=80, congratulations, you also get a reserve line. Seems like there primarily needs to be more control over thresholds here for some semblance of QOL.

 

[JustaNumber]

you guys are HIGH if you think there will be high value 5 days. Jan 1, will be many many hours in hotels... 5 day trips...same block. Thats why it should HELP with the "dual qual"/ "common cat". You will be able to mix in longer legs with the 50 flying.

Of course, all the guys currently on the 700 might not agree that your plan would benefit them. They would have to fly shorter legs, probably for less money overall, in exchange for additional studying. Not such a great deal for them.

 

[SpaceShipEarth]

Of course if you allow 5-days with current min day, each one could be less than 20 hours, and you could end up with four 5-days, 20x4=80, congratulations, you also get a reserve line. Seems like there primarily needs to be more control over thresholds here for some semblance of QOL.

Thresholds over 75 hours is forced overtime with no premium pay. All hours over some agreed upon credit value should be paid time and a half unless its a voluntary pickup. Why don't they just make every month a 90 hour month and adjust staffing accordingly?

 

[SpaceShipEarth]

Of course, all the guys currently on the 700 might not agree that your plan would benefit them. They would have to fly shorter legs, probably for less money overall, in exchange for additional studying. Not such a great deal for them.

Less money = bad

More studying = weak argument

Besides, we're already dual qualed. Just ask anyone who has completed differences only to go back to flying the plane they are leaving for a week and then finally moving into the plane they just trained on. You literally fly the 200 one week, 700 differences and OE the next week, then a 200 trip the next and finally a 700 trip again after that.