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Will The AirTran Pilots' Windfall Be A Consideration?

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While I agree with you that a lot of this is just pissing in the wind, it does have merit, imo, because if we as SWA pilots don't rebut some of your AAI guys assertions about "the law says this and that", you might actually convince your group to take a hard line and vote a fair compromise down and take this to arbitration, based on ridiculous interpretations of the law such as "relative seniority". Which, imho, will not be a good way to start our collective future together, no matter how the integration turns out.

Fraternally,
PapaWoody

PappaWoody,

I wouldn't worry about us voting down a fair compromise. The problem is we just disagree on whats fair. I am sure most of the SWA guys are reasonable just as most AAI guys are. It would seem that from some of the SWA posters on here the only thing fair would be a staple. I don't see that as fair and don't think an arbitrator will either. Then you have the same with some of the AAI guys here. I think the weird thing about SLI is that one model would be good for the senior while screwing the junior and vice versa. If our unions put out a fair deal I am sure it will pass with big numbers. If not the arbitrator step in. All the mud slinging here although funny is pretty much useless.

:beer:
 
I see a couple points to clear up.
Ty, we'll start with you(for the record, the chinese menu comment was very funny!).

1) You reference your airline's growth. Don't forget your furlough during one of your 'banner years'; that's something SWA has never done.

Lonestar-

Thanks for a sensible post. I am going to try to explain some of these things, but they are hard to explain to someone who hasn't had the pleasure of actually living out the brainstorms generated by the faulty thought processes of some of our Lorenzo-era "managers".

The "furlough" that we had was unnecessary. All of us on the Line saw it, knew it, and said as much. It actually cost them more than it saved- three months of newhire FO pay saved, versus paying more senior pilots time and a half to do the flying, paying unemployment and then re-training returnees . . . . dumb, dumb, dumb. This had more to do with Contract negotiations, but to explain the nuances of it would waste my Sunday and yours.
2) Speaking of banner years, look at the value of your new contract compared to those banner years. Your airline, on its own, can barely afford your new contract. Our SWAPA contract would put AAI in the red!
.

It is a complete misnomer that our new contract put ANY strain on our profitability, far from it. AAI had the lowest non-fuel CASM of any major, and the lowest Pilot CASM. I haven't run the numbers on SWA pay/scheduling rules for our block hours, but I have seen the numbers using the new Alaska rates. AirTran could have afforded far more than the pittance we got, and still paid out the "coin of the realm" to our self-anointed Best Management Team. :laugh:


3) You asked where SWA was 15 years ago. SWA and it's pilots were sharing amazing profits. While the wages were behind the industry, jthe profit sharing made more than a few millionaires. Nowhere in that history will you find a highly compensated mgmt dragging labor group through 5+ years of mediation!
Not what I was getting at. . . . . Look at where AAI is after only 15 years (70+ cities, international ops, second-largest operator at ATL, etc). Where would we be in year 40? What would have replaced the 717? Perhaps A330 or 787 aircraft going to South America and Europe? How about pay? I'm a 10th yr CA. The difference between my pay and SWA pay for is 30%, not the ridiculous 50-80% some of these serial-posters are claiming. I don't even waste the time responding to that nonsense. :laugh:
 
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I have a question. If Air Tran pay is "good" now, can they just fence off ATL and let them keep their relative pay and relative seniority in ATL. After all, Ty here makes it sound like it isn't about the money.
 
I have a question. If Air Tran pay is "good" now, can they just fence off ATL and let them keep their relative pay and relative seniority in ATL. After all, Ty here makes it sound like it isn't about the money.

Sorry, not negotiating in public, but anyone that knows me knows I don't give a rat's ass about another $50K a year, certainly not enough to give up my seat, easy commute, and ability to fly the trips I like and want. You can keep it.
 
Don,

SWA's new pay scale was contractual, it was already in ink (from the last CBA). All they had to wait for was the fiscal year to end and certain profit targets met. The only way SWA would have not gotten a raise, would have been if the accounts fudged some numbers to miss said target.

The AAI (TA4,5?) pay scale happened weeks after SWA announced their intention to buy AAI. I think we can all agree SWA buying AAI had a huge hand it this TA? Think Bob is not getting a nice severance check to make this thing pass?

If this goes to arbitration, the arbitrator is going to look at (among other things) career expectations on the early am on the 27th of September, not events that occur after.
 
Sorry, not negotiating in public, but anyone that knows me knows I don't give a rat's ass about another $50K a year, certainly not enough to give up my seat, easy commute, and ability to fly the trips I like and want. You can keep it.

What if you got the above and became an FO? Same pay or a little better keep your current QOL, but are now an FO. Or is it your ego that needs stroking.
 
Cruncher, let me guess . . . SWA was your first and only airline, and you don't know much about the RLA or the NMB. :laugh:
 
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Sorry, not negotiating in public, but anyone that knows me knows I don't give a rat's ass about another $50K a year, certainly not enough to give up my seat, easy commute, and ability to fly the trips I like and want. You can keep it.

In the end, it won't be up to any of you guys anyway.

Just an outsider's perspective....but your case is weak and full of holes. When a guy says it's not about the money, then it's all about the money. I just look at it this way, there's a load of guys in ATL with apps in at Southwest who prior to late Sept were begging to be stapled with no pay protection at Southwest. I'm pretty sure that not a single guy at Southwest wanted to work at Air Tran. I know that Air Tran was a fall back plan for me. And then I would join the crowd and leave for a brighter future (like most at Air Tran).

I do have a feeling that an Air Tran FO who's about get a $50k raise won't say "You can keep it."
 
What if you got the above and became an FO? Same pay or a little better keep your current QOL, but are now an FO. Or is it your ego that needs stroking.


And the gain to me would be what . . . watching you enjoy your windfall? :laugh:
 
In the end, it won't be up to any of you guys anyway.

Just an outsider's perspective....but your case is weak and full of holes. When a guy says it's not about the money, then it's all about the money. I just look at it this way, there's a load of guys in ATL with apps in at Southwest who prior to late Sept were begging to be stapled with no pay protection at Southwest. I'm pretty sure that not a single guy at Southwest wanted to work at Air Tran. I know that Air Tran was a fall back plan for me. And then I would join the crowd and leave for a brighter future (like most at Air Tran).

I do have a feeling that an Air Tran FO who's about get a $50k raise won't say "You can keep it."

Well, if you are indeed who you say you are (which I doubt), take comfort in the fact that even if the AirTran pilots get stapled, you will still be at the bottom, below us, on the combined list.
 

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