You stay classy Linden Hillman

[Wesb737fo]

Linden Hillman sent a letter to Gary Kelly and everyone else under the sun asking he submit a retraction and apologize for statements Gary made about his (GK) interpretation of the process agreement. I hear that went over like a fart in church. So...does the Air Tran MEC Czar think he is going to dictate to Gary Kelly (leader of the airline free-world) how to make statements and talk about a contract HE agreed to?

Wasting no time to jump in SWA management’s grill. Have a lot of friends at both carriers and my buds at AAI don’t think much of the MEC.

My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from a guy who knows this kid who's going with this girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious.

 

[LeeRoyJenkins]

I was in recurrent yesterday (SWA recurrent) and found out that it is true.

We had one of the Flight Ops big wigs come in to give us the normal brief. After the briefing there was a break and a few of us hung around to ask a few more questions. These Hillman "demands" were brought up and it was told to us that Hillman sent an email (not a letter as was previously reported) to a few SWA executives while CC'ing all the leadership at ALPA. From what I gathered from the conversation is that the email was sent to Mike Van de Ven, not Gary Kelly. It was also stated that the email was not very well received.

That is about all we were told.

 

[Lear70]

Lear,

I follow you, but your math does not account for the SIGNIFICANT number of the pilot group that works extra (above their line average)...perhaps that is why SWA is staffed on the lean side ...the AAI pilots will probably ant to do the same...I do not see our ratio of pilots/aircraft going up (11/aircraft)...if AAI brings more than that to the table...we will have less extra flying or an excess of pilots...

It really doesn't matter, MJ, you could have EVERY pilot fly 5 more hours a month, taking them to 85 hours of BLOCK (we're not talking credit here, we're talking actual BLOCK hours), and you'd STILL have to add pilots if you increase our daily utilization per aircraft.

In our scenario let's take 200 planes at 7.5 hours per day utilization (that extra added hour we were talking about) for a total of 1,500, times 30 days is 45,000 hours to cover, divide by 85 instead of 80, that's 530, times 2 for 15 days off, 1,060 crews or 2,120 pilots. That's STILL 172 more pilots ASSUMING EVERY SINGLE AIRTRAN PILOT starts flying 85 BLOCK HOURS per month.

I won't. I like my time off and I have a lot of fellow AAI pilots who feel the same way. 80 hours of credit with 75 hours of block is what I shoot for every month.

There's going to be a lot of pilot hiring out of this deal. Between increasing our daily utilization AND increasing our flying in ATL AND increasing our service into Mexico and the Caribbean, etc, etc, etc.

There's a reason GK has said repeatedly that AirTran puts Southwest back in growth mode; we needed each other. It's true. You... Complete... Me... (couldn't resist). (and no, I haven't been drinking)

 

[texman]

It really doesn't matter, MJ, you could have EVERY pilot fly 5 more hours a month, taking them to 85 hours of BLOCK (we're not talking credit here, we're talking actual BLOCK hours), and you'd STILL have to add pilots if you increase our daily utilization per aircraft.

In our scenario let's take 200 planes at 7.5 hours per day utilization (that extra added hour we were talking about) for a total of 1,500, times 30 days is 45,000 hours to cover, divide by 85 instead of 80, that's 530, times 2 for 15 days off, 1,060 crews or 2,120 pilots. That's STILL 172 more pilots ASSUMING EVERY SINGLE AIRTRAN PILOT starts flying 85 BLOCK HOURS per month.

I won't. I like my time off and I have a lot of fellow AAI pilots who feel the same way. 80 hours of credit with 75 hours of block is what I shoot for every month.

There's going to be a lot of pilot hiring out of this deal. Between increasing our daily utilization AND increasing our flying in ATL AND increasing our service into Mexico and the Caribbean, etc, etc, etc.

There's a reason GK has said repeatedly that AirTran puts Southwest back in growth mode; we needed each other. It's true. You... Complete... Me... (couldn't resist). (and no, I haven't been drinking)

Sounds positive. Hope it is true. For your Qol, you can have 80 hours of credit with 50-60 block easy.

 

[Bake]

In april, I had 168 hours credit with 72 block hours. No sick calls, no vacation. Things are good around here right now. Back to the way it used to be before financial crisis. At my FO pay rate, that's just under 21,000$ for the month. Not bragging, just want people to know what is possible. Some are doing alot more than that.

Disclaimer: That is not my rear end in the avatar.

 

[Empennage]

In april, I had 168 hours credit with 72 block hours. No sick calls, no vacation. Things are good around here right now. Back to the way it used to be before financial crisis. At my FO pay rate, that's just under 21,000$ for the month. Not bragging, just want people to know what is possible. Some are doing alot more than that.

Disclaimer: That is not my rear end in the avatar.

Senior senior FO.

You are a dh wizard!

 

[Bake]

Senior senior FO.

You are a dh wizard!

Not really alot of DHing. I am fairly senior but not enough to hold a star. Just got lucky with POT>

 

[texman]

In april, I had 168 hours credit with 72 block hours. No sick calls, no vacation. Things are good around here right now. Back to the way it used to be before financial crisis. At my FO pay rate, that's just under 21,000$ for the month. Not bragging, just want people to know what is possible. Some are doing alot more than that.

Disclaimer: That is not my rear end in the avatar.

I know! It's all what you want. Qol and good pay or Qol and awesome pay, just have to work. Not hard at all. Even for the Jr folk at SWA.

 

[Empennage]

I know! It's all what you want. Qol and good pay or Qol and awesome pay, just have to work. Not hard at all. Even for the Jr folk at SWA.

Pot for the senior folk

 

[Bake]

deleted.

 

[texman]

Just have to be the CAP stalker!

 

[Bake]

or join the cartel. it's all about the cartels these days.

 

[scoreboardII]

I won't. I like my time off and I have a lot of fellow AAI pilots who feel the same way. 80 hours of credit with 75 hours of block is what I shoot for every month.

you realize our contract min is about 86 hrs/month, you are NOT going to like working for the man then, he wants his hours, and pays well.

 

[waveflyer]

Junior FO- Haven't flown 70 block yet and on pace for $130k+ ave 17.4 days off-
Can't tell you the difference between 3 on 4 off and the old 4 on 3 off schedules- plus all AMs or all PMs consistency- and no real stress at the job, smiling a lot.

I'm really curious about ATL, but I really think we're going to blow up there- everyone's QOL will be given a shot in the arm after this.

 

[Lear70]

you realize our contract min is about 86 hrs/month, you are NOT going to like working for the man then, he wants his hours, and pays well.

From what your coworkers are telling me, that's not the case, and I like what I hear.

86 hours of TFP per month on 60-70 of block in the 17-18 days off range is just fine with me. If you had listened, you would realize I was talking about where I shoot for on OUR schedules, which is, on average, about 5 hours more credit than block on any given line, like every other airline out there. Your TFP system is unique, but it's the block hours that drives days off (assuming productive trips).

We're so short-staffed, no one has any extra days off to pick up our trips we drop into the trade board and we can't straight drop through FLiCA because there are never enough reserves (denied due to min coverage). It prohibits massaging your schedule to produce soft credit and will only get worse as we enter peak flying summer schedules.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement on schedules. Sounds really great, looking forward to it! :beer:

 

[slaquer5]

In april, I had 168 hours credit with 72 block hours. No sick calls, no vacation. Things are good around here right now. Back to the way it used to be before financial crisis. At my FO pay rate, that's just under 21,000$ for the month. Not bragging, just want people to know what is possible. Some are doing alot more than that.

Disclaimer: That is not my rear end in the avatar.

Bake, what the hell are you doing flying? SWA (we) need in at the GO hiring FAs

 

[Empennage]

From what your coworkers are telling me, that's not the case, and I like what I hear.

86 hours of TFP per month on 60-70 of block in the 17-18 days off range is just fine with me. If you had listened, you would realize I was talking about where I shoot for on OUR schedules, which is, on average, about 5 hours more credit than block on any given line, like every other airline out there. Your TFP system is unique, but it's the block hours that drives days off (assuming productive trips).

We're so short-staffed, no one has any extra days off to pick up our trips we drop into the trade board and we can't straight drop through FLiCA because there are never enough reserves (denied due to min coverage). It prohibits massaging your schedule to produce soft credit and will only get worse as we enter peak flying summer schedules.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement on schedules. Sounds really great, looking forward to it! :beer:

Short staffed? Yet there's still movement with sap 1 and sap 2.

Wait till you see how short staffed we are here real quick. I believe it will be ja nation.

FYI for any given day, there are only a few am and a few pm reserve guys in base. There is no trading down or dropping to reserves. There really is no trading down with elitt.

It's good but I do believe there will be an adjustment period. Most trips are very dense.

 

[Ty Webb]

You guys without "pull" in scheduling are going to "hurtin' for certain" once summer rolls around . . . . . Ty, of course, is the Jackie Treehorn of Scheduling's Malibu.

 

[MRW]

Been averaging 140-160TFP / month for over a year now. Still getting 16-17 days off a month with an average block of 70-80. Bottom 30% of FO seniority list. Tell me your future ex wives dont want some of that coin. $16-20K per month without even trying hard!

 

[scoreboardII]

Lear, I hear you, but over here, unless you're senior in base, you're not going to be able to drop or trade down from you're line. Like you, SWA is always understaffed. Except for the month of Feb.

The dynamic right now is because we are short manned, everyone who would take you're trip, is holding out for premium pay from a company assigned trip.

Take care.