It's gotten better for sure, but I don't know how much of that is because he's gone, or that we now have a contract that is much better to work under than when he was here. Also, many of the same people are here that led to the pattern of disrespect and poor relations between the pilots and management, but even that is better without him. So do we miss him? In short, NO!

He's like a used car salesman in a nice suit. Believe me, if it's not knotted up tight with no wiggle room, he'll find a way to exploit it and abuse it. As an example, I have heard, and someone eluded to, in your TA, if you are on long call reserve your minimum daily guarantee won't apply. Our experience with him is, he'll have all of your crews on long call, except one on short call, and rotate which crew that is day to day, assuring no one racks up any credit for their time in hotels. I fear you'll spend the rest of your month chasing guarantee, lucky to get over it. That's just how he operates.

At Ryan, because of things that happened to us in our first contract, under Crippen, we refused to accept any contract that didn't assign value to every single day, in one way or another. Nothing for us is free, or allows them to keep us out without crediting us for it. Travel days, 24 in 7's, training days, and of course trips and reserve days (long or short), every day has a value. It's extremely rare to come in under guarantee, and not uncommon to be 20-30 hours over it. It's the daily guarantee that assures that, not necessarily a lot of flying. A 1 for 2 duty rig, 4.5 hour minimum daily credit for every day, premium pay for all flying outside your line, fewer max days on, and seniority protection, all things that were absolute necessitates for our current contract, regardless of how long it was going to take to get it.

So, whether you guys decide this TA is best for you, or you decide to send it back and try again, I wish you nothing but the best going forward, and hope this info is helpful in making your decision.