Originally Posted by
Qotsaautopilot
I'm not sure why people thing our work rules are so amazing. Maybe compared to AA (I can't verify that) but against UAL, DAL, jetblue, and southwest it's nothing to call home about. We beat out only Virgin and Allegiant. 4 days off yes is tops but really what else? Transition? That's like a guy in a trailer thinking he's going to be a part or the 1%. It's a ****ing unicorn. I actually get it most months at my seniority but most don't and I screw my whole life schedule up because I can't plan **** the first or last week of the month because that's how I make money. It's a joke. So someone please tell me about these amazing work rules we have.
Exactly.. I can't figure out which work rules everybody is talking about. Transition benefits about 5% of the pilot group, our trip/duty rigs are weak, and trip averaging essentially guarantees that we never get paid for anything over block. For those who do benefit from the transition, they have to organize their entire life around the beginning and end of each month. Based on what I've been reading on the AA threads our work rules are potentially better but like Qotsaautopilot said, DAL, UAL, and most others besides Virgin and Allegiant have us beat. The only two things worth bragging about here are our red/green language and 4 days off (which is a double edged sword but that's another issue). JRM's and making deals with crew scheduling aren't work rules. All of that crap will come to an end at some point.
Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy working here and would like to make it a career. I just hope we stop convincing ourselves that we have the best work rules in the industry and realize that we have a lot of work to do on this next contract. Pay rates, retirement, LTD (seriously, ours is hands down one of the worst in the industry), and higher daily min credit to name a few areas in which we lag dramatically behind our peers.