Originally Posted by
anthony210
While I would not quite go as deep into the doom and gloom as Miami73, I can agree with most of what he says.
Having been on property a year and a half I have experienced a lot of what Miami73 describes though the van rides and commercials are not in my opinion as bad he says.
I have only been stuck in a middle seat 1 time thus far and it was on a short flight so it did not matter much anyway. Once you get enough miles to get status which will happen fairly quickly you will get to pick better seats and even get upgraded to business/first occasionally. I have done a few van rides to Punta Gorda, Tampa, and Orlando but I have never done more 1 or 2 of them in a month and honestly have not even had a van ride longer than an hour in more than a few months.
The pay does suck and the 3 year contract is terrible but we do pay more than any regional airline so I think its a good option for someone looking to get out of the regionals and into charter. I think the pay will go up quite a bit once we get the new contract but obviously no one knows for sure. The company wants the contract done by the end of the year and from the looks of things it might actually happen. If its worth voting yes on is yet to be seen of course.
Keep in mind there are quite a few bonuses to working for a charter airline such as racking up those airline miles and hotel points. This is something most if not all scheduled airlines do not get. Of course we do not get the non rev benefits that they get but you will have CASS and can jumpseat on most US carriers.
In short, from my limited time. I like it here. Every airline is going to have its flaws and we have some big ones but thus far I have enjoyed myself here more than any other airline I have worked for. If you can handle only flying a few hundred hours a year and deal with the flaws we have it can be a good place to work. Especially if some of the pay and other concerns are addressed in the upcoming contract.
Anything can be justified I suppose. But 1.5 years is not a lot of time to see the bigger trend. I hope I'm wrong, but holding out for a "significant" increase in pay in the new contract is exactly what management is hoping everyone does. It buys them some more time!
When (and if) a new contract ever comes to vote, how fast do you think everyone on the fence will bail when they see the actual numbers? It's not going to be anywhere close to what we are hoping or expecting....
Maybe you're one of the "chosen" ones, but my schedule is full of ridiculous commercials and van rides. Wanna trade schedules?!
The pay/compensation here is flat out a joke compared to the other Majors and Legacies. People were willing to accept the lower pay in the past for the good quality of life. Now with a crappy quality of life (horrible deadheads, short layovers, crappy hotels, less exotic destinations, bad trips, etc) it's hard to justify being treated like this while being poorly compensated... hence the large amount of captains and first officers leaving. Enough said on that.
I still believe that someone looking to get into the charter world is better off looking at Eastern and/or Atlas. The pay is better, the potential is better, and the risk regarding a future is no greater than what we have here. Not sure what Miami Air can offer above those two carriers right now?!?!?
btw- have you tried using your miles lately? With the new award rules, you accrue less (sometimes none on our tickets that travel books) and it takes a lot more to get an award. I'd rather make more $$$ and use it to buy a ticket if I want to fly or for something else...