Originally Posted by
rokgpsman
Allegiant management has stated they don't mind the high turnover in pilots, it actually works in the company's favor to limit salary expenses. Due to the large number of pilot applicants from regional airlines and elsewhere they have been able to easily replace pilots in the past. Think about it - this scheme reduces the cost to the company for pilot salaries. After a few years of employment many pilots move on and are replaced by new pilots that accept the job at a lower salary than the pilot they replaced. Allegiant has never tried to be a career job for a pilot, they don't want a large number of 15-20 year pilots that would earn much more than the initial salary they accepted. If you have a never-ending supply of new pilots that will work for a lower salary why would you want to keep any of them around for years and have to pay them a higher salary? (other than experience, safety, professionalism, tutoring younger pilots, etc - all of which means very little to Allegiant upper management)
I've heard this many times. But I'm pretty convinced it's BS word of mouth, part of an overall negative sentiment.
Facts are the company tends to hire middle aged pilots, and the pay scales for CA's barely budge between years 3-12. 401K is the same. Most middle aged pilots have about the same medical costs, some older guys might skew upwards but that is offset by the lack of children. Vacation time is negligible with the PTO setup. On top of this, the training department is not setup for high turnover and growth like a regional is. There really is no point for mgmt to encourage turnover, or try to limit longevity, at least with the current work rules.