Originally Posted by
Cruz5350
@Disillusioned
I cant tell if you're disappointed or surprised? I think you've been in this regional game longer than me, but every time I've seen a situation come up where a company could do the right thing they almost never do. From an economics standpoint you're asking them to spend more money so see it from their eyes.... why would they? The regionals have always operated on a who can do it cheaper model and still make acceptable profits, sadly us pilots are not in the drivers seat in regards to bargaining for better pay. We've been able to cover all the attrition with new hires and it honestly doesn't appear to be swinging the other direction anytime soon. If IAH closes that will just help the staffing model that much more and we already know that we have flying not being renewed. I don't see us having a leg to bargain for raises due to staffing anytime soon. If you want a pay raise you'll have to leave and go somewhere else, otherwise accept the mess were in and deal with it. I hate that this is the case just as much as anyone else, but I'm over getting bent out of shape about it.
Disappointed but not surprised. When I was applying, I waited until I could get the 1,000 hours because I really wanted SW. My friends that went to other regionals told me horror stories of getting extended into a day off after not being used during their reserve days and general mistreatment. I feel our QOL is under constant attack here and the boiling water has been increased so gradual that people don't understand how much we have lost over the years.
I really had planned on just staying at SW. Didn't care if I upgraded fast since I wanted to just be around to see my kids grow up. But after I realized that SW places just little value on seniority and my QOL didn't really increase as my seniority got higher, I started working hard to get out. I figure if I am going to have to work 16 days a month in the top 1/3 of my domicile, I may as well be making more money at a major doing it. If we had half the protection as our union sister company, they wouldn't be able to keep up with attrition. As it stands right now, we take on all this extra flying from our partners at a premium, and force our pilot group to fly 95+ hour lines each month at straight pay. Don't let the seniority lists fool you. I have already proven time and time again that it is filled with cadets and other pilots that are not on-site. I think they do this to give a false sense of insecurity to our pilot group and that they we have no negotiating leverage because they are filling classes to keep up with attrition.
Most of my posts are just to let those that are looking here to know what they are in for. I didn't realize the value of representation when I was trying to hard to get my hours to be hired at SW. You are 100% correct in things not getting any better as long as we are filling classes. When you ask why would they spend more money than they need to, I am just asking them to honor the agreements they made with their pilot group. It should be very apparent to everyone how little power SAPA has to help our group. And as the attrition increases, there will be even less people to help remind those coming in of what handshake agreements and promises were made by the company. But eventually their will be a tipping point where their choices to make more money will be lost in the lack of goodwill with the pilot group. Hopefully I will not be around to witness that disappointment firsthand.