One man's thoughts:

I am mid thirties with two years in at Purple. Prior to Purple I spent nine years flying RJ's and one year at an Atlanta based Legacy carrier.

1. In regards to PBS - adopting PBS would have an incredibly negative impact on our QOL at Purple. We enjoy the most robust vacation system in the aviation industry. By robust I mean that you often have many options when it comes to using vacation. One can choose between maximizing time off, pay, or at times selling the vacation. The truth is that at some point in the year most of us need that extended break. I can typically handle flying at night without much issue (sure some nights are a lot harder than others) but those breaks with a week of vacation are often well needed breaks from the grind. That being said, PBS would deteriorate that benefit. Even if the language was pretty restrictive at first it would be under attack with every passing contract. Next thing you know the benefit is completely gone. Why even open that door?

From the companies point of view, and I've said this before, adopting PBS would create a need to completely change how we build our schedules. Hub turns could no longer be a string of single day pairings. Every week of hub turns would have to be built as a full week of flying. This restricts a great deal of their flexibility and ours. Need just one day off? Now you can drop that one day. With PBS it is likely you would have to drop the entire week, greatly decreasing flexibility. Likely that sick calls would go up as well.

2. Retirement - The legacy I came from was contributing 15% to a DC plan at the time I left. I think that might be 17% now but I'm not sure. With our current A plan it takes just over $2.5 million dollars to generate the annual income and that is assuming between a 5 and 6 percent return. If we were dumb enough to rid ourselves of this plan then I have just given up $2.5 million dollars overnight. Unless my classmates from the legacy all have over $2.5 million plus whatever the company has contributed to my B fund in their retirement accounts at the 25 year mark then I count myself ahead because that is the intrinsic value of what my retirement will be worth at 25 years. Why would I be in favor of giving that up? I'm not. In fact, I am highly concerned about what is happening right now but I'm listening. I have flown with a few guys who say, "you have plenty of time to make it up." Why would I want to make it up? I only caring about getting further ahead.

Anyhow, just my opinion on those two subjects. I love flying for Purple, it's an incredible job and I can't even begin to tell you how great the crew force is to work with, day and night. We have an excellent training department and our management in my experience has been great. I play by the rules, commute responsibly, and enjoy the benefits.

-UA