Originally Posted by
ColdWhiskey
What difference does it matter what size F9 is? Our negotiators need to educate the new NMB members that Frontier pilots were once one of the highest paid Airbus operators (and that was when we were much smaller than we are now).
In addition, our upper management receives compensation that is on par with their legacy contemporaries.
In addition, SWA pilots have proved for many, many years that just because they were an LCC, they didn't have to work for less than their legacy counterparts (and that has been the case going back many years when they were a small airline relative to the legacy majors).
From the Alaska/Virgin arbitration...
"In awarding these increases, we are satisfied that Alaska pilots will be properly ranked just behind the four leading industry carriers.5 There is reason for such relative juxtaposition, but it is also true that Alaska is not properly considered fully comparable to American, Delta, United or Southwest. Those carriers, unlike Alaska, all have large networks, in some cases global, and substantially different operating models. They are between 3 to 5 times larger than Alaska and, due to their larger size and scale, they maintain strong networks with large numbers of corporate accounts and high revenue customers who demand frequency and breadth of service that can only be provided by carriers of that size and scale. By contrast, Alaska earns almost half its domestic revenue from just two cities, Seattle and San Francisco. For these reasons, it cannot be considered a global network."
Unfortunately for us, size and business model do matter to the NMB.
My prediction...
There will be more mediation sessions in March and April. In each the company will offer more money but will not back down on PBS. The NMB will insist that the company's offer is more than reasonable and we can take it or sit on ice. Sound familiar? The NC will put a TA similar to Spirit's (including PBS) out to a vote later this year.
That's where my prediction ends. It's up to the Frontier pilots to decide if PBS is worth it. Any contract with PBS is an automatic no for me, but I'm just one vote.
Remember, PBS is a concession. Period. Any gains (higher hourly rates, retirement DC, etc) can easily be stripped away in bankruptcy. Sure Frontier is very profitable today, but ask anyone who was flying in 2001 if they thought their airline would file bankruptcy in the near future on September 10th, 2001.