Originally Posted by
ShyGuy
Let’s admit that AS today has two separate entities that feel differently. Legacy AS and legacy VX. On your end there haven’t been any major losses. Maybe a couple guys lose their AUS turn or ABQ turn lines or whatever other crap the Airbus is taking over. On the VX side everything is changing for the worse. With no scope, Airbus routes are giving way to E175s. A base closure with no support or info on what do to in order to move. Told twice we’d get Fedex letters explaining everything and nada. Losing scheduling to a worse system with worse rules. Some of those are extremely archaic. A huge issue is seeing how you guys handle outright violations. For example, it came out a couple months ago that mgt messed something up in scheduling (something about step trading windows or some coverage that results in things not being approved but should have been approved). And the pilot response was that your leadership basically shook a very hard finger at mgt and told them not to let it happen again, but the rumor I heard was something very similar did happen again. It comes off as a lack of backbone issue. I digress. Terrible place to work? It depends on your definition of it, but compared to the other legacy carriers yes this place is going downhill. Let alone all the other stuff, having zero scope alone makes it terrible. Nothing like seeing E175s take over Airbus routes, and didn’t they say one Airbus lease in 2019 wouldn’t be renewed? No one knows what their game plan is but I can tell ya if you think morale is bad now just wait IF they start returning Buses and replacing more routes with E175s. The TPA protections go away after the merger operational date expiration thing. After that, block hours and fleet numbers are all up in the air or on the chopping block.
As for guys I know one AS guy that came to VX as Packrat mentioned. I also know one guy who interviewed at VX with me and wasn’t hired, and then was in an AS class 6 months later. I’m sure that’s also true vice versa. As for the hiring dynamics, the industry was what it was in 2007-2008. I can’t speak for who came to VX and their reasons. I can only speak for myself, and losing a base, facing a 2200nm commute, schedules that won’t touch east coast home overnights, going from a decent scheduling system to a crappy one, losing days off, less efficient trips, etc, for me ends up being a terrible deal. The payraise doesn’t make up for it. And put another way, if this wasn’t a terrible deal then would I be looking for employment elsewhere? Because as it stands I am looking to get out. I don’t think I’d say that for anything but a terrible deal. Maybe my wording should be it’s a terrible deal instead of a terrible place. Just my honest opinion. In the merger so far, the 117 east coast based pilots have lost the most. It is what it is.
I absolutely understand you JFK pilots are getting a raw deal out of the merger and I feel for you. As I’ve said, I’ve walked in those shoes. I do mean it when I’ve said I wish you the best in your job hunt. I agree we see the company through different glasses because of our different situations. However, those 175’s affect all of us. For every Bus that’s returned and the routes replaced by an RJ, those pilots will move onto the 737 and potentially bump those pilots down. If they don’t retain the busses or don’t replace them then 800 pilots integrate on the 737 and many schedules on both side become much worse. Believe me, this affects all of us. I still can’t justifiably call this a terrible place to work just because we are falling behind the other airlines. I can say it’s being poorly run at the moment and employee/management relations are in the toilet. I can say that if this downward trend continues it has the potential to become a terrible place to work but currently, the job itself and the people I work with are not terrible. Now don’t confuse that with complacency or being koolaid drunk, I’ll be there every step of the way to improve this place and make it worthy of the legacy title. Good luck to you Shy.