Originally Posted by
sailingfun
We also used to pay for hotels if you were ATL based or converted to ATL for a new category for all training including CQ and transition. If you were still on probation and bid to new equipment the cost of a hotel for 6 weeks was about the same as a months pay.
Sailing is right. For all you newer guys, please realize that our contract often sucked--badly--back in the day, even though we might have "had a pension." The work rules were so far worse compared to today, I laugh every time read someone whining about "QOL" when they really have very little perspective.
The contractual language stated that a pilot got a hotel room only for "training away from his base." Since near all training is in ATL, that meant that all ATL commuters--thousands of them--were on their own for all CQ and all (!) initial qual events. How about that? Here you are a longtime commuter, get your dream 767A bid...and it is back to a crashpad for six weeks! (the training footprint was longer then also, since no distributed training).
We fixed this, and many other things, "one small bite of the apple" at a time, most of it post-BK. You'd never know that listening to some.
But...further improvements are always needed. Better DH language, better crew meals, better(!!!) reroute language and pay guarantee, etc. And new hires should get hotels for all their training.