I truly don't understand how anyone thinks that a retention bonus is somehow better than a hard pay rates, or how anyone thought that we would get a higher pay scale than PSA/Piedmont. PSAs is a blended (higher) rate because all the pilots there fly large regional jets and small, most of their fleet being the large. At Envoy, you either fly a large or a small, and you can't go back and forth without a training event. 2/3 of our fleet is the 140/145, and 1/3 of our captains are on the C scale of pay. If we paid based on airplane type, you'd just have the senior guys at the top bidding for the 175, still making only 1/3 of captains being on the higher pay scale. How does none of this make sense to anyone complaining about the pay rates? Your entire career in the airlines, no matter which airline you are at, your pay will be based on the size of the plane you fly. Go look at the captain scales at American for a 787 vs a 190.

I'm not arguing in favor of of pay banding, but the sense of entitlement and complaining here is just insane. Our contract wasn't even up for negotiation, and we have rates now that are above standard for regionals. We are only being beat out by PSA, Republic, and Endeavor, all 3 of which all their pilots fly large regional jets.

Also you won't even receive your first retention bonus until about 16-17 months on property. You'll get the new pay rates in your paycheck every 2 weeks. You don't have to worry or try to calculate the whole witholding vs tax rate issue you do with the bonuses. You also have a more stable and flat income, vs bursts of higher income, which allow for easier application for loans and payment of benefits, while also receiving more of a total 401k match.

It does seem unfortunate that most of the things in the AIP were dropped, but at least wait until the final language is released before starting to complain about it.

We are no longer bottom of the barrel pay next to Mesa and TSA. I think this is something that should be looked at positively, not ****** on entirely.