Reading thru the OP’s very long post, couple of their points are valid, but many are not. I would caution anyone reading that to take it for what it is – ****ed disgruntled (unemployed) pilot.
I’ve worked here a year, and am currently working here, I believe the pilots here are safe and follow the rules, we are a group of professionals. The swift pilot group is a great group of people.
Are there some sore spots in the management of the company – yes. Most of what the OP wrote about in their original post related to scheduling, and for the most part their perspective on scheduling is pretty accurate picture of scheduling at this airline. Some of the other things the OP wrote were either very slanted or just not true. In the interest of having a more balance and truthful view of this I’ll tell you what I think bullet by bullet.
Maintenance and overall safety has plummeted – NEITHER AGREE NOR DISAGREE – Without the stats from the last couple years it would be hard to come to this conclusion – OP needs to support that with some data if they believe it’s true. I’m not seeing it, but I’ve been here a year, OP was here how long?
No culture to report safety issues – DISAGREE – The OP was a participant in the safety culture or lack of safety culture – just because the OP doesn’t report safety issues doesn’t mean everyone doesn’t. “The program is rumored…” that sounds really concrete NEXT…
Everything is pencil whipped – DISAGREE – Miami does seem to be the least competent maintenance in the company, but it seems to be improving and everywhere else the maintenance has been pretty solid. I don’t think the pilots have lost the will to write up stuff – in fact I think lately there’s more resolve then ever to write up stuff and get it corrected. The planes are old… so what? Lots of planes are old – 757’s are old but damn there’s still a lot of them going to Hawaii daily.
4/5 flights involves a malfunction – DISAGREE – On average I have had to reference the QRH one flight every other month. So about 1 in 60 flights. Most of the time minor issues. I disagree with the rest of the paragraph as well.
Management culture is money hungry – AGREE – Most management types are money centric – certainly that’s a driving factor here and every other airline I’ve been at – no one wants to cancel a flight, but our jobs are to keep the operation safe – OP needs to put on the big boy pants and remember the job of a professional pilot is keep the operation safe regardless of what management wants – some guys don’t have thick enough skin.
Chief pilot calling to yell and cuss – DISAGREE – I have not seen that at all, I have been on flights where we had issues and called the CP and he was behind our decision to not fly.
Pilots trying to do what’s right – AGREE – this is a good group of professionals and what I see is people working to do things by the book, do the job correctly and be safe.
Schedule, Crew Scheduling and that whole rant about Mr. CW – MOSTLY AGREE – If this were an episode of survivor you can bet pretty much every pilot here would try to vote Mr. CW off the island immediately. We would then follow it up with Mr. DS. Crew scheduling is a sore spot at this company. Some of their actions/choices/the way they manage stuff are why QOL is what it is. Crew scheduling is the singular biggest problem with this job… they are inefficient, they do not care how many connections you need to make on the way to work or how many hours you sit on the last row center seat of an AA flight. They don’t hesitate to deadhead you on the Sunday before Christmas to have you sit 6 reserve days in a row and do nothing when they knew the ice flights were cancelled. As an example You might have a 9 day rotation, you travel into position day 1, then fly day 2,3,4 then have a 30 then fly day 6,7 then you’ll terminate that flight in the middle of nowhere like Lincoln Nebraska on day 7. Now there’s no swift aircraft in Lincoln (it had another crew take it the moment you arrived), there’s no reason for you to be there, but they will stick you on reserve day 8 and travel home day 9 on the latest possible flight from Lincoln just because it’s your work day versus sending you home on day 8 and putting you on reserve at home for day 9. If they were a bit more generous with sending people home when there was no need for them to be in a hotel in the middle of nowhere they might find the pilots more willing to work other days that month when they needed help, but they’re often just too dense to see it. We also spend a lot of time crossing the nation, and when you talk to other pilots you see just how inefficient scheduling is. The dude in PHX could do the ELP stuff pretty easy, but they send him to NY, and get someone from SYR to go to ELP. It’s frequently mismanaged and nonsensical – it’s part of the job, but if they ever figure out how to fix this department then this will be the greatest place to work.
Management and CP lying about raises – DISAGREE – raises did show up, but maybe they only showed up because the OP left. If the OP had not departed we might not have them. Who knows?
Europe flying given to contractors – NEITHER AGREE NOR DISAGREE – The OP is speculating they may be correct or may be incorrect. The company doesn’t communicate much so we really don’t know.
It’s a terrible place – DISAGREE – it’s a place, it’s a job, like any airline it has issues, but it’s overall a good opportunity unless you have a better one. By all means if UAL, FEDX or UPS is calling I recommend going there, if not, and you’re choosing between this and an FO slot at GoGet this is pretty damn good. Nowhere is perfect.
Company hasn’t communicated direction, plan, outlook – AGREE – They are not very good communicators.
Constant Rumors not followed through – DISAGREE??? – That’s a funny one, accusing the company of not following thru on a rumor. Hummm…. Maybe I’ll start a rumor that the company will send every employee on an all expense paid trip to Hawaii after their 1 year anniversary… now I’m gonna get ****ed because they didn’t follow thru on the rumor. WTF?
Everyone unhappy – DISAGREE - I’m not unhappy, so I guess it’s not everyone.
Low Morale – MOSTLY DISAGREE – The company is not very good at communicating with the employee group, this causes a lot of rumors to start and people feed on that. Generally speaking however most of the people I get in the plane with are in good spirits. I lived thru a union labor negotiating phase at an airline and I know what LOW MORALE looks like, this ain’t it. If there were still monthly pilot meetings and more open communication morale might be better. But then again this is work, perhaps the OP is a millennial with some entitlement issues.
Complete lack of regulations – COMPLETELY DISAGREE – I have not seen this in the least. I know the regs, I have not observed anyone ignoring regulation or our opspecs. My observation is everyone here is interested in doing things in accordance with regs.
It’s better at a regional – COMPLETELY DISAGREE – you’re flying a 737, flying for 90/hr as an FO instead of 75-80/hr as a captain of a ERJ550. Getting the chance to see some pretty cool stuff, I think this was a huge upgrade from the regional. My first month I was flying from Toronto to Cancun and Punta Cana and Montego Bay… overnighting in many of these cool destinations. Regional is better really? Not!
Terribly Managed/Corrupt Humans – PARTIALLY AGREE/PARTIALLY DISAGREE – Certain departments have some issues, some are simply growing pains, not having systems in place for growth etc. Are a couple departments maybe and in need of a house cleaning – yes. Mr. CF the OP spoke of should probably be let go, as well as Mr. DS. Certainly the pilot group would vote both off the island if given the chance. Yes, payroll will mess up your check but I think they are good people doing their best but they are totally overwhelmed by trying to process this volume without the proper systems.
Terrible pay for a 737 – DISAGREE – Just look at SunCountry, then also compare Allegiant, Spirit, Frontier. We’re now $90x60 hr mmg, so about $5400, all others are 75 hr mmg x 50-57 so about 4K per month. Numbers don’t lie. True we just got a “Raise” and it did pretty much nothing for FO year 1 and 2, but, we’re still higher than the ULCCs.
Terrible MX – MOSTLY DISAGREE - most of our mechanics are very good, and they work hard to get every issue resolved, some are way overwhelmed and need help, they do have trouble getting parts on occasion. There are some that are not very good especially in Miami – but this isn’t any different than any other airline – some good guys and some not so good. I have got in airplanes with 10+ MELS at the regional, I have never seen more than 3-4 on an airplane here at the same time. I will say, we do utilize our MEL to it’s full extent, but we don’t fly it if it’s not safe or not legal, period. If the FILL IN THE BLANK is broke and the MEL allows dispatch, and the broken item is not required for the flight legally, and the captain is comfortable with the mission and the absence of that equipment, we will fly and complete the mission – but the MEL allows that, as a professional aviator this is the job. Perhaps the OP was still in his 172 days thinking everything should work all the time. Not reality in this or any other airline I’ve been in.
Lack of Benefits – SOMEWHAT AGREE – Benefits are al la carte except they will cover the employee on HDHP free of charge now, and contribute the first $500 to your HSA. There is no company 401K contribution which really makes iAero more of a stepping stone and not a career job IMHO.
No Quality of Life – MOSTLY DISAGREE – It could be better if they could improve crew scheduling. However At my last job I commuted – now I don’t big QOL improvement, at my last job I sat airport reserve – chained to a suitcase in an uncorfortable chair – not here – big QOL improvement, at my last job they would junior assign crap on me – not here. Does that scheduling department have some issues – yes, could it be better – yes – they need to be allowed to think and shown how to think about the system differently.
Complete lack of standardization – DISAGREE – we have clear standards for some things, could there be more? Sure, but in my opinion standardization does exist in areas where it’s most important. Some people need total micromanagement, I personally like thinking for myself and being given the freedom to make choices on little things.