I visited World in ATL and got an interview on the spot. Not sure what the next step is. I was told new news is that they are hiring 6 for June (I think). I guess they have another aircraft coming online.
If they're hiring it's news to me although I knew they were going to be at the job fair. Hiring could be to cover attrition. We've had some retirements recently plus I'm hearing of an occasional F/O leaving for greener pastures.
Questions:
Q: How much are you really gone. They said up to 20 days a month.
A: Up to 20 days when we're busy is a good estimate. Some lines are out 2 weeks and home 2 weeks. Seniority rules however. As a newbie you'll be more subject to the whims of scheduling. I suspect that's true at every airline.
Q: Whats the average trip length?
A: There really isn't an average in the sense that giving you a number would be meaningless. However, once you're online the schedulers like to keep you there. A good feature of our new contract is that we can get up to 12 days off guaranteed (with a few caveats: see below) a month as opposed to the old 6 hard and 6 soft. The company used to have the option of taking your soft 6 (for more money and only if you were an open flyer) but now you get all 12 if you want it with one exception. If the company needs flyers they can ask for volunteers to fly on their 6 soft days off (you have to bid it that way) and the company will ask for volunteers first. It used to be hit or miss (whoever answered the phone first). if their aren't enough volunteers they can take the soft 6 in reverse seniority. What's the difference you ask? Well, seniority is now protected and flying on soft days off will be mostly volunteer.
Q: If you are home station based, does airline travel to and from the aircraft count as a day off or a day on.
A: If you're commercialing for a domestic flight departure your commercial is based on a legal pairing from your base , IAD or LAX for now (meaning it's a real flight and there's actually availability on the flight + a legal backup flight) and if you're international it's based on the daparture time from your home airport. Short answer to your question: It counts as a day of work from your commercial time
Q: They never said anything about payroll deduct fee for home station based.
A: $100 a month before the new contract. It goes up to $125 now I think.
Q: I was told a two year contract. Is it prorated if you decide to leave?
A: Don't know (I think so) but I do know they have pursued repayment in the past from newhires who left early and gotten their payback for leaving early.
Q: For a new hire, about how long to upgrade?
A: "When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars"
In other words, who knows. We're a small company and there's no certainty
Q: Are upgrades by senority order?
A: Yes
Q: How much can a new hire expect to make first year?
A: A lot of newhires I know make about $40,000 their first year but they're flying a lot. Things are a little slower right now than they have been in the last few years. You could probably count on about 90% of that.
Thanks in advance. I am seriously considering this job as a career and looking forward to getting the call back. Any info is very helpful.[/QUOTE]
Looking forward to seeing you out there!