Saying that pilots should have read the contract in deciding whether to come here is a bit much. I mean, substitution encompasses about 14 full pages of the contract. I still don’t understand all of it. And there are things that simply you don’t know to ask about because you don’t know tot ask about them. Like the system bid length (which is not contractual), not being able to base transfer outside system bids (what started this whole thread), extensions up to 36/84 hours which is RIDICULOUS! It doesn’t matter that it pays 200%, it should be less ridiculous and then up to the pilot to decide if he wants to extend for 200%. Saying that you can just call in fatigue isn’t anything to brag about. Other places have less than half the extension and they can call in fatigue as well. In fact, every single airline in the US, from part 135 to regional to legacy any pilot can call in fatigue anytime they want. That is not a contractual benefit (another attitude problem we have here getting contractual and legal benefits that exist outside the contract confused). Even our sick time is convoluted here. And there are other things that looked great in the contract but when here you realize it was a bait and switch, looking at R24 as an easy example. Another example is cash over cap.” Or lack thereof. I didn’t know that was a thing until I came here because why would I? I was a low paid pilot before. But it seems that that is a standard item except for here. Other items are a lot more strict, like our commuter clause. No one else has the duty day restriction. That was a gem I found here. And why wouldn’t it count for deviations? All other places their commuter clause counts whether you are deviating or not. Another surprise. Other non-contractual things is the DOS era way of trying to improve your line. My regional had better IT interface than the 90s era we have here. There are also cultural things as well like the pressure to PDO bump in order to consolidate or maintain landing currency. Ask your friends at other airlines about this and they will have no idea what you are talking about. For them it’s part of being an international pilot that every 90 days they get a paid trip to the training house to reset their landings, no questions asked. It’s part of the gig and everyone knows it. Or pilots always seeming saying, what are you willing to give up for that? And when you say nothing, nothing they laugh and say, you haven’t been here long have you? That’s not how FedEx does it. And why do pilots here compare our top rate to the legacy’s top rate? That’s THREE years longer to reach the top rate. We should be comparing our 12 year rate to their 12 year rate. And there is the sentiment in this thread as well, knocking pilots down for simply pointing out the obvious flaws in our contract. Those pilots tell you, well you can still go to Delta, nothing is stopping you.

Anyway, I blame myself for not knowing about SUB, cash over cap, system bids, R24/HSTBY, 84 hr extensions, 1 hr call outs, commuter restrictions, etc. I should have read the entire 400 page legal document myself before hand. Not that I necessarily would’ve made a different choice. But that shouldn’t matter anyway because one can come here with the natural feeling that with time the contract would be improved, assuming no bankruptcies of course. But apparently that was another thing I didn’t know, that this contract had several concessions from the previous one. So maybe I should have read both of them before coming here? It’s impossible to know all the contractual and non-contractual items, let alone the cultural issues.

/rant