Originally Posted by
CantStayAway
Valid points. For what it’s worth, IF I had to choose, I’d keep the flexibility. There are so many people here who have never flown 121 before that I’m nervous we may end up going to an industry standard reserve-based drop/swap (aka: DENIED). I’d personally prefer to keep our flexibility even if it came with a lower hourly rate. I don’t believe that it is as much of an issue as they make it out to be though. Until lately (due to all of the premium flying) when a pilot dropped a trip into open time it was sucked up within 30 seconds (yes literally).
No no no!!!
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the flexibility. But you can't put that in APC under the pay rates column. NO ONE IS COMING HERE for the flexibility. In fact, guys who have it are leaving. We need the RATES. We need to get paid - even if we have to give up some of the QoL items - just to be competitive w/ other airlines. Otherwise, we stagnate. And that wonderful flexibility is lessened by the fact that there are no upgrades, there's no open time and PAF is a desperate measure in the 11th hour that requires guys to be online 24/7 just to get it. Rates are king in this world.
TBH, there really should be no reason why we can't have the rates AND the flexibility. Imagine a AA pilot leaving for F9...
A competent CEO could manage this. Hell, he'd be PROUD to.