Originally Posted by
dracir1
Seems like there's an argument down in the weeds about reserve grids, dropping to zero, other QoL items...
There's really is only 1 true litmus test to this whole thing. NO ONE from any legacy has ever voluntarily left their airline for the Qol items of NK, F9 or any other ULCC. Quite simply, the pay is SO MUCH greater, the only real way to make up for that via QoL items would be the company paying us to stay home at the rate of 4-5 days a month. In other words, all legacy is paid the equivalent of about a 20 hour trip more per month (without having to actually work those extra 20 hours).
The rate is THE MOST important aspect of the negotiation. Why? Because of one very simple but often forgotten (or not realized) fact. Most of the QoL provisions in EVERY contract are conditional - they aren't absolute. The provisions can often be easily manipulated or outright nullified by management actions. That is what has happened at F9 for this contract. Rest assured, no matter what QoL provisions we bargain for on the next one, there will be quite a few that can/will be eventually negated by mgt actions.
Sure, nobody leaves the legacies, but not everyone leaves the ULCCs either. The pay really isn't that much different if you take into account that seniority progression at the ULCCs was faster before covid than at the legacies. I was 25% company wide after 5 years at NK. To get to 50% as a NB captain at DL/AA/WN/UA would have taken a decade longer. I would normally block 60, credit 90. Pick the days I would work, home every holiday, premium if I wanted it. And I still told everyone to go to the legacies, because in the long run it is better. It worked for me till it didn't.