Originally Posted by
DAL330drvr
The long term effect at NWA was that we went from 6600 pilots to 5000 pilots. The MSP ALPA Mafia always said HIT flying had no effect on staffing, but the company later admitted it did. NWA was very "data driven", we always ran in the red when it came to staffing, that's why we never hired the kind of numbers that other airlines hired during the good old days... I believe the most we hired in one year was in '96 and it didn't reach 600 pilots. HIT flying came after that and the rest is history. Let the over 80 premium die, it's gone, bye, bye!!
You know, I was kind of looking at this discussion as if it were some sort of philosophical issue, but your post kind of brings it home. But then again, I was failing to appreciate how this is all simply... just about money. Taking this further, I am now wondering if people want the "HIT" flying because they're not yet comfy with the GS (as Keenster was saying), or whether they like it as some sort of happy trough of overtime flying on which to feast.
What I
like about our system is that people that want to pick up overtime, i.e. help the company out while they help themselves (nothing wrong with that, of course) don't get
rewarded for keeping the staffing low
in advance. Now, these people have to make decisions with the WS/GS system. If they
really need/want/plan on/lust after after that flying, they have to commit to a WS, at straight rates. That, of course, removes a potential GS from the pot, and makes GSWC very unlikely. If they don't go sort of "greedy early", and they sit tight, then they and everyone else around them, has the potential for true premium pay with a GS, IA, or even a GSWC at the last minute. The fact everyone gets a shot at a GS, in seniority order, is icing on the cake: it stops the problem we used to have on the South side, with senior people hogging the extra flying.
When that happens, and the company needs us because
they are not staffing enough,
they cough up 2X pay. When
we do the opposite, and try to help them keep the staffing nice and tight, we don't get
rewarded with premium flying. The habit is
not fed. The incentives reward having a
normal schedule, and stepping up only when the company hurts, at a fair premium rate.
What's not to like?
If this is a philosophical discussion (and I don't think it is), then it's a philosophical discussion that pits those who routinely want more flying, and don't like the straight rates, vs. those that want to pick up the occasional flying at premium rates. I'm in the second camp. Seems a little more "pilot-oriented", and "union-like". Sounds a little more, dare I say it... "militant".
***Just to be clear, when I say "this discussion", I'm not specifically referring to what Nu and Keenster are saying, but to the general, recurring discussion about the "HIT" flying vs. GS that's been going and going for some period of time.