Couple of things here:

You are not protected because you have a line in MKE or CAE. If they are short pilots, you will be rerouted, junior manned, and you will work on your days off. Junior manning is completely dependent on coverage. While it’s true that being in a maintenance base may prevent some instances of junior-manning because of the horrendous schedules, to think you’re “protected” is naive.

Being Junior-manned when upgrading to Captain is not “rite of passage”. It’s a weakness in the current contact, and a direct result of short staffing due to an inability to recruit new pilots.

 

We wont know for a few more weeks but my assumption is that it will be junior and you should have no trouble getting it.

 

I had never been junior manned as an fo. When I sat reserve captain they got me a couple times in the year I was on reserve. Then we became short and my phone was blowing up as a line holder. Hasn't rang much the last few weeks, knock on wood.

 

What’s your take on why AWA has a hard time recruiting? What’s the monthly attrition rate look like?
Where I’m currently at the contract is so ambiguously written a union rep I talked to said they’d like to punch whoever wrote our contract in the face no kidding

 

A few reasons:

1) We only fly the 200. This is not a big deal for most people, but there is a large group of young pilots that only care about flying the 175. Shiny jet syndrome is real, and for whatever reason some people even make out “engine under wing” time as being more important then normal jet time.

2) Our bases. Flying only in the Midwest and on the East coast, we already lose anyone who wants a west coast base. Furthermore IAD is SUPER senior. ORD is pretty senior already and will only get more senior with displacements. That leaves MKE which is a two leg commute for anyone that doesn’t live in the Chicagoland area (or a one leg commute and a bus ride), and CAE which will be a mostly commuter base with only 2 flights a day from ORD or IAD.

3) Pay/ Career progressment incentives. We could have classes filled in an instant if we went to E9 rates. We could pad our seniority list quickly if we had a flow-through to United. Unfortunately we don’t have either of those options. We can’t get E9 rates because we don’t have the financial backing of a wholly-owned, and we can’t have a flow because United doesn’t have any wholly-owns.

It’s frustrating because AWA is an awesome place to work. (Almost) Every domicile manager is great. Chief-Pilot is fantastic. Health Insurace is great, 401K is good, and if you’re looking to build time, upgrade quickly and build that PIC time, AWA is great. I’ve been treated really well here as have most people that aren’t trouble makers. Problem is people see other airlines and just see more then what AWA can offer. Endevor has great pay, Piedmont, PSA, and Envoy have flow, Republic has good pay and the 175s and Skywest has bases all over the country. AWA, and most of the other regionals just can’t offer as much.

 

Any chance EWR would ever be a base? AWA doesn’t sound bad to me and I like how it’s a smaller company but junior manning and commute for me wouldn’t be good for family unless we moved to base which I don’t want to really do but really appreciate all the info from everyone

 

Well I will say this; your response makes me root for the underdog. Not going to finalize where I decide to move until I’ve finished my interview with endeavor and AWA but a lot to consider for sure.

 

Well written. You make more money at AWAC than E9 and get more guaranteed days off. The pay “rate” is deceiving.

 

Gotcha, I said protected. I meant being in a maintenance base may prevent.... That in and of itself may or may not be the actual thing preventing crew scheduling from junior-manning me. The schedules at my last airline are comperable to what we have here. Maybe they are horrendous to some and great to others. I guess it’s just point of view. The junior manning going on at regional airlines is partially because of all the contracts and a general shortage of pilots. I went on a bunch of interviews and never left without a conditional job offer, nor did I meet any other candidates whom were told they weren’t being hired.

Our posts sound different because I have never missed my son’s basketball games or my daughter’s swim meets. I have never been junior manned and you have. This would make anyone angry. It’s a normal reaction. If you want to call me names and refer to me as being naive, do so. If that’s what will make you feel better do it. I admit if I had been JMed as much as you, if I missed important things in life as you have, my posts might sound like yours. But I don’t sound like you now.

 

Ease up...I’m not attacking you, I’m trying to point out that no one is safe from junior mans as stipulated by the contract. I misinterpreted about what you meant when you said you were protected from junior-mans. It just frustrates me when people work the line without knowing the contract, because that brings along the opportunity for the company to use you in a manner that union members fought hard to protect. I’m not saying you know less than me or vice-versa, there are still things that I’m learning about the contract, mostly ways the company can bend the grey-areas to conform to their needs. The company could theoretically junior man a pilot down to 4 days off in a month. That’s wrong. We have to do something about it.

We have to know the current contact and make sure we thoroughly read through any TA or LOA and try to understand the benefits and consequences to ratifying it. But most importantly we all need to stick together and look for improvements for all pilots and not just individuals.

We’re operating under a contact ratified in 2003 and written years before that. Times have changed and we need a contract that more accurately reflects the times we fly in. It’s my understanding that the company is unable to give us pay raises. Fine. But we can at least try and improve our QOL through a new TA.