My condolences to the two AS brothers who passed. At the end of the day it is our loved ones who keep us grounded and for whom we get up and go handle our business as professionals.

 

Sorry Work4life, but you aren’t the only guy with shiny combat medals around. Plenty of us at VX too. Nearly all of us have degrees as well, multiple in my case, and have been flying for 20-30 years. When I got hired at VX after spending a decade in Boeing’s the minimums to get on was 7,000 hours, 10,000 plus made you competeive. They needed such high time to keep the insurance rates down, and guys fresh out of the military frankly weren’t qualified. So when posters paint us as undesirables and question why guys who lost their jobs didn’t go elsewhere at a time when no one else was hiring—a fact pilots with a few decades worth of experience know—it undermines the poster’s credibility. ... I personally think this whole thread is absurd. The concepts of objectivity and critical thinking have been lost. What the panel will weigh in terms of windfall is pre-SLI quality of life and how the ISL affects it. Decisions made, and the luck or lack of it that brought each of us to this point are immaterial. Business decisions concerning the acquisition are also immaterial. It comes down to preserving pre-ISL QOL as best they can, while paying homage to the other factors like longevity, upgrade potential, etc. It won’t be 70-30 and it won’t be 15-85. It’ll be somewhere in the middle of the two because both sides can validly argue their points and tear down the other side.

 

In the midst of anger and belittling one another, there are some truths in these posts from both sides but neither are beneficial nor productive. I get that some people just have to vent on these forums but both sides are only throwing even more fuel to the fire.
I agree with Packrat that this acquisition and SLI should not be treated as coequal airlines merging a list. There, I said it, my whole 2 pennies. Having said that, no line pilot's opinions will have any bearing on the outcome of the arbitration at this point. It's all just water under the bridge.
Tensions are high in every seat on both sides. It's probably a good time to take some time off these web boards and enjoy time with family and loved ones. Let's be good to one another.

 

Maybe, maybe not. I turned down an interview at another legacy while I was at VX because I liked how things were going. I was pleasantly surprised at how my seniority was progressing, I was happy with the work environment and everyone that I flew with. The trips were pretty good. Hell, I was even in an amazing crash pad with other VX folks. I was fairly content. The pay could have been better, but negotiations were in progress and who knows how it could have turned out.

I wasn't particularly happy or sad when the AK buy happened. I was heartened by the fiscal stability and larger network within which to work, but I wasn't very happy with some of the corporate cultural differences between AS and VX.

At the end of October when the results of arbitration came out, I updated my apps for the first time in almost a year. Seeing management's total victory and some major quality of life setbacks coming with the schedules and routes, I figured I'd test the waters and see if one of them would bite. A few months later, I got the call and just today I was awarded a base an hour and a half from where I live. So, I guess it worked out, but I'm still a bit sad to leave VX. But I'm not sad at all to leave AS.

 

Thanks for your honest answer. I only asked because I know a few guys that came to AS with full intentions of staying but became disenchanted over the last year and have recently left. I also know a few who came here because it was the first place that called and used it as a way out of the regionals. I was curious if there was similar sentiment on the VX side and if folks were being driven out due to the merger or had always intended on using it as a stepping stone?

 

Well Said!!

 

So, you think basically stapling the VX FOs to the bottom is fair? You think the VX side is shooting for Mars? What SLI proposals are you reading? In all 3 categories the VX FOs were above the AS FOs. All VX pilots lose relative seniority. The way I see it the AS side is shooting for the moon and the VX side barely hits the top of the trees.

 

I think it’s funny how the gentleman is defending an AK 88 hire against the number 1 VX CA being integrated at that year on the list when it was that same 88 hire who is why AK has the terrible contract they have, and have always trailed in pay even when known as a “Legacy”. The senior AK pilots don’t give two ****s about anything going on. They are the same guys who have been living in a bubble in the PNW and don’t even know Southwest is an airline.

Don’t deny it. Everyone knows it’s true. Even here at AK. At least VX guys have backbone amongst their group. Something we could use here at AK amongst the spineless on our side.

 

It's true that there are quite a bit of spineless Gig Harbor seniors but to say VX pilots have backbone, pfffft, give me a break! With the exception of few older pilots who just wanted to finish out their careers, y'all went to a non-union start up LCC who's one and only goal was to undercut every west coast airline, especially Alaskan Airways. And now that your biggest competitor rescued y'all from going bye bye in the same boat as Aloha, you somehow feel entitled to retain relative seniority? At best, it should have been a staple or date of hire.

 

yhgtbfsm.....