Originally Posted by PineappleXpres

Is there a time in history, at a major, where pilots absenteeism caused a base closure. That feels like fiction. People commute to Hawaii for heaven sakes and it’s never an issue.

Originally Posted by PineappleXpres

Is there a time in history, at a major, where pilots absenteeism caused a base closure. That feels like fiction. People commute to Hawaii for heaven sakes and it’s never an issue.

Originally Posted by MinRest

When the benchmark is SEA, and management has spent decades watching pilots sit in the parking lot just waiting for assignments and gobbling up everything, to only say "thank you, sir, may I have another," it has set a false economy of expectations on how a base should operate. Reserves get used and abused, yet fatigue calls are probably not commensurate with that abuse. The rest of the airline industry gets it; Alaska simply still does not. I thought they were evolving, I thought they were going to come around, as it is 2025, and there were several things DM and management did that showed they had some finger on the pulse of the industry. But nope, bases just have 100% local residents, no commuters, no sick calls, no fatigue calls, just unwavering dedication to the supreme leader in SEA. They close a base and just assume everyone will uproot their families to Gig Harbor. The global airline mentality that is needed, is farther away than I thought it was.

Originally Posted by rickair7777

The pain, according to flight ops management, wasn't just reserves struggling with their commute.

It was a significant trend of LC reserves who would get a call out, then wait a few hours and call in sick. That's technically legal since you could *hypothetically* get food poisoning or whatever within that 14 hour window. But then it was too late to get another LC there in time.

Again, according to management, FWIW.

Originally Posted by MrBogardi

The fact that people are entertaining that idea shows us why management says those things. We all better be good boys and girls.

Originally Posted by MrBogardi

What about short calls or paying double time? Plenty of options that are cheaper than a cancel

Originally Posted by rickair7777

Well it looks they are at least about to significantly reduce a base, with that as an excuse. That might of course not be the reason at all, but in fairness they have been communicating about the reliability issue for several years.

Also I do kind of get it from their perspective if there's a sharp contrast between bases, at least if one particular base is significantly worse than all the others. Although as Minrest said, they need to start thinking more like a big airline... some bases might have legit factors which make them different from others (ex. routine weather induced disruptions, or nobody wants to live there).

Originally Posted by PineappleXpres

Is there a time in history, at a major, where pilots absenteeism caused a base closure. That feels like fiction. People commute to Hawaii for heaven sakes and it’s never an issue.

Originally Posted by MrBogardi

So the reason for SFO and LAX reduction is because of sick calls? I missed that part

Originally Posted by MinRest

It is certainly going to be the scapegoat. It is the highest commuter base in the system, and it is the most junior base in the system. FO reserves were constantly and consistently brutalized so I am sure sick calls were higher. The bigger issue is staffing in general, and the lack of support for a given base. SFO is the last VX red-headed stepchild, and you can feel the hate for it. There is a real market here to be captured, and it was captured by VX. Alaska screwed up the opportunity to keep them, and has since not even really put the effort in to capturing loyalty in the Bay Area. How can anyone start to trust AS as a passenger when routes are introduced, then cut, almost on a constant basis?