Alaska Air Hiring
12-14-2017 | 09:37 PM
#2692
Guest
Posts: n/a
Our new management troll. You must work in Tom Kemp’s office. We change our pilot hiring methods every 90 days....Our resume aplication system is not quite as modern as a floppy disk. The HR reps are embarrasing how little they know and the pilots that do interviews act like it is part NASA part dream job. Those stories are all from successful applicants so I can only imagine what the others go through. Awful lot of hushed tones and hand wringing over the employee survey by the change janglin heel rockers that run this place....
12-15-2017 | 06:42 AM
#2693
On Reserve
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
Our new management troll. You must work in Tom Kemp’s office. We change our pilot hiring methods every 90 days....Our resume aplication system is not quite as modern as a floppy disk. The HR reps are embarrasing how little they know and the pilots that do interviews act like it is part NASA part dream job. Those stories are all from successful applicants so I can only imagine what the others go through. Awful lot of hushed tones and hand wringing over the employee survey by the change janglin heel rockers that run this place....
12-15-2017 | 07:40 AM
#2695
Line Holder
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 345
Likes: 0
From: 737 CA
I'm not drinking buddies with either OCCP or Klsytakesit. But, what they are saying is true.
It's hard to believe for those of you on the outside looking in. But, there are many other options out there than this place. It took some of us years of being in here to realize that. Before I got hired here, I talked to random Alaska pilots either in the jumpseat or on the employee bus, etc. Many of them were unhappy. I didn't believe them, because I thought they were just whining.
No work place is going to be perfect, but there are other/better options out there. If you can get hired at DAL/AMR/WN/UAL/FedEx, I don't know why you would even bother with Alaska.
Alaska management's utter contempt towards its employees, especially the pilots, is what makes working here unpleasant. The AAG management team is a bunch of bean counters. All they care about is cost and performance metrics. They don't have a clue about the human factors that go into running a business, especially a customer-service business like an airline. There is no real leadership here.
They have gotten away with squeezing a turnip for too long, but I think it's going to blow up in their faces. They have gotten too comfortable with the old way of doing things and having good little soldiers on the front lines that picked up the slack. Well, those practices have eroded the morale of the employee group.
Klystakesit touched on the employee survey. The results were not at all good for management. But, they don't address the problem the way they should. They just say "GO TEAM; LET'S ALL JUST PULL TOGETHER AND GET THROUGH THIS TOUGH TIME!" Or... "We'll do a better job of communicating with you."
No, we don't need rah-rah speech or a pat on the back. We don't need to be told what a wonderful job we're doing. The only language most of us understand is pay and quality of life. Good pairings, good hotels, time off, and schedule flexibility. We don't get much of that. Even those of us who are fairly senior in our seat and base feel fatigued. Unless you can hold turns, it's hard to massage your schedule.
Anyway, AAG keeps trying to do everything on the cheap, even though they are making record profits. Then, they complain about how our competition is ratcheting things up (see Tilden's E-Mail). Well, other airlines have figured out what passengers like and they provide those amenities. We do not.
We rely on the fantastic service that our FAs provide. That's great, but how long is that going to last?
In any case, I'm not optimistic that things will change here any time soon, especially with this pilot group. We still have those good little soldiers who bail out the company when the company has failed in their staffing model. Premium trips get covered like never before, so what's the incentive for AAG to negotiate with this pilot group? They manage our expectations. We whine and pound our fists on the table. But, we take it when we get awarded an arbitration ruling. Or, we vote for the very first sub-standard TA that is presented to us.
We will not gain ground on the pilots of the real legacy airlines with our current attitude. We need a lot of improvements to our contract, but this pilot group doesn't have the stomach to vote NO or do what it takes to convince management that we're not going to settle for being #5, etc.
Alaska Airlines is feeling more and more like the regional I came from. It's a lot of rah-rah and "YAY TEAM" BS being pumped out. Just look at our company website. I cringe every time I get on there. It's a bunch of high school type BS being put up there. It's one big propaganda machine. They are good at it; managing our expectations.
Unfortunately, I've been here too long to leave and go elsewhere. Personally, I'm going to hunker down and hope to be bought out by Delta. I know it's a pipe dream, but that's the only way we're ever going to get a decent contract around here.
I'll just go to work, fly my trip, and go home. I don't pick up premium, I don't volunteer for anything, and I won't do anything for AAG that they don't pay me for. My time is not free. I don't give a rip about the brand. I will support my crew and take care of my passengers by conducting a safe flight. Everything else is out of my control and management has made it clear that they don't care about our input on anything, because they are good enough to figure all this stuff out in a board room.
And I'm going to continue to wear my ORANGE LANYARD.
It's hard to believe for those of you on the outside looking in. But, there are many other options out there than this place. It took some of us years of being in here to realize that. Before I got hired here, I talked to random Alaska pilots either in the jumpseat or on the employee bus, etc. Many of them were unhappy. I didn't believe them, because I thought they were just whining.
No work place is going to be perfect, but there are other/better options out there. If you can get hired at DAL/AMR/WN/UAL/FedEx, I don't know why you would even bother with Alaska.
Alaska management's utter contempt towards its employees, especially the pilots, is what makes working here unpleasant. The AAG management team is a bunch of bean counters. All they care about is cost and performance metrics. They don't have a clue about the human factors that go into running a business, especially a customer-service business like an airline. There is no real leadership here.
They have gotten away with squeezing a turnip for too long, but I think it's going to blow up in their faces. They have gotten too comfortable with the old way of doing things and having good little soldiers on the front lines that picked up the slack. Well, those practices have eroded the morale of the employee group.
Klystakesit touched on the employee survey. The results were not at all good for management. But, they don't address the problem the way they should. They just say "GO TEAM; LET'S ALL JUST PULL TOGETHER AND GET THROUGH THIS TOUGH TIME!" Or... "We'll do a better job of communicating with you."
No, we don't need rah-rah speech or a pat on the back. We don't need to be told what a wonderful job we're doing. The only language most of us understand is pay and quality of life. Good pairings, good hotels, time off, and schedule flexibility. We don't get much of that. Even those of us who are fairly senior in our seat and base feel fatigued. Unless you can hold turns, it's hard to massage your schedule.
Anyway, AAG keeps trying to do everything on the cheap, even though they are making record profits. Then, they complain about how our competition is ratcheting things up (see Tilden's E-Mail). Well, other airlines have figured out what passengers like and they provide those amenities. We do not.
We rely on the fantastic service that our FAs provide. That's great, but how long is that going to last?
In any case, I'm not optimistic that things will change here any time soon, especially with this pilot group. We still have those good little soldiers who bail out the company when the company has failed in their staffing model. Premium trips get covered like never before, so what's the incentive for AAG to negotiate with this pilot group? They manage our expectations. We whine and pound our fists on the table. But, we take it when we get awarded an arbitration ruling. Or, we vote for the very first sub-standard TA that is presented to us.
We will not gain ground on the pilots of the real legacy airlines with our current attitude. We need a lot of improvements to our contract, but this pilot group doesn't have the stomach to vote NO or do what it takes to convince management that we're not going to settle for being #5, etc.
Alaska Airlines is feeling more and more like the regional I came from. It's a lot of rah-rah and "YAY TEAM" BS being pumped out. Just look at our company website. I cringe every time I get on there. It's a bunch of high school type BS being put up there. It's one big propaganda machine. They are good at it; managing our expectations.
Unfortunately, I've been here too long to leave and go elsewhere. Personally, I'm going to hunker down and hope to be bought out by Delta. I know it's a pipe dream, but that's the only way we're ever going to get a decent contract around here.
I'll just go to work, fly my trip, and go home. I don't pick up premium, I don't volunteer for anything, and I won't do anything for AAG that they don't pay me for. My time is not free. I don't give a rip about the brand. I will support my crew and take care of my passengers by conducting a safe flight. Everything else is out of my control and management has made it clear that they don't care about our input on anything, because they are good enough to figure all this stuff out in a board room.
And I'm going to continue to wear my ORANGE LANYARD.
12-15-2017 | 09:58 AM
#2696
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 288
Likes: 0
From: 737 tiller master
The current “culture” at Alaska Airlines, especially as a pilot, has never been so toxic and combative since I can remember. The current climate which management has created, thanks to BM, BT, & TK, is in many ways infinitely worse than after Kasher. No job is perfect but AAG is quickly spiraling to the bottom of the barrel. Management blames it on growing pains but in reality, they are just too narcissistic to realize that they are incapable, ignorant, and lack basic leadership skills and vision.
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