hearing that negotiations this week were a cluster****

The NC all seem to be lining up to demand release from the NMB. Heard and saw stuff this week that makes it clear the NC is trying again to get in front of the NMB. I don’t think this NC has ever been so fed up with mediation.

not sure if it’s the elections, Alpa, NMB ignoring them, the mediator’s bias towards management, or what but the gossip I’m hearing is that the NC is getting squeezed from all sides.

Will be interesting to see what happens and what they’re willing to say publicly.

 

Regional CA here. I commute to ORD from AVL and I’ve been quietly watching in the background for a while now hoping you guys can win this battle and get the contract you deserve. I would love to stop commuting and be home with the family more. Seems like things are just stalled indefinitely. Any feeling that you’ll see some forward progress soon?

 

No. (Thanks for rooting for us though….)

 

Lol, management hates pilots here. It’s deeply rooted into the culture. It won’t change. Not now, not ever. They think we are worth about 50% of what a major airline pilot is worth. Of course that doesn’t apply to them, they are worth more than legacy management. If you are ok with making less than a regional FO here, and then making less than a major FO once you upgrade, come on over once we start hiring in a couple of years. It’s not changing, so those are the terms.

 

Why do you think it's going to be a couple of years? Allegiant has brand new 737 sitting in the desert, don't they need those airframes staffed? What about the pilots who will get tired of waiting for a contract and jump ship when hiring starts to pick up again shortly.

 

the pilots ive talked to at AVL make it seem like that base is very very small, ive met an FO thats been with the company 3 years and still is on reserve and doesnt get called. doesnt have enough hours to upgrade (not sure they have seniority either). they said they were considering going to florida to build time to get the 1000 121 because of it. you get hired youll probably be on the 737 and we dont know what the 4th base will be but as of now its PIE, SFB or FLL. I doubt its AVL. people make it seem like the very small bases have a chance of closure since the larger bases can do their trips and further without having to pay pilots to sit on forever reserve and not be used. but the airbus is very stagnant now and this month theyre giving multi day trips from pie/sfb to FLL. home every day might not be a guarantee and if its not seems the smaller bases would be no longer needed

prior to the 737 it took 6-7 years to be airbus captain. so youd be taking a big risk. but if/when we get our contract youd prob make more as an fo than a regional captain to sit on reserve. who knows

 

The 737's in the desert are headed down to FLL. They were just parked there waiting out the base transition. We won't be getting any more any time soon. The only things that will drive hiring again are more new airplanes (and that's only if they don't retire old ones as they bring them online) or a big change in attrition. Now, the attrition thing will eventually happen, but it's anyone's guess when that will actually begin. It's possible you could see some limited hiring in late 2026, but I'd lean more towards 2027. They seem to have no interest in growth at the moment, despite upstarts like Breeze eyeing large expansion.

 

Those 737s in the desert are not there because we don't have enough pilots. in fact management keeps telling us we are overstaffed which is why we are not on a hiring blitz.

 

There will be no progress until the Toonsters are voted out. Rumor is that the NC asked for a 4yr contract worth almost $1B. For comparison the last contract was $400M. Setting aside the VPS mafia, the entire union has sold the pilot group that they are not "low cost pilots". If that were true they would be at mainline and not flying with foreign nationals that can't speak English and student pilots at ValueJet 2.0 Whole place is delusional, just lost around $1B with SwampSeeker sale. Don't ever go, ever. If you are still there now and reading this, leave with this incoming wave of hiring. The LLC model is failing and there will be no guarantee that your job will exist till retirement (depending on your age of course)

 

I didn’t know Scott Kirby was on APC!!! Lol