It sounds like you are trying to say that this valuable information you have presented is not known by the union. Have you told them where they are failing (seriously).

"and pilots to come here." ? as far as recruiting, I don't see how this by itself moves the needle, in either direction, for any new-hire that has other choices where the pay scales are real, and not hypothetical. If a TA was imminent within a year, maybe. But is that likely?

It’s not hypothetical they are putting money in an account with your name on it. It’s not the same, true, but could make a difference for some. Or so they hope.

I think you're right, this likely doesn't help recruiting but it is nice for those of us that are here today and will probably be here when we get a new contract. I have been very critical of AR in the past and will continue to call out the bs when i see it, but i don't have any problem with what he did here.

its not gonna help recruit pilots at all. its not gonna help retain pilots - if there are pilots that want to go to a legacy and get an offer do you really think this will keep them here?

all it does is soften the blow for those of us waiting for a new contract. the biggest advantage airlines have with the RLA is the time value of money. the longer it takes the more we lose and we never get it all back. this helps us get back a lot more of it than we would with a "sign on bonus" in lieu of retro pay.

why are those two items an "either-or" proposition?

for example, if new-hire recruitment is really a problem, provide an incentive sign-on bonus that gets them at least a little closer to industry standard year-1 pay, but carves them out of the retro for that year if necessary. (or something... I'm sure there are second- and third-order effects of that I'm not accounting for. )

isn't this LOA (is that the right term?) already an early union concession as far as retro pay is concerned? doesn't (shouldn't) the typical "going-in" position of any union be for retro back to the amendable date, and then negotiate from there? that seems like the only lever a union can pull on to address/reduce that "time value of money" advantage that the RLA grants to management.

If the pay delta was 15-20% for that first year, I would agree with you. But at 40-50% short of what has become industry standard almost everywhere else (to include the Regionals!), it feels very hypothetical to my wife (and my mortgage). Especially when a TA is (most likely) so far way...

bro, DL didn't even get close to full retro pay and they had the most leverage of any pilots' union in at least a generation.

i think any leverage we might have lost on "full retro pay" is outweighed by the certainty of an account with my name on it and 35% bump in pay for as long as it takes for us to get the contract we deserve.

It "may" not create a stampede into the new hire classes, but I don't think that was the point. This was 99% targeted towards pilots that have been on property for multiple years. If you think there aren't loads of 8+ year captains that have dropped apps, or in the process, that are now having second thoughts, you're crazy. I bet more than half the pilots at this airline can now tell you how much money that was for May and what it is projected to be for June ($11k+ for me). This was designed as a tourniquet to keep pilots from leaving.

A new hire that hasn't ever touched a plane leaving doesn't mean a thing to the company. Captains leaving is a different story. It takes months to replace a line pilot with a new hire and it takes months and a training event to replace a captain.

The union gave up a ton of leverage here. My only hope is that they think we are in the final stretch of getting something done. If not, we just gave the company a great summer gift for nothing.

And for those saying that the company is giving them "free money," that is a ridiculous stance. The company has been underpaying us (coupled with terrible retirement and work rules) for years. This 35% (and then some) is money that should ALREADY be in your check. At best this limits the signing bonus or retro and at worst gets completely rolled into whatever retro/bonus we get and therefore we would get it anyway without a huge give on our part. If you think the union was ever going for full retro, you need to contact a rep and get yourself straightened out. This will undoubtedly reduce our retro/bonus, which was going to be limited to begin with because it hasn't ever been a priority.

On a side note, I don't think anything gets done on the contract front until Viva is decided. If you are hoping for a quick TA, you should cross one set of fingers that the decision on Viva is made soon and cross the other set of fingers that it gets denied.

Pay
 

Everyone knows contracts are about way more than pay but we also know there’s a certain point where pay becomes paramount.

I think allegiant is to that point.

To put it in perspective IF the current AIP is ratified at AA: next May a three year FO at AA is paid same hourly as year seven Allegiant Captain.

It would be nice to know the actual goals of management. Based on how they are handling things it sure looks like they don’t intend to grow.

Yes. On the union Facebook page and in person to the reps. Now I call it as I see it.