There is a standing bid where you list the aircraft/seat/base in the order that you want them. They are supposed to go in seniority order when they award openings. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. The person that is (or maybe was) in charge of doing the bid bid awards just couldn't seem to get it right without having at least two or three revisions to the award.

Sometimes they also award openings when there are no official openings, and sometimes they don't award openings when there are openings. Hopefully the contract negotiations can put some language together to straighten out the whole process.

 

FOs are Type Rated.

 

Pilots hired at Allegiant can expect to be based in "TDY Base". The new "TDY Base" will be the junior base. This means you will be assigned just about anywhere (on a monthly basis) that Allegiant has a base and bid your system seniority in that base. As a junior pilot in that base, you would most likely end up on reserve (90 min. call out) with 10 days off. Most junior pilots would also expect multiple single days off throughout the month.

30 day example:
on off on on on off on
on on off off on on on
off on off on on on off
on on on off off on on
on off
As I have heard, this has also been a common schedule in 2014 for fairly senior pilots at Allegiant.

This means, if you live in the Northwest and are assigned somewhere in Florida or other base with a substantial commute, you would have a difficult time getting home that month, if at all. You may also end up in that base for several months. Trip trades and drops appear to be extremely difficult, so that doesn't seem to be a good option to help get home.

 

Can't you?

 

Hope is eternal.

 

New ones are cause they have to be. But the FOs that were here before the new rules took effect are still just SIC rated. And so far as I've asked around they still don't have a program to do that yet. Clocks a ticking.

 

So... Any hard feelings when I see you on line?

I am well aware of how things are there, and I would be happy to join any of you on the picket line when that time comes. We are all looking for different things in life and right now Allegiant would work for me. Besides I have Stockholm syndrome from being abused by several regionals..

 

The junior LAS CA has been assigned out if base something like 16 of the last 17 months. The junior IWA CA about the same amount. The IWA guy says he's only getting home maybe 1-2 days every 3 weeks or so...the schedules are that bad. The LAX TDY lines I know of have basically been start early day one, end late day five. Then have 1, maybe 2 days off. In June most the LAX guys I talked to said they changed hotels 3-4 times. No car to start the month, just a shuttle that was unreliable and only to take you to/from work.

 

From what I am hearing from my friends and others that were in the last couple new hire classes:

Those from the DEC and JAN class are just finishing training.
The FAA took away some of Allegiant's training capability due to substantial issues during an inspection.
Some time this last spring the FAA finally approved the sim training (LOFT?) for the new hires to complete.
That is a long time on $2,000 a month away from home with no per diem or hotel. I hear they may be getting paid more (guarantee?), but only after a few months, but nothing solid.

Pilots who just finished the last ground school, have been told to go home for a couple months until they can get in the sim. They are not sure if it is another FAA action, broken sim, or a back log in the sim.

Pilots who were assigned Florida bases out of training are being told they will most likely end up in the new TDY base because of a lack of more senior pilots bidding it. That is a tough pill for some of the guys who uprooted their family and moved to Florida.

 

This is exactly what has kept the resume stack high for the better part of a decade. Sadly, 9 times out of 10 it turns into a "out of the frying pan and into the fire" situation. You'll see.