All that is basically what I have heard as well.. but in context, if you expect Southwest style work rules at a company like Allegiant with a completely different business model, you're insane. Some months are going to be slow and some will be busy, and you'll be paid accordingly. From the rumors I'm hearing, the TA should allow most FO's to easily make $120k and CA's to make $250k while still being home every night, put 15% in their 401k, and have a decent amount of days off. VBD guys will be making an extra $800/mo on per diem. Some of the hourly rates are higher than Southwest. All in all it sounds like a good first contract, but we'll see on Wednesday.

 

Retirement will need a close look as the max 401k total contribution allowed is $18,000 annually. This is why companies have both 401k and pension as to not loose the benefit of a company contribution.

For example, if you make 200,000 in 2016 and you are withholding 10%, you are already over the 401k limit before the company matched one dime.

 

This is incorrect. $18,000 is the max THE EMPLOYEE can contribute each year. The company match is not included in that limit, but the combined total cannot be more than $53,000 in a year.

If you're making $200,000 per year, you could elect to contribute 10% each pay period, but once you reach the $18,000 limit you will automatically stop contributing to your 401k for the year. The company match is in addition to that amount. Some people elect to do this so that they have larger paychecks in November and December, around the holidays.

If your company does not offer a true up, you don't want to reach $18,000 until the last pay period of the year because you will lose the company match for those paychecks. As of about 2 years ago, I believe Allegiant's 401k plan does offer the true up feature.

If you have been trying to put no more than $18,000 total in your 401k each year INCLUDING the company match, then you have been missing out on a lot of money that you could have been contributing.

 

Yep you're right

 

I think anyone who is fixated on the single day off issue needs an adjustment. You were told before you came here how our schedules ran and how days off looked. That won't change because we have a union on the property.

If the overall work rules didn't change for the better and are just a recreation of the same turd sandwich, it'll be a no for me regardless of compensation. We can't run without rules.

 

No, I have not. I've been told about the pay rates and steps, 401K, and a few other areas like CKA.

I will not vote no based solely on single days off being allowed. Sorry to those on the bottom, but as I said above, you knew parts of the year single days off and or Tues/Wed Sat days off were the norm.

What kind of scope language do we have? Too many other questions to list. I will be extremely disappointed in our NC if they send us a non passable TA, especially since they're all over the news saying how awesome it is. We need solid rules just as bad as we need money IMO.

 

I wasn't expecting a legacy contract (we can hope sure, but realistically), but we need real solid work rule improvements. I've said since day one that the work rules were far more important than the actual pay rate numbers. A single day off here and there (like we saw with line bidding) wasn't horrible, but the contract is supposed to be an improvement. The ability to put up to 6 single days off on a schedule is ridiculous. I get that now. 2 days off together should be the min (preferably 3 day off blocks being the min allowed). Spirit gets a min 4 days off together...and 12 days off in a 30 day month/13 in a 31. We should be seeing 12/13 at LEAST with no ability to reduce the days off.

And while it's nice to see a max 95 hour month, the company's mentality that everyone here wants to fly the max hours allowed to make money drives me nuts. Do I want to get 100 credit? Sure, do I want to fly that? No thanks. I want the ability to bid low hours and still get days off. But I guess that's just a pipe dream.

 

While I agree that single days off is just one part of the equation and we need to vote yes/no based on the whole, days off and QOL are big to me. I know guys here (who have since left) that said anything less than 3 day off blocks min was an automatic no vote. It's a big deal to many. To say that we should have known better when we came here is short sighted in my opinion. The wealth of knowledge about the goat rope we run here wasn't as readily available years ago. To say "we always got Tue/Wed/Sat off and you should expect that" is willing to settle. We want to make things better for all, not stay status quo. There are improvements on that doc floating around to be sure, but overall I'm disappointed and everyone I've talked to is ready to vote NO.

 

I disagree that it's short sighted or that we would be settling. I look at that like we're doing our part to keep our different animal profitable. This place isn't designed for commuters. It never has been and never will be.

I do have a big problem with them being able to reduce anything on peak months unless those months are predefined and other slower predefined months come additional days off.

I also expect to see the ability to drop without regard to reserve coverage. They can MM at hopefully 200%. If we still can't drop trips because of coverage, I will be inclined to vote no.

I'm looking forward to the road shows.

 

From the sounds of the day off language in the TA, Tuesday/Wednesday/Saturday off every week will be legal, so don't expect Vegas schedules to change.

I know that we as a pilot group can't expect a company to change their business model based on our needs. But more of the same scheduling (T,W, & S off) isn't IMHO going to help with attrition. If a Spirit pilot gets 4 days off in a row after any pairing, commuter or not, that's very tempting for anyone in the bottom half of each base. Alaska also has a consecutive day off rule, something like at least two blocks of three days off.

Additionally, this 95 hour limit has me concerned. If you cap a bid at 95 hours, when during busy months it's not uncommon to see 100+ hours, that only brings up the bottom end of the range. I think instead of 85-105 hour ranges, we might start seeing this range get smaller and smaller as they have to spread out the flying. Not good for the people who want to work a bunch or those who don't.

Pay rates will be outdated within a couple of years. Alaska's contract is amendable in March 2018 (??). Spirit is in negotiations. So is SWA and Delta. While these numbers sound good now, I think it's too little too late from the company. I would imagine that this may be why they're eager to lock this in before our competitors (i.e. Spirit and Frontier) outdo us, leaving us chasing other contracts again.