It's almost pointless to worry too much about contractual stuff at this point because a new contract is coming sooner than later. Currently there isn't one.

Any base is junior with the amount of people being hired, the factor is if you get the bus or MD80. You can see online which plane is based where. 757 is going away per the financial reports.

 

Is there any info on what the proposed new contract entails? About half of it is agreed upon, about half not- of course the important categories for line pilots. Does the 'new' contract -proposal- have min days of 12/13 for instance, an improvement in blocks of days off vs 1 at a time , a percentage of company vs employee contribution to health care plan and its description, etc? Maybe what im asking is unknown to anybody/unagreed upon at this point. If thats the case please say so, which means who knows what the end result will be with a contract, at whatever point it happens. Im just wondering if there is expected to be a signifigant improvement in any area of the current reality of life there for a contract to be voted in. Thanks again, Fred

 

Don't have exact specifics of what's been proposed but obviously along the lines you indicated. I would say the two sides are miles apart; virtually no progress has been made in 2 years of negotiating. My expectation is rather than ultimately compromise and reach a deal management's goal is try & break the union as such I'm bracing for a long strike.

Hope I'm wrong (wouldn't be the first time)

 

I understand. I realize the risk in coming in this volatile situation. Can you give idea of what more senior guys are holding as far as days off as opposed to min contractually? is a guy 50% in base at min days off, or doing better? In other words are half the guys/gals getting 14,15,16 days off or is basically everyone at min for life? Secondly, is ashville a fairly stable base, or one that might come and go? thanks for the info, Fred

 

I know it's hard when everybody keeps saying this but - no easy way to answer those questions 'cause there's so much flux. A whole bunch of bases, a lot of them really small where a couple folks go out on FMLA and all of a sudden everybody's working 19 days a month. Then you've got the season fluctuations where flying varies widely from month to month. As sort of a very rough guide I would say most times senior folks can hold 16 17 days off but as soon as I write that you'll see a dozen posts from senior guys calling bu!!$hit.
As for Asheville I'd say it's very tenuous; it's a brand-new and a very small base & Allegiant won't hesitate to pull the plug after one summer if the numbers aren't there. This is a company that closed a base in LAX for crying out loud, so nothing's safe except LAS SFB & maybe IWA & PIE.

 

As far as schedules the ultra senior may get the most days off, maybe between 13 and 14 days off approximately on average and that may vary. We use to have line bidding, which was at least predictable. Now we don't, so no way of telling what are typical schedules for better than 50 percent either side of the list. You need to simply plan for what your reality would probably be at present. Trying to predict that much more seniority is pointless, as you will not have those options. Trying to predict what our valiant negotiators are trying to get and what has been agreed upon, at this point is only known by those in the know.

The situation is fluid is a very accurate description on any and all improvements by any possible proposed contract, to which there is no clear indication of one anytime soon. You need to adjust for the current reality and nothing more. Minimum days off; 10 to 11 and sometimes less because we have no contract, no work rules. Everything is at will all the time. You will get Tuesday and Saturday off and that's about it. Expect to be on reserve any other day as filler. Now some may say they have or are getting a few more days off here and there; that would not be the norm.

Small bases, good luck with that. As a good example we had a GRR base a number of years back, management conned a few people into taking it and assured them that the base would be around for “a while”. They closed it almost as soon as they opened it, after many inquiries and assurances from management that they were good to go to buy houses and the like. And way too many other examples to list here for G4’s revolving base policy. I would only bet on the largest two; las and sfb. And when they decide to close it, you have till the end of the month to report to work, wherever that is, and don't be late. Are next closure will be the hnl base which g4 management rolled out with a lot of hoopla a few years ago, and got their a$$’s handed to them.

As far as logistics of the new hire experience just scroll back 10 to 15 pages. Make decisions on the reality of the situation now. For instance Frontier, Spirit and Sun Country are all hiring and have contracts that most assuredly in all aspects the current allegiant management wants no part of. Incidentally, Sun Country just signed their first contract with pay and work rules better than ours, which obviously isn't saying much, considering we don't have one at all and none on the horizon. Sun Country pay rates are better than g4’s across the board. Go to the next conference and seek those carriers out if this is the level of the industry you are targeting.

 

Looks like Sun Country did a couple flights for us tonight... SCX8654 MSO-LAS and SCX8668 BOI-LAS. Hard to believe we still don't have enough pilots/airframes to get the job done ourselves.

 

First off, as a RSV pilot you'll only get 10 off, period. I mean I've heard of guys getting more sometimes, but it is VERY rare. It's not uncommon to have no open time on merlot and only one flight that day in base (normally a Tues or Sat) but the company will carry 3 reserves anyways. This is because they like to re-assign people to sit RSV out of base.

As for the line holders, it depends, but I would say more like 15-20% (so realistically top 2 or 3) that can consistently see more than 11 off per month, everyone else is hosed. It also depends upon the time of the year, you're not even allowed to take vacation time in March and April. Yes it is that bad.

I wouldn't recommend AVL at all, the pairings are terrible, and they have the most charter overnights now that ENV is closing. I wouldn't move there for this job as the above poster pointed out.

Sorry I know it's not what you want to hear. But it is what it is. And also as Stok posted, it's going to be awhile before a contract is agreed upon. Our management has made it abundantly clear they're ready to go to war. So if you do come here, do it because you accept the current situation. Not because the awesome contract we may or may not get in a couple years.

 

This is exactly the kind of information I am looking for. thank you for all that have given your experiences, please continue to give more info, there are more than a few of us trying to make decisions on Allegient. So basically there is not existing contract, and nobody really knows what the unions proposal is for a new one, or managments response at this point? Thats how is sounds. Is there any expectation as far as work rules, ins, etc for a contract to be ratified?
, Fred

 

It sounds like it won't get better until there is a true pilot shortage. Alas, the rumor of 67 is starting to rear it's ugly head. Just what we need--more zombies in the cockpit.

The FAA is willing to do anything to help management avoid paying good wages to the bottom of the industry and then wonder why no one is entering the career.