East West Presentation
 

Please insert here if anyone has it.

I do love a gimmicky account name.

Here it is.


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Fellow America West pilots,

Several weeks ago, Captains John Hale and Bob Johnson, Flight Department leadership from American Airlines, invited AWA First Officer David Braid to meet with them at American Airlines Headquarters in Dallas to discuss a variety of issues facing West pilots. David, taking the invitation very seriously, spent countless hours of his free time researching and preparing a 46-page PowerPoint presentation to present to Captains Hale and Johnson. In composing the presentation, David spoke to several respected AWA subject matter experts, and in addition consulted company SEC filings and other citable sources upon which his presentation was based to ensure factual accuracy. David even went so far as to consult the PHX Chief Pilots office in advance of the meeting, and received their blessing and support.

A copy of the presentation may be downloaded HERE. In short, the presentation describes the proverbial "island" the PHX domicile has become as a result of the spiteful actions of USAPA and certain East managers, and the willful neglect of our corporate leadership. Fully cognizant that neither Captain Hale nor Captain Johnson were a party to any of these acts, the presentation only asked that the disparate treatment cease.

On April 8, 2014, David flew to Dallas and had what he described as a "successful" meeting with Captains Hale and Johnson. David stated that he believed that his presentation was well received by Captains Hale and Johnson. At the close of the meeting, Captain Hale promised David to research the issues presented and provide him some answers within a few weeks.

Unfortunately, since that April 8 meeting, life on the "island" has continued to degrade significantly. The entire base remains critically staffed, and our pairings have degraded to a dangerous level never previously seen. For the June bid period, the company is using the "flex" provision in the AWA contract for the first time in 9 years to build First Officer lines as high as 94 hours over the summer. This comes only one year after the company's decision to unilaterally slash long-standing quantities of summer vacation allocation, resulting in perhaps the worst staffing-driven operational disaster PHX has seen. Additionally, there is no relief to come, as many long-time West check airmen have recently resigned allegedly due to their degrading working conditions in the Training Department (the only department still lead by an East pilot). While conditions continue to deteriorate to unprecedented levels on the PHX island, both the East and the AA sides of the company continue to be flush with record movement and hiring. While the lack of movement may affect some of our pilots more than others, the most concerning bit about this situation is the potential weapon that it creates for use against us by both USAPA and APA in the McCaskill-Bond seniority integration process.

A few days ago, Captain Hale contacted David, as promised, to provide him a response to his April 8 presentation. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Captain Hale informed David that the company would not take any action to remedy our situation. Worse yet, following the adverse reaction to this news by many of our pilots, the company began a grass-roots crew room effort to prevent an operational meltdown over the summer. The essence of the company's crew room message is that things in PHX will be "fixed" at some uncertain point in the future by some unknown and uncertain remedy. Our pilots, and particularly our captains, are asked to be "patient" about our situation, and pay no attention to the ongoing and worsening disparities between PHX and the other parts of the airline. Worse yet, some managers have even suggested that David's presentation is "emotional" and "overreaching."

We sent this message because we believe that all America West pilots should be aware of these facts. We encourage all pilots to review the presentation and draw their own conclusions about our situation.

AWAPPA

Wow, had no idea that was going on out there. 94 hour lines? Yuck. I'd think sick and fatigue calls would certainly rise with that much (forced) flying.

Wow, that writer sure is confused.

There isn't a single America West pilot out there, and hasn't been in.. what.. 9 years? There are plenty of PHX based US Airways pilots though.

They're either living in the past or greatly misguided.

I also can't really figure out whats going on. It seems like they're addressing their company issues (staffing/schedules/etc) at the union and taking their union issues to the company?

Awww. I thought it was the mean old east managers that caused you all to be downtrodden . Now it's the mean old AA ones. Pathetic.

The fact is that economically the PHX base should be about 20% smaller than it is.

I guarantee His presentation was just that.

Ask them how many voluntarily fly more than that. It's BS.

"David's presentation is "emotional" and "overreaching."
I love that phrase coming from a West pilot.
How do you think the East Pilots felt when the NIC was presented and they found with 17 years of service they were placed junior to a West new hire?