LuckyNow

There seems to be a recurring theme in the 'AA vs. ___' and 'Should I Come to AA?' threads where a vocal group of pilots malign our contract and say it's worse than a regional contract. I'll be the first to admit that there are things in the JCBA that I don't care for and want to see fixed. We tend to focus on the things that directly impact our lives and our schedules and the things that I want changed may be very different than what you want changed. There are a number of issues that I can think of, and I'm not interested in talk of the hourly rates, we already know that'll happen, but let's hope not at the expense of some real improvements. So let's hear what your hopes are for our next contract? I suppose I'm particularly interested in what the LUS guys have to say about this, as (at least on this board) they seem to have the most complaints about the JCBA.

Arado 234

* A321 Group III pay
* Higher % profit sharing
* Commuter clause like DL.
* Able to pick up a drop request from another base
* red-eye trips payed as 15:+ hours
* lower health care costs
* last leg swap
* reserve!

Those are just a few I can come up with right now.

Saabs

Min day and work rules

LuckyNow

Assuming that everything is a give and take, why should we sacrifice other improvements that may make a difference to our pilot group as a whole for those who choose to commute? This is a serious question, most businesses that hired you for a potentionally 300k plus a year job would require you to move to the city where that job was. You are able to not do so, but why should we potentionally offset other gains for those that benefit only some of our pilot group? If the company didn't demand anything in return for those improvements, I wouldn't even be saying this, but they aren't in the business of making improvements out of the goodness in their hearts.

LuckyNow

The all-nighters paying 15 hours (15:30 in PBS) is by far the most important improvement for me, I am one of the rare cases that likes them, but not paid as a two day.

viper548

They would be very popular if they paid 15 hours.

AZFlyer

Curious about this. What do AA pilots currently pay for employee + family on insurance?

I fly for a WO'd, but in a previous life I was a ramper for US Airways and my insurance at US was FAR superior to what I have now as a WO'd pilot, both in terms of cost and plan/coverage. I had always assumed that US/AA pilots had the same or better deal than what we had on the ramp/other departments. For context, as a ramper at US, I was paying $88/mo for health, dental, vision coverage for excellent coverage for myself, wife, and kids, which is a steal compared to what I pay now.

If you guys are paying more than that, then yes, I'd agree on that bullet point.

LuckyNow

There were three plans based on the deductible you wanted to pay. None of them were as inexpensive as 88 dollars per month. Someone with a better memory than me can chime in, but it seemed like the most expensive was pushing $400 a month, the standard was maybe $250, and the basic one was $150 ish.

drinksonme

One item would change a lot

Just one

MIN CALENDAR DAY PAY OF 5.10

STOP SAYING "REDEYES" NEED TO PAY 15!!!!!! IT SHOULD PAY 15.30 MINIMUM. The lack of understanding MIN calendar day and its significance is astounding and frankly scary.

Here's a clear example....Hawaii. PHX flight to and from Hawaii are paying about 12-13 hours.....at our current Rig and MIN DUTY (absolute bull****) Day. These are 3 day redeye too. Thus, if we 5.10 MIN CALANDER DAY...those trips would be worth close to 18 hour 3 days. (You folks get why the PHX pilots were so ****ed now!!).

So let's expand on that. With PBS, the LCW (line credit window, is around 75-90). CREDIT IS THE KEY!!!!! If a three day, or any split trip for that matter, paid 5.10 for the MIN DUTY PERIOD, ALL TRIPS WOULD BE WORTH MORE CREDIT...READ IT AGAIN...trips worth more credit meet the LCW sooner. Thus, we would be working LESS days with SAME/MORE PAY. More line holder positions would be created by PBS cause it would have more trips to cover. That means less reserves.....what does that mean....we have to hire even more. (Job Security).

And it's a win for the company. The pairing sodomizer would make more effienct pairings, clearing out some waste of other trips.

Not getting MIN CALENDAR DAY was/is one, if not the, largest QOL and PAY killers in the JCBA. It hits from both ends. I found it astonishing they LUS AND LAA didn't have it in their contract....and virtually that's why it was not in the JCBA. It was never even a thought, "cause we've always done it this way."

It took a grass roots effort on from PHX and a lot of 3rd listers, who all came from regionals (THAT HAD MIN CALENDAR DAY, because it's industry standard VIRUALLY EVERYWHERE ELSE).....for this to even become an issue during JCBA negotiating. It was the last ask by the negotiators and it was a resounding "we asked, they said no" lay down by APA....AGAIN. The "ole" of the POS JCBA by the BOD was when APA lost it all. There was no way it was going to fail at the pilot level.....cause most had no clue what they were voting on. And when the chicken came home to roost....well you all get it.

Now the BOD ****es and moans about how we are 5th or 6th, some even blame the pilot group for not doing more. Typical of non-leaders

With the trip sodomizer cranking tons of split trips and PBS just throwing them out there, we get to bask in the glory of ancestor worship and talking heads.

You all should be sending sound offs daily about MIN CALENDAR DAY. That's is what Mr. Carey should be begging (face it he's begging) for. ITS A PAY RAISE AND QOL improvement in ONE item. You would be shocked at what it would do and how little it would cost the company.

Name User

My wife works for a fairly well-paying/benefit profitable IT company. We use our AA benefits as they are better than hers. By a pretty good margin. Our healthcare is worse than it was at Airways BUT not that much worse and we make a hell of a lot more money so it's not even a fair comparison.

I say we do away with group pay and pay everything the same rate with an international override for the PITA factor. Take the training bubble savings that the company will get and turn it directly into a pay check increase on the NBs.

But for starters why don't we actually get our JCBA implemented, you know, like it was supposed to be in 2015.