You're proposing the same schedule as Kalitta, the same pay rates + $1, and we find our own way to work. This is supposed to be better?

 

Well first of all Atlas is 17 days. Everything else depends on your base and where home is. Your first year is going to be miserable on the 747. Getting to ANC is a pain. Most of the time at the end of your schedule you can just get back on your plane and at least be in the lower 48 tax free. When you bid out of ANC to another base it's easier, again depending on where you live. Most ORD flights leave in the evening so I'm normally on a sunrise flight to ORD. Most of return flights come in during the afternoon so I just go over to the terminal and am home 6-8 hours after the brake was set.

Everyone complains about Gateway but you don't have to use it. Having jumpseated for years, knowing I have a ride is great. And the tax on a company hotel is still less than the crew rate on a dive hotel.

Obviously everyone's situation is different.

 

No, I'm not proposing anything I'm just trying to understand the differences in schedules and from what I've learned it seemed like Kalitta had a pretty good one in comparison so I was wondering if Atlas was pushing for something similar.

 

Ok, thanks, I was under the impression it was 18. So if you're lucky you might be able to fly into base on the same night you're supposed to leave and fly out the same day you arrive back home after your 17 days which means you'll only be away from home for 17 days, maybe 18 a month.

 

I see, thanks. I can't believe they would even consider eliminating the gateway benefit and expect to keep people.

 

In my opinion if you took away Gateway and just gave us Kalitta rates it wouldn't be a pay increase at all. It'd be a wash for most of our pilot group. Plus Kalitta is home based so Kalitta would still have the better contract!

 

wouldn't a true Kalitta + $1 contract include home basing and a 16 day schedule? or is home basing not a contractual issue?

 

Just a caveat to not using Gateway. Remember that there is no commuter clause here so if you're trying to hump it up to ANC and are stranded in SEA there will be a record of you jumpseating and being stranded. Without a commuter clause that could get you in trouble on probation and in the current environment it might get you in trouble even after. In my personal opinion it's not safe to avoid Gateway to avoid Gateway's negative side effects unless you can drive.

 

Understand that when that happens it's a miserable day. So I've been based in MIA and HSV where at times I've done that and the way it goes down is that I get up at 3AM for a 6AM flight out of my Gateway. I land at my base around 11AM and get 10 hours of rest for a 9PM wakeup. I usually get a 2-4 hour nap. I'm generally pretty tired at wakeup and now have to go to work for 12-16 hours. When I get where I'm going I'm pretty tired. At times it's a lose/lose situation. It does get you an extra night at home though and with a small child right now it's sometimes well worth it.

 

We're tying to get better than that on the work rules but management has told our negotiating committee that we allegedly don't care about work rules. We only care about the rates...

To me 15 days with Home basing is fair or just scrap Gateway for a true Industry Standard Contract that would be closer to what a FedEx or UPS has. Management and the Union are very far apart on what current expectations are for our new contract and it's one reason that we're no where near a resolution.