ABX Hiring
 

Yes boys and girls we’ve opened the turnstile again. Our president has said in meetings with flight crews that he was poised to furlough in the first quarter. I wouldn’t jeapordize my flight career by applying and getting hired here until things change with upper management. Choose wisely.

Motor, percentage wise how many FO’s left last year? I would listen to this ^ guy boys and girls..

40 percent of my class is gone in the last 12 months.. some more to leave soon..

I think 35% left. We are still playing hide the salami with the parent company. Existing management is hell bent on a lowball contract. I’d hold off until target date March 1. There is changes coming.

Note: they aren't hiring for any known classes. They are hiring for a pool for potential future hiring. I'm not sure it's worth your trip to Wilmington, at least until they decide to stop playing games.

And what happened to “sweamers” from August pool? All drowned I guess!

Get up at 6pm. Get dressed. Eat. Get in car and drive around for 20 minutes. Come back home at 7pm (show time). Stay in living room awake until 10am. Get in car. Drive around for 20 min. Come back home. Do whatever you want until 6pm and repeat the process. If you arent a night owl then dont think about applying.

But hey, you’ll be overpaid according to that moron soaper. I made 42k this year and he told my group in CRM tng we were overpaid. Remember, not home based and lots and lots of 12 hour airport reserve shifts. The only thing worse than airport reserve at the DHL facility is when you have to put the 10-9 page back into the too full jepp binder from hell and **** goes flying everywhere. Thats some high quality aviation training there.

Wow. That’s QOL brother ! Try this one: wake up at home in whatever city you live say at 11 am. Commute to cvg at 10 pm. First flight at 5 am. Get in at noon. 25 hours up day one. Do this 9-15 nights in a row followed with commute home. That is of course if they release you (yes line holders included) on your last day on the road after you block in in cvg. Yes, this is a mandatory call. Days off don’t mean you actually get them off.

Agreed. That example would actually be pretty dam nice.

Lol. You guys exaggerate much?

You're giving management an awful lot of credit. I've never known them to think that far ahead. It's always been ready, fire, aim. I'd suspect something is planned.

No.

I would like to see ABX pilots get a decent contract and they wont get it if you paint a rosy picture of the place. The fact that you might be higher up the seniority list and live in South Florida doesnt change the fact the place sucks for new FO's. I hope you aren't telling all your friends to apply here.

Also, have you noticed all the dopes picking up open time? I thought ABX had this great group of guys but I came to realize there are way too many guys slurping it up at the open time table who are basically backstabbing their fellow pilots. I realize it is a free country but geez, talk about short sighted.

I am really not sure why I care though.

When you first hired on during a growth spurt and lots of flying all was good, but now that things have slowed you don’t like the job that you accepted. Reserve does suck I’ve been on it for most of 20+ years here. It’s part of the job.
Maybe you should have taken the position where you are put in the left seat and bidding #1 at full pay from day one. It doesn’t exist so move on if you don’t like where your at now.

Complaining about your job and fellow crew members won’t make it a better place to work. Learn better ways to live while sitting reserve. Do something during the day. Having my uniform and suitcase with me only limits me to being within a 2 hr radius of the airport.

Take it easy. We are going to get a better contract or shut it down. That's a given. I'm not painting a rosy pic but it's not worst place in the world either and saying so isn't going to change negotiations one bit.

Fact is that if you don't live in base and are on reserve, life is gonna suck no matter what airline your at. I have a friend at FedEx who knew that and moved to base to have a life. At my previous airline, after years of beating myself up commuting, I broke down and moved to base. Complete game changer. So I can understand your frustration but aside from some of the day/night transition stuff, this isn't hell.

Addressing coming here. Sorry, but yes I have 2 friends I'd like to see come here who may need the work soon. People are going to apply no matter what is said on these message boards. I'd like to see good people come instead of idiots. You should welcome people to the bottom of the seniority list. It's another way for you to move up. ��

Now, I haven't been paying attention to who is grabbing open time. I never have since day one. I like my days off and have no desire to work on them. If I run into someone who is, I'll tell them to stop and save that flying for the reserve guys.�� I agree that is short sighted.

And, because I don't think it's said enough, we will get a better contract or lock the door behind us. That's one thing I've seen most people on the seniority list agree on.

Jason regarding our contract.....we WILL get a better contract with the new owner; not this clown-show management team. I’m hearing their days are numbered.

You are right. It actually has been good for me. Then again I only have a couple of days left so it doesnt really bother me if everyone is picking up open time or telling their friends this place is great. I hope it works out for everyone. It just sucks for the people that cant escape soaper. Good luck abx!

What new owner?

I'm ALL IN Motor. Take it or leave it...... Hahaha

If you’re absolutely craving work at an ACMI then there are better places than ABX.
Go apply to Kalitta, Atlas, hell even ATI is better.
It’s honestly toxic here. Management hates the pilots. There is no upward movement because of it. All new planes go to ATI. Old routes go to ATI. It’s take, take, take here all day, every day.
If there is a delay, it’s automatically assumed it’s because of the pilots. How often are pilots actually responsible for a delay? It’s constant finger pointing.
I made the mistake of coming here. Don’t make the same mistake.
A better contract wont help the toxic environment here.

I hate to say that I came across a LINE HOLDER....picking up open time ....but I enjoyed the look of his face when I told him I was been JRM for 2 days in a row for extra pay and my D6 days.

I think if/when amazon buys abx and Atlas it will be a better gig. If it doesn’t happen it’s just another ACMI carrier. If you live locally it can be what you make of it. But the hostile environment mgmt creates is something I have never seen.

303 just remember.....this is essentially the same scumbag, failure driven management that tubed comair. Everyone who came here,including the chairman of the board was fired from other places. But rumor has it that their days are numbered. Hang in there, this ****show will only get better!

Soaper....Jesus....you can’t make this stuff up.

67 hard lines next month. We used to 90+. ATI must have gotten some more of our flying. Don't waste your time applying here. I can no longer justify staying. It is a dying airline.

And, they have restructured the patterns of flying so that we go through CVG frequently. Makes it easier to REA and JRM...Less crewmembers needed to fly the month.

Other than picking up our AMC contractual 6 month rotation of the ETAR/HECA charter, I don’t think so.
Have you looked at the other 767 operators on the ramp at CVG?

I’m not sure who actually got the flying. I was just guessing ATI.
All I know is that we are down 20+ lines of flying. ABX isnt growing, but getting smaller and smaller.
There is no reason to come here. First year pay is horrendous. You pay for your own housing during training. You won’t get per diem during training. And no CASS while in training. Then when you finally get on line, you will be on reserve indefinitely. That means either a crashpad or moving your family to the opioid Capitol of the US.
I know that reserve is where you start out at other places, but there is no possibility of advancement here. And like I’ve stated before, the environment here is just toxic. ATSG/ABX management hates the pilot group.

Yeah, and you know what's frustrating? Look back at the Kalitta hiring thread to about a year before they got their contract. They absolutely spit poison about the place. Now that they have a contract...pilots are signing up. They're relatively happy. Their company is growing rapidly. Upward mobility. Same thing could happen here if they'd just get out of their own way. Not going to wait around to find out though.

Hey Amazon....I hope you are reading these blogs. This is the management failure you have inherited!

So senior management recently implemented a generous severance plan for themselves. Discuss.........

Sounds like they are prepping the buyout.

One can only hope. Get rid of the existing management.

First year pay is $42,000. Health insurance for 2018 is about $8500. Add in disability, AD&D, union dues etc and you’re looking at about $30,000 before taxes.
There are better places to go. Everyone is hiring.

Come over to K4 and more than triple that!

Very seriously considering it.....but don’t want to be short-sighted.

A couple of questions out of curiosity.

1) Can someone explain how a year 1 pilot at k4 is making over 100k with a 64 hour guarantee?

2) What work rules allow k4 pilots to credit over 83 a month in order to make over 100k at year one rates if not actually flying over 83 hours?

3) Does your flight schedule change on a daily basis or do you know what your flying each month without your schedule constantly changing? Is it like living perpetually on reserve on your work days?

It's called working overtime. A lot of people will timeout on overtime each month and then be sent home for their actual line. You also receive 4 hours for reserve days and 50% dead head pay. It's very common to credit around 100hrs a month right now if you want it.

Oh and the line you are awarded is irrelevant at the moment. You bid a schedule and fly whatever you're stuck with.

So, is it safe to say then that in order to credit those hours your actually working most of those hours and no real schedule? Just know the days your gonna work and or sit reserve?

Jason
We have some very long flights for instance
LAX-SFO-ICN 18hrs rest - ICN-LAX
that's over 24 hrs pay in less than 48 hrs
Back in La u get R2 that's another 4 hrs- total 30ish hrs in LAX
Then do it all over again...so that's 28-30 hrs pay in 3 days

I could give many such examples...this may not last forever, but...
I flew my first OT trip ever last month to get home from Hong Kong instead of taking the bis class flt I could have...HKG-ANC-CVG got in at 8pm on my 1st day off...caught 6am flight home by 10 am on second day off...that trip alone paid me 27.7 hrs...giving me a total of 124 hrs credit for the month...I'm in the left, we are very short guys in the right seat...

We have about 360 on seniority lit now
It's not an exaggeration to say by 2021 that number will double

I remember reading your posts when you interviewed at abx
You were very excited to be there...sucks what Hete is doing there
If you want to jump...sooner the better
Good luck

Thanks for the info. I always keep my options open. Not rushing out just yet though.