No, I didn't miss anything.

An increased wage doesn't cleanse the stink of poor maintenance. There will always be a line for the 36 street operator, and while WGA operates from the shadows of Estero, they are still very much a 36th street operator in every sense, including their training location.

Increasing wages will not drive "most" pilots to WGA. It may make it more palatable, but won't be adequate to draw a long line of highly-qualified candidates, let alone "most." Neither will it make WGA a career destination for most, or a majority of pilots.

WGA is to be commended for increasing wages, albeit far late in the game. Their brief "covid incentive" that lasted a couple of months, after taking government money for the employees (and pocketing most of it, paying the employees a little, and then discontinuing the charade) is an example. Their bringing back their "covid incentive" at a lesser rate was an afterthought attempt to shrug off a union vote, and a poor one, given that it was less than the original "covid incentive."

I am not saying pilots should, or should not go to WGA. The reputation, however, is known, and boosting a wage isn't going to cause attrition from legacies and desirable locations like FedEx and UPS, back to an outfit like WGA, nor would it make WGA a career destination for "most" pilots. Some, perhaps, but then there are already a number of pilots who are with WGA who will stay there, and there's already a line of those wishing to shortcut their regional experience, looking for an interview.

There is a lot that WGA can do to bolster it's reputation and it's desirability, but merely cobbling up the wage isn't the magic bean to drive "most" pilots there. Face it: many who are there now question whether the company will be around in a few years, and few believe they'll see anything from the ESOP, beyond the cheerleader(s). What WGA needs to do is be competitive, but that's a lot more than raw wage. 15 hours of airlining to anchorage to get at best four hours rest at the hotel before heading out to Incheon isn't the desired life many want, nor operating eighteen hours only to get another 18 hours of deadhead on the tail end and a note from the chief pilot advising that, "your rest does not justify the cost to the company." Those who enjoy 22 DMI stickers on the overhead panel, who revel in rejected takeoffs, diversions, air turnbacks, and making three pages of writeups after landing, and seeing most of them cancelled as could-not-duplicate, may be enamored with 421 an hour as their sole criteria for abandoning long-term employment at a legacy or FedEx or UPS, but "most" will certainly not.

 

So - what you're saying is that the hourly and not daily rate is 421?

 

Funny how the most passionate keyboard warriors on the forums don't care about details to try to make their argument.... they're here for the fight, the rabble rousing, not the constructive outcome, because they have their career attached to another, and are afraid they made a bad choice. A detail like saying the pay is 8-16x higher, and no need to correct it, kinda comical actually.

 

Indeed, some guys near retirement (or those who want to retire early after "selling their soul" for a few years) would be totally ok with going back to our "dirthole cargo" days and cashing out at a rate of 5:1... So if it's actually 421/hour to start - where do I sign? I would only need 2 or 3 years out of the place.

 

Except that nobody has said this.

The pay is a daily rate. A poster incorrectly stated that were that value an hourly rate, most pilots would flock to WGA.

​​​​​​​Reading comprehension is key. Give it a shot.

 

Yes, my mistake. I inadvertently wrote $421 per hour for the 1st year instead of $421 daily rate for the first year. Any update to the daily FO rate after the first year?

Thanks, didn't mean to stir anything up.

 

Definitely the pot was stirred unbeknownst to you - wouldn’t worry about it, slight correction and if it were hourly rate it would have been on billboards along the highway. Despite the twists back and forth a lot of information came forward so we’ll see where this goes. JB put some time into the discussion and it’s appreciated.

 

YOU didn’t stir anything up. I figured it was a typo and wanted to verify (don’t know much about WG).
Had no idea my question would turn into a debate?

Good luck to you in your job pursuit wherever it may take you.

 

WELL SAID!!
but isn’t that every cargo job? 💁🏻‍♂️😂

 

Fatigue was definitely the worst aspect of the job when I started. I wasn’t sure how I’d even survive, after my 1st rotation, I was so wasted. It took me almost a week to even feel normal again back home……

Longer rest periods work best for me on long legs. Being willing to sit up front longer to give my colleagues & myself the opportunity to actually rest longer.. Result: Way less fatigue.

We had a rather rare leg recently from Inchon to Chicago. A 12 hour flight. One of the captains asked me if I’d be willing to cover most of the cruise portion. If I did, he would take the whole leg from Chicago back to Anchorage. A 6 hour flight. I said “Absolutely.” On that last leg, I fell asleep in the crew rest area. The 6 hour flight felt like it took about an hour & I wasn’t even tired anymore!


HD