Originally Posted by JohnBurke (Post 3370477)

You lie again. Show me saying it.

WGA has a LONG history of extremely poor maintenance, and not poor as in done in ignorance. Poor as in pushing unairworthy equipment on the road and kicking the can down the road one flight at a time in the hopes of eeking one more revenue trip. Poor as repeatedly making writeups disappear, and repeat writeups.

The cheerleaders dismiss and diminish. Don't listen to the past, they will tell you. The future is rosy. We're under new management (DO). The siren song, with each change to date, but the company is micromanaged from the top down, and those idealists who have attempted change soon find themselves beleaguered and hamstrung, denied the ability to do their job, whether it's chief pilot or standards captain or director of training, or even director of maintenance.

It's easy to dismiss the truth as "disgruntled," when there's nothing of the kind. For one to be disgruntled, one would have to have been wounded, hurt, suffered a loss, in job, pay, position, title, or some other reason for disgruntlement; the accusation is leveled at me, and I'll state very plainly for the record that I have no reason for disgruntlement. I 'll correctly and truthfully state that I do not work for WGA. I made no other claims, nor can the cheerleaders claim otherwise. Threats to go personal, to out, to reveal only show your immature, low character (and I know who you are, too). I made no personal threats. The thread is about WGA, not about me; try to focus, if you can.

This subject is where it is right now because someone (not me) brought up the fact that no western global aircraft were moving. Most still aren't moving. Call that a raging success if you will, and celebrate it, but it's neither normal for a legitimate operation, nor a very good way to run a business. Those aircraft are not resting. They are not down simply because WGA favors good maintenance and will take all the time in the world to get it right. They're down because they're broken; the only other time WGA stops is when there's a lull in the business...and there's seldom a lull. WGA runs aircraft until they break, then keeps running them until they won't run. That's the western global way.

The problem is that things are always on the verge of turning around, getting better. Bandaid stop-the-hemmoraging pay fixes pop up from time to time. Certainly the latest improvements for crew are much needed. The goalposts move; the longevity bonus has been pushed back again. ESOP is a pipe dream.

Personally, I wish WGA the best. I sincerely hope that Neff pulls his aging head out and stops micromanaging, stops holding the company back, allows the sham "safety culture" to fade away, and a real just culture to take hold. It's always about promises...I have a bonus for you but I can't tell you what it is until you sign not one, but two nondisclosure agreements. The goalpost shrinks. So does the pilot body, and while it's not just due to maintenance, fixing the problem isn't as simple as throwing a few dollars at the crew. This discussion took place a few pages ago in this thread: if WGA offered a higher wage, it was said, it would be the place to go. No. Because WGA has a lot of problems, and paydoesn't fix them. It helps the bad medicine, but here's the thing: WGA's problems can ALL be fixed. They exist because of a corporate culture and top down micromanagement which prevents good people from doing the job that they want to do. WGA has some very good people. Some real experience. WGA is finding that the core, those who have seniority, and time, and who have followed these airplanes from one company to another as each folds and crumbles away, will stay. Not really loyal, but comfortable, and not anxious to start over. Most others, are bailing, if they can.

The core, those who have been there a long time, who have been with the airplane a long time, make Neff a LOT of money. They're great people, they can fly an an airplane, and they're professionals. They deserve better, but will probably never leave WGA so long as the ship still floats, and it's not love for or extreme loyalty to WGA. They endure, they put up with, and they operate in spite of, not for or because.

All those parked airplanes right now aren't parked altruistically. Think about it. Think really hard about it.

Originally Posted by nitefr8dog (Post 3370977)

Wow.....that's like reading War and Peace.

Originally Posted by C17B74 (Post 3371111)

Perhaps, but interesting nonetheless for myself. What else am I going to do with 32hrs in a hotel…

*I will say while delayed in ORD earlier last year we watched the mx folks fixing up an MD and they left before us and returned before we left… with a trail of flashy vehicles behind them after the reject/abort due to an engine issue. Not that any of us haven’t experienced this before at some time or another. We finally left after load delays…

Originally Posted by BeechV35 (Post 3372519)

Hello. I noticed on the APC profile page, FO 1st year pay increased from daily rate of $421 to $527. Can anyone confirm the increase and if any other benefits have changed. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Wingdeagle11 (Post 3372548)

25% pay raise for FOs, 20% for Captains, 17 days guarantee, day 18 and above 200% daily rate. The pay scale on APC is current and correct.

Originally Posted by onepoint5thumbs (Post 3373829)

Out of curiosity often do you end up getting involuntarily extended to 20?

Originally Posted by 80Z28Dude (Post 3374387)

Presently, as a new FO, I would say plan on being out 20 days. A few months ago, WGA announced that 50% of the lines would be 17 hard days. We haven’t met the 50% number yet. It’s more like 1/3, but they go senior. Maybe now, with the 25% FO pay raise, attrition will slow and we will be able to cover our commitments with less 20 day lines. Time will tell. As A Captain, I had a 17 day and 18 day in 2 of the last 4 months.

Originally Posted by BeechV35 (Post 3374697)

I realize WGA pays daily rate but curious on average how many hours a month a new FO would fly to accumulate 121 time towards future upgrade? Is upgrade around 5-year mark? Thanks.