Noworkallplay

I see many have asked for a simple bullet point brief of changes, pay rates, gains, gives. Must not be anything to be proud of if no one is willing to post.

vroll1800

What major gains ? What amount would you consider to be a major gain ?

I see the updated pay scales have been posted on APC profile on ABX. Most notable is a significant increase in 1st year pay rate, as in nearly double old rate. For most of the other seat positions/longevity:
Increases on Jan 2021 over last old contract Jan 2015 rates of ~ 22.7%. Inflation rate of ~12% from 2015 to now, so an effective 10.7% increase over inflation adjusted rates on a concessionary 2009 contract.
BUT........ The monthly guarantee hours reduced from 68 to 65 hours, meaning a ~ 17.2% increase over base pay, or only beating inflation by 5.2%. That's for a poor soul that has a line less than 65 FCH, and absolutely no junior manning/ excess REA.
This is a 6 year deal with slightly frontloaded increases. Additional 5% raise late March 2021, with 2% raises on 1 January 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026, resp.
YMMV, but the big unknown is how much above base the pilot will make with various multipliers thrown in. There was an overhaul of scheduling provisions that seem to have some good features for the pilot group. P1 days greater of 6 hrs, or 150% FCH. P2 days, greater of 7 or 8 hrs, or 175% or 200% FCH. The caveat is the phrase "may be designated at company discretion." Seems good, but how much will that be a factor in total compensation levels ? I've been retired for several years, this seems a bit muddy to me. If active crewmembers seem reticent about providing information, I suspect they're waiting until they've comfortably figured out how these changes shake out "IRL", not just in some abstract exercise on a spreadsheet.
I'm signing off for now, I might touch upon some retirement, scheduling, and vacation aspects if nobody else does.

JetRage

It's not a major gain by any stretch of the imagination. Our union has has very little power to negotiate with a dozen or so airlines (including Mesa) is on the CVG ramp. This contract for sure didn't take us backwards. Most of us think it moved us "slightly" forwards and keeps us among the best in the ACMI. Amazons preeminence is the next issue we need to address.

Reactivity

There were no huge gains. There were never going to be huge gains. That's why this took so long. The bar was set three years ago, the company wasn't interested in seeing it raised, and they were able to survive the pilot shortage without having to raise it. What we got were adjustments that brought our costs into line with those of our beloved sister airline when the cost of home basing is considered.

Some of the other notable changes:

• 7 fewer work days per year. We're going from 17 work days per month (204 work days per year) to 14 days off per month (197 work days per year). There is the possibility in some cases for one more work day in December.
  
• 401(k) direct contribution lowered to 5% (from 7.5%), but added a 100% match up to 3.5%, no cap on company contributions
  
• Pairings that start with a commercial deadhead into position can, at crewmember's discretion, be ticketed from the crewmember's home instead of CVG domicile. We could do that already, but it was at company discretion and the cost had to be equal to or less than a ticket from CVG.
  
• The hated RXD (reserve extension day), wherein crew scheduling could extend someone on reserve for one day past the end of their scheduled end date without the day off benefit that would be derived from a junior man assignment, has been eliminated.
  
• Possibility of eliminating junior man assignments by allowing scheduling to designate open flying for premium pay.
  
• Elimination of the FIFO list for reserves, to be replaced by a will fly/won't fly list. If you want to fly more, you probably will. If you want to fly less, you might.
  
• Line holders who bid an R1 (airport reserve) on a flex day (similar to reserve, but more restricted), will be provided with a 24-hour hotel room, check-in time at crewmember's discretion.
  

I'm sure there are a few more small things that I've forgotten.


What is reserve like? It's like reserve. We tend to be slightly understaffed, so reserves tend to be busy. The locals who like to bid reserve and will likely bid "won't fly" will probably improve that situation for those who bid "will fly". I have never had a crashpad. Even when I was on reserve, I was busy enough that it never looked like more than a break-even deal to have a crashpad with all of its associated expenses vs. paying for hotel rooms on the days I was stuck in CVG.

zeppelin

Thank you for the thorough explanation. What are the average line credit values, and would a person expect to fly what they bid, or is it mostly a place holder?

Reactivity

Average is probably in the 55 to 60 range. This month, there was a pretty even distribution from 45 to 65, with one at 71. The only lines that regularly get close to guarantee or over are the European flying lines. We have a bunch of those now, at least through June, thanks to The Covid and somebody else's C check.

One of the features of our CBA that is intended to encourage proper staffing is reassignment pay. It has changed with the new CBA, allowing the company to reassign you up to two days per bid period without triggering reassignment pay, but generally, you can expect to fly the line you are awarded unless you're scheduled for training or displaced for training (and there are some limits on that). There are the usual exceptions for mechanical problems, customer schedule changes, and weather events. I've had all three this month, but that has been an unusual exception.

XR270

These numbers are credit right? I think I read that there is a 4.5 hour min daily credit now so would a 65 hour credit line be only 14 days on for example?

Jurassic Jet

There is no min daily credit per se. You are required to work 16 or 17 days per month depending on a 30/31 day month.

zyzz

in the pay notes section of apc it says min day pays 4.5 hours even if you don’t fly. I’m confused. Shouldn’t everyone be crediting 72 or 76.5 then?

Reactivity

The APC bullet points for ABX are not especially well-written or clear, or even current.

Yes, those numbers are what the line credits.

The 4.5-hour minimum applies to extra work days (e.g. what we call "carryover days" where a trip from one bid period extends into the following bid period, and no days are dropped from the next bid period to restore days off), dropped days, and a few other situations. There are no situations in which you will work fewer days in a bid period just because it hits 65 credit hours. All schedules are 14 days off per month, which means 16 or 17 work days per month, the exception being that 50% of lines in December can be written with 13 days off, and will credit a minimum of 69.5 hours (65 + 4.5 for the extra work day) for the month.

The term "month" is used somewhat loosely. Generally, our bid periods line up with the calendar month. January/February/March is the exception. February borrows a day from the months on each side so that January, February (except leap years) and March are each 30-day bid periods. February is a 31-day bid period in leap years.