Ha ha! I got the same thing from the email. In my opinion it was a desperate attempt to slow the onslaught of emails and phone calls after the schedules are released. The fact is, more pilots on the seniority list would ease PBS constraints and more people would be happy when the schedules are released. Of course not everyone will be happy no matter how many pilots are hired, it's the nature of seniority based scheduling.

The other part of the equation is productivity. With unproductive trips people won't be able to get as many days off as they would like. Productivity could be increased marginally at the expense of productivity and trip mix but at a company where more people commute than those who don't, this would be unacceptable. Any real gains in productivity have to come from Delta, who gives Compass all of it's flying.

The sad fact is Delta has no incentive to increase productivity at Compass. Flights are being completed on time and relatively inexpensively. Crew member happiness is not in the productivity equation. If, in the second week of December, 15 pilots time out at the same time, there will be significant schedule interruption. A schedule interruption is the only thing that will change the scheduling dynamic.

My advice? Keep emailing Crew Planning when you are not happy with your schedule and cc: the chief pilots. If you have been flying a lot this year keep it up, it may get you a two week vacation in December.

 

JungleBus,
Sorry about the delay, but I was not talking about your prior responses, they were, as well as most others, factual and informative, exactly what the original poster wanted. I was actually talking about those that assume to know that what ever the QOL this pilot has at airline “A” would be worse at airline “B” (in this case, Compass). I think it is grossly unfair to state something like “Friends don't let friends leave sh!tty jobs for sh!tt!er jobs”, without knowing, or seemingly caring, what is leading him into a decision that he readily admits would be a backwards step. This smacks of arrogance and selfishness that does not consider what may be best for this fellow pilot and his family, but just a soapbox to express discontent with your own lot in life. All he asked for was useful information that most of you provided him. I do not think he was looking for a mother to tell him what to do. That is what I mean by growing up.

Growing up also does mean fighting for what is right and trying to better the profession for all, but this should not be done at the expense of one. Even those whose passion for flying is so great, that they would be willing find away to survive on $20K or so a year and 11 days off a month. My guess is that is what most you did when you joined Compass.

Growing up also means taking responsibility for the decisions we make, you sir (and rest of you with similar victim mentalities), made a decision to sign a contract that may now look crappy; who is responsible for that?

Time to quit being the victim, take responsibility for where you are in your professional life, and strive to make a meaningful contributions for what you stand for (Combine Compass campaign), change things over time (meaningful representation from ALPA), and help your fellow pilots as well our industry, or, get off the bus!

 

NWA MEC negotiated and signed the CPZ contract without member ratification. No Compass pilot had a say in the negotiating process, though we came to work here knowing the deal. Everyone had to do their own cost/benifit analysis, but in my case not commuting and quick upgrade outweighed a less than steller contract. Toward the bottom of the list most guys faced the decision of working under a poor contract or not working at all, I understand why many are bitter.