JulesWinfield

I don't think there will be a big amount of takers for TOWOP, considering it is the holidays and people usually spend a ton of money. It isn't a big stretch to think furloughs may happen soon, considering the cost of our pilot group and the gross overage of pilots.

pa24250

A couple issues with the original post. Given that, yes, we are fat on pilots right now, I'd like to make the following observations:

1) Spring 2018 hire here, NYC 900. If the movement rates for the next few months are at all similar to the movement rates from the past several months, I'll have a line after six months of reserve. This announcement may delay that a few months, we'll see.

2) I pick up a couple days of extra flying per month and average 40ish hours/month. It's not as much flying as I'd like, but it's hardly sitting in a crashpad doing nothing.

3) One does not consolidate one's ATP certificate, and consolidation of knowledge doesn't have anything to do with how many 121 jobs a pilot has held. Consolidation of knowledge is based on aircraft type and duty position.

(Follow-up: I've heard of guys having trouble consolidating, but there are provisions to allow guys who get close to fly more or get a short extension. I didn't have any trouble with consolidation, having picked up a few extra days of flying per month. Most--but not all--of my class members consolidated without needing an extension.)

4) The sky is not falling, as it were, and it's been a while since I've enjoyed a glass of koolaid. The sky may very well fall at some point in the future, for us, or any airline--and this may prove to be a precursor to that. Today's memo ought to get our attention, but not yet much more than that.

FollowCompanyRJ

Furloughing is not expensive for a regional with a huge chunk of its pilot list on probation.

We only lost 8 pilots last month. That isn’t going to cut it. TOWOP is the first step before part time lines, then furlough.

But I’ll be optimistic for the sake of argument. Your best bet as a new hire here is you get to sit reserve for a year and a half and block 5 hours a month. Hope you get a good crashpad!

JSDL

Better talk to some other folks about reserve before you complain about a year and a half.

FollowCompanyRJ

Better look at the current state of the industry before you go around saying we deserve to relive what you went through.

WMUFlyboy1

Anyone who knows me will tell you I am the opposite of a kool-aid drinker.

Let's live in reality here. TOWOP is not a big deal, it has been offered before and will be offered again. It is not a sign of furloughing. There is a temporary overstaffing situation, evident by the fact that they are still running new hire classes. Delta offered their version of TOWOP all summer, and I don't see them getting close to furlough.

If you are so unhappy here, just leave already. You seriously do nothing but complain every day nonstop. You have only been here a few months, so not a lot of seniority to lose by jumping ship to somewhere else that you might like better. In the meantime, can you please stop being a whiny beotch?

chrisreedrules

PSA was offering TOWOP for a few months back in 2015. I wouldn’t get too worked up about it. Things will rebalance in time.

ninerdriver

If growth is still on the table, then furloughs won't happen. The company just spent a bunch of money to train folks. It's cheaper to keep those folks on the payroll; the alternative would be to furlough a bunch of junior folks who would probably just get jobs elsewhere anyway, then hire and train (read: spend more money on) new folks, which would put the company behind the hiring curve when growth occurs.

If growth doesn't happen, then yeah, furloughs might be next.

The company says growth is coming. Whether or not to believe that, that's up to you.

If it comes to furloughs, then the less people beneath you means the closer that you are to receiving a furlough. You want as many people beneath you as you can get.

If it doesn't come to furloughs, then the less people beneath you means the less people to take reserve lines beneath you. You want as many people beneath you as you can get.

How do you get as many people beneath you as you can get? You don't tell them to stop coming here. You're doing the entire pilot list no favors by doing so.

ninerdriver

I see what you did there.

GuardPolice

Compared to TOWOP, furloughing is expensive which is what my point was supposed to be. TOWOP only lasts at most 1 bid period at a time before everyone gets to bid again for it if the company needs it the following month. Furloughing is a longer term tool that would involve needing sim time before pilots return to the line.

If they are offering TOWOP in December, I bet there’s some people on property willing to forgo the pay in order to get Christmas off. So, again, TOWOP isn’t necessarily a sign disaster is around the corner.

Lastly, as someone who obviously wants to fly as much as you can, TOWOP would actually help you. If not enough pilots take it, it means you’re not flying much at all. If enough do take it, you’re looking at the opportunity to probably fly as much as you want. As I said in my earlier post, mainline did this some over the summer. Guess what? After doing this, many of the categories that had TOWOP ended up giving out a lot of green slips.