These outstation bases at republic have the problem of never having commuteable trips, and being hard cities to commute to. I will say that people might be more willing to move to some of these cities unlike NY but I would never consider moving for a regional.

 

Lots of other stations fit the bill. They can do it with any number of pilots. They bid the mini-base for six months, kinda like the CRJ guys used to bid the Aspen flying. The company then knows how many lines they can build there. It’s not rocket science.

 

The only people bidding the mini-base would be the ones wanting it. 10 guys bid it.... build 10 lines. 2 guys build it. Build two lines. It saves them hotels all month. A few here and there adds up quickly.

The recruiting tool of being able to be home based is the single biggest quality of life change there is. It’s universally agreed to be the best QOL change, ask anybody,
If they can creatively save a little money while also increasing hiring than that’s a good thing.

 

Yeah, I don’t work there anymore. Lots of friends still do, and I’d like to see the company improve for all and succeed.... more of the same isn’t going to do it long term in a pilot shortage that shortly gets worse. It’s not just pilots either. Mechanics are also getting in shorter supply.
They’ve got the number, the consulting fee will be reasonable.
Freebies are over.

 

I think what Endeavor has going may be a better solution, IMHO. Positive space on the second attempt to commute. This mitigates the problem that could occur if AAG switched flying around, different equipment or different regional servicing a city. First successful attempt costs the company nothing, since the pilot non-revved space available. If it came to a second attempt, the positive space cost to the company would likely be minimal.


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While I would love mini bases, the chances of one being in my city is slim to none. With that said, I do like the Endeavor rules for their commuters. It would take a lot of the stress out of things.

 

This is a complicated way to get to just allowing us to A1D to work. We already have the ability in DECS (new since your time). If they just made it legal to A1D yourself to your base on DAY 1, it would have the same effect and be WAY less complicated.

I don’t think anyone actually believes the company would agree to this. Not that it’s a bad idea.

 

I’ve always thought a positive space commute would be a good recruitment tool. While I know that will never happen, what some have mentioned Endeavor doing with requiring a first attempt and then a positive space would be almost as good and cost the company little. Or if the company allowed them to make the decision of a pay protected third flight if they didn’t want to bump a paying customer.

 

The mini-base idea is pretty dumb in my not so humble opinion. It is a lot of changes for the benefit of very few people. The companies that do it are doing it for the company's benefit. Republic and PSA have a bit of an advantage in that they can lock down a majority of the flying into those bases. It saves the company hotel costs by calling those places bases. Sure, they probably have a handful of lifers filling those seats in PIT, DAY, IND, but pilots are just as likely to avoid Republic if it means 2 leg commuting as they are likely to find somebody living in those bases.

The other issue is that our pilot group is pretty fluid, and the largest demographic are pilots living in Texas joining The Envoy to eventually be AA DFW based. Outstation pilots are more likely to be trying to get out of The Envoy by any means available, and more likely to be high turnover as they are not tied to the DFW dream.

Let's face it... management can't even make small changes to reserve scheduling to benefit commuters. About a third of the pilots at The Envoy are on reserve, so it's not a small group. Management doesn't seem to have any incentive to build efficient lines. They don't seem to care about hotel costs as there are always several crews at each hotel, when many of those midday check-ins could be turns and more days off. If anything, the company likes to have as many pilots available to reassign as possible, so we get <3 hour days and lost days, and barely more than min days off.

Our reason to exist is simply to fly the short legs and keep the flights on time. Our lack of pay protections and soft pay make us a very cheap pilot group compared to our peers.

 

I can agree with a lot of this, however more than half our pilot group are commuters that have no intention of going to Dallas. AA has decent bases covering most key places so many are waiting to flow and end up in one of them. I get the point about Dallas, but it certainly isnt the end all be all for everyone.

You hit the nail on the head with scheduling though. They seem to have an unnatural fear of running out of pilots. The entire system doesn't make sense to me, but I am sure they have their reasons, rational or not.

In terms of the schedule and building lines, this is complicated. I mean we get what we get from AA and a computer does a bunch of simulations to determine the best lines. Who determines what is best varies I am sure, but the company seems happy with the results so we are stuck with it.

The fact that AA owns us offers our best and worst deals. Best in terms of flow and travel, worst in terms of being their ***** to do with as they please. I can imagine there are times when running some inefficient trips actually benefits AA in someway and having us do them, as opposed to say Skywest, is the cheaper of the options.