be a PA hands down

 

Same here, in fact it's amazing how they can utilize you EVERY one of those 12 duty periods and you won't get anywhere near a 30/7 issue. That's fine, better to be on the road in the hotel as opposed to sitting in the crashpad as a commuter etc, as well as the per diem for meals.

Pretty much all the transition language in our CBA is crap. I wasn't overly impressed with ASA's either.

AWAC's concessionary 2003 easily has the best transition rules that I've seen so far, and mirror my previous employers.

 

Ah, the old pilot shortage story. This one is as old as Bob Hoover. Does anybody remember a few years ago when the regionals were scrambling to fill seats? There were over 10,000 furloughed FAR121 pilots on the streets at that time. None of them applied to swing gear on a Saab or CRJ900. Why not? They couldn't afford it. The only true shortage was finding pilots willing to fly for $21,000/year. From what I'm seeing, mainline companies will continue to replace mainline aircraft with 70/90 seaters at RJ pay. There will be some hiring - there has to be, but I seriously doubt it will be a huge wave. And I'm still sure we haven't seen the end of consolidation and more importantly the true effects that will follow in the years to come. Just my $0.02.

 

I know friend. I wish I were young again. All this wouldn't matter so much.

 

To answer the guy's original question, reserve rules are as mentioned previously. Your largest block of reserve days off are "immovable" or you can designate another block of days off as immovable.

Flight benefits are changing. Right now CAL and UAL are in the process of combining their flight benefits and figuring out where we fit in the grand scheme of the "new" United Express system. I'm not sure how things will shake out for us exactly. As of January we have access to CAL's old benefits and the benefits of other United Express carriers. CAL charges $12.50 per person per segment for domestic coach but you get 12 (i think?) free passes per year. Right now, it sounds like UAL is a flat $50 per person per year for unlimited travel. There are other charges of course, depending on class of travel and international.

Bottom line is this, life isn't too bad here at XJT, especially as a lineholder. Our trip trading, hard lines/no PBS (for now) and vacation rules are some of the best out there as far as scheduling. The transition between months, as mentioned, is very weak and its very easy to get screwed. Reserve has been rough for most in recent memory due to our understaffing by that clown Handley who was brought in just to cut costs and sell us to someone. This is something ASA has committed to fixing in merger. All of our bases are being realigned with the "New United" system so staffing levels are changing across the board with ORD growing quickly while EWR, IAH and CLE shrink. I don't think anyone really knows how things will shake out.

You mentioned that you are locked in to Florida and from what I hear, that commute is going to suck no matter what, even if down the road, you are able to get ATL. Hope this helps with your decision.

 

Yes, but can he do it earning $23,000/year without having to move into his mom's basement. How many FOs right now are reading this eating mom's lasagna? WAAAAAAY too many I imagine.

 

No one is disagreeing with you in terms of pay for first year f/o, but in terms of quality of life, we're doing a little better than most at XJT, and because we have the majority vote for the JCBA, we should at least keep what we have post merger.

To the OP:

QOL is good for line holders, and OK for reserves. Average line holder can pull 13-16 days off based on trading, and still hit 100hours pay. Reserves, well, that life sucks everywhere, but our guys have a few good protections, and an aggressive pick up window that works some of the time.

Integration will determine many things, although, it's understood that if you're hired now, you will integrate with everyone hired post August of this year, so you will be at the bottom of the list either way. As I understand it, there will be an equipment lock of 18 months, but don't quote me on this.

 

Thanks to all of you for answering my questions! For now I am going to the interview and see what happens. If it comes to decisions time, I will have to think seriously about which direction I choose.

 

The other big one is if you're unused on your last day of Reserve, you are auto-released at 1800, even if you have the 1200-2400 call-out...sometimes enabling a same day commute home.

 

Here's a tasty little morsel from the ASA contract;

Personally, I like my previous employers better. Auto released at 1700. Granted, an hour isn't that much, but it makes all the difference if there's a flight leaving shortly thereafter and it's the last one home, and scheduling doesn't want to release you.