Hey guys, just wanted to clear some things up regarding the merging of scheduling systems. I've been hearing a lot of incorrect information from ASA guys with respect to how the ExpressJet system is perceived.

1. Initial Line Improvement Window: Many guys feel this is circumventing seniority because it allows everyone to improve their schedules on a first come first serve basis. This is incorrect because all pilots are award their lines in senority order and the senior pilots have no need to trade unless they need to for some reason. You are still awarded the schedule your seniority can hold. Line improvement is simply a tool to improve your schedule should you desire to do so.

2. Add Pay: I've heard ASA pilots who believe this provision had "bankrupt" the company. First of all, ExpressJet was never bankrupt. The reason we lost so much money was not our contract, but the fact that 69 airplanes were cut from our CPA and we attempted our own branded flying. The union has researched this, our contract DID NOT cause a cash deficiency. For those that don't know, add pay is the ability to get paid over guarantee regardless of your awarded line value (even after vacation) in the secondary line improvement window. In a vacation month you can fly 40 hours and get paid 90.

3. ExpressJet is causing the combined company to lose money: Right now ExpressJet (old) is actually turning a nice profit. We are gaining flying and block hours and have upgrade and new hire classes scheduled through the end of July with projections to continue. ASA is losing aircraft and block hours and losing a large amount of cash due to issues with the current PBS system. Furloughed pilots will be brought on at ExpressJet until the lists are merged.

Im not trying to say one is better than the other by any means. Im interested in working together to achieve the best possible outcome for the combined company. I just want to set the record straight after hearing many ASA pilots with misconceived notions about our company and why we shouldn't keep certain valuable portions of our contract going forward.

 

And the source you can use to back this up?

ASA is losing all of that because of mismanagement, not because of PBS. That is pretty much exactly what you defended earlier by saying that your system was not the cause of Expressjet's money problems.

 

On behalf of my ASA legacy pilot group I would like to sincerely apologize for this ignorance. I hear it from guys all the time and I ask for a source. Usually unknown. The rumors on details of the legacy Expressjet side are running strong. No one really has a clue. The one about the pilots contract bankrupting the company is unfortunately a popular one. I don't get it either. Legacy Expressjet was never in bankruptcy (at least not recently that I know of) and I highly doubt any pilot from another pilot group followed the financial status of that company so close to predict that they were about to tank. To make the rumor even more ridiculous, I highly doubt a pilots contract could be the sole source of poor financial status. Although, management would LOVE for you to believe this.

Sadly enough, rumors carry way more weight than a detailed post from a pilot at the company and will continue to cause bad juju between the two pilot groups. People love drama and gossip. It's going to be tough to break these rumors. Which are going to have an effect on the JCBA.

 

Heard directly from the source that management is unhappy with the PBS system as it is costing the company more money than the previous method of bidding.

To correct myself....I did not mean PBS is the reason for losing aircraft, just money.

 

I feel the need to correct some additional misinformation.

Yes, PBS has cost the company more than they anticipated. A great deal of that is a result of the "vacation low" provision. I can understand why, as well. I get more time off with vacation low than I did dropping conflicting trips under line bidding, and I get paid guarantee rather than 50-something hours.

However, the PRIMARY reason ASA is losing money right now is a result of our CPA with Delta. When SkyWest purchased the company 6 years ago, the CPA that Jerry signed required that ASA be the first or second least expensive Delta Connection carrier. Should we not attain that position after 5 years, we would be paid a fee-for-departure rate that was below our actual cost. This is the reason BH has been hammering everyone on costs the last few years. When he first took reigns of the company, he trimmed a significant amount of corporate fat. This is also why he attempts, however unsuccessfully, to run the staffing so lean throughout the summer months.

Well, I'm here to tell you that we did not attain the cost structure required to maintain a profit. How do we fix that? Merge with a company whose costs are lower, trim the fat, sign a juicy CPA with Continental, and hope everything comes together at the end. Yes, pre-merger XJT CASM was significantly lower than ASA's, despite a much better CBA for the pilots. Read the 10-K reports if you don't believe me.

I would also like to apologize for the crap that spews from some ASA mouths. It seems like half of our employees have their heads wedged firmly in their stink holes and have no intention of removing them. I wish everyone would do just a sliver of research and step back to see the whole picture.

 

It's cool man, you don't need to apologize. There's plenty of ignorance to go around on this deal between both legacy XJT and ASA.

And to expand on your point above, true. It's NOT the the pilots that bankrupt ANY company Even though at the regional level pilots make up the largest work group as well as the largest work group labor cost. Therefore having the biggest target on their back. But when we got forced into concessions, it wasn't JUST the pilots that had to take them. Our mechanics and FA's did as well. And if IIRC, our mechanics had very good pay when compared to most other regionals.

As far as the time off and cost, the ASA pbs and XJT line bid rules are both expensive.

Wow, thanks for posting that. Because what gets blasted all over here, our message board, and FI is "blah blah blah you guys screwed up the CPA with CAL blah blah blah, you guys are too expensive blah blah blah".

When in actuality, the boat that XJT found themselves in by being squeezed into a "cost neutral" CPA with CAL and Jerry/SKW in 2008 is pretty much the SAME as what's happening to ASA. SKW and Jerry forced both XJT and ASA into money losing situations.

Thanks for that also

Annnnnnnnnnd thanks for that also. I wish a lot of my coworkers would do their research as well. Especially when it comes to PBS. What it can, as well as can't do. It's no secret, I'm not really a fan of the current language that governs the way legacy ASA is able to use the current system. Legacy XJT PBS committee has done research, and there's better software out there. But that's just a "piece of the pie" in this whole thing going forward.

 

I think if you guys quit saying legacy we would all still get who you are talking about.

 

i work for XJET, even if some of these rumors were true and certain aspects were costing the company too much...WHO CARES. I WANT TO GET PAID AND I WANT VACATION AND I WANT LOTS OF DAYS OFF. my priority is not to help managment figure out the minimum amount to bid for a CPA. the whole damn regional system is broken. whose sort of industry has a business model as a subcontractor to barely break even? thats assinine.

If every regional pilot had my mentality of get as much money as you can, it would force your management to quote higher CPA's prices.
or better yet, if we had a universal pay scale/ work rules it would set an even starting bar in terms of labor costs, then the most EFFICIENT company would survive and actually force management to come up with other ways to save money rather than pay cuts.

FUPM! and you pinnacolaba fools better not vote yes on paycuts!

 

Lol! You read my mind.

 

The only problem with this logic is that if you go to say, Delta, and ask for or demand higher CPA rates, they will laugh and pick up the phone and say, "get me GoJets (or Mesa, or TSA or CHQ) on line one! Then, sign them up and get rid of you. Then, we pilots will be interviewing for our old jobs as new hires at some new crap bag outfit!