This AJC series about Carollton hasn't been up in its original location for a while, but the magic of the interwebs is astounding- a little poking around and........

9 Minutes 20 Seconds


Good read, some heavy stuff, although a little touchy-feely in spots. I always have Robin in the back of my mind when it comes to my interaction with the FAs.

 

You must be a CRJ guy because the TSA contract is not better in most respects and equals some items. There are a couple of things that are better. But on balance, it doesn't come close.

As for upgrade time, maybe it's not a a requirement anymore to move on. But the perception among perspective new hires still puts number one emphasis on upgrade time. And like I said, increasing first year pay is not going to attract guys to come here who weren't already considering it, commuters like yourself. The fact of the matter, whether it makes sense or not, new hires look at upgrade time as their first priority. And that also takes care of pay as well since the faster you upgrade, the less time you spend on FO pay. It's just the reality right now.

 

Agreed. To be honest, if I had to choose TODAY, I would go to Endeavor. The new TA just seems to not be matched by anybody all things considered. I'll take a commute for an extra $25k+ first year and getting off of reserve (and upgrading) in a reasonably short period of time. Of course, the upgrade isn't the most materially important thing to get to mainline these days.

 

I found this line in the article: "With them was a crew of three: a divorced 37-year-old flight attendant working long hours for $20,000 a year"

So pay for FAs has dramatically decreased since then not even taking inflation into account? What's FA pay now? Starting 16k and up to 40k?

 

XJT is a failure plain and simple. The sooner people see that skywest only has plans to keep them alive long enough for them not to incur a huge penalty from United the sooner everyone will be happier. One can only be told you are too expensive for so long, and while that might have been true prior to 2015, 2015 has seen XJT go from leading the pack in most regards to bottom of the pack. Yet they, management, still says they are too expensive.

There is a reason over 950 pilots have left this year. The only reason the attrition rates have been skewed thus far is because of the 60 day MOU... My guess for attrition this year for both LXJT and LASA is well over 1100 pilots.

9-8 years is the current upgrade for both sides. There is no moment other then people bailing out on the low end. Despite what they, the recruiters say, 40 upgrades a month is more like 4 upgrades every 3-4 months. Downgrades will happen soon, it can already hapen.

Unless something drastically changes LXJT will be out of flying at then end of 2017 and with the talk of a 1 or 2 year extension on the 50 seat flying it's over...United has already said it want to get rid of its 50 seat flying. With 40 airplanes at TSA and 40 at Commuteaire that leaves about 30-40 airframes at XJT.

XJT is a sinking ship that Skywest ran into an iceberg and has not intention of saving, get out while you can. If you are thinking of coming to XJT save yourself the time and go somewhere else. Unless you live in Cleveland there are many better regionals to go to. If you do live in Cleveland still consider going to another regional and commuting you will thank me later...

 

I'm with you. Things are not looking good. The ASA side started the year with 1640 pilots. Today we're down to 1410 once you account for those on 60-day employment leave.

 

I count 1,519 on the LASA side. Are you saying that we've lost 109 pilots in 60 days? I can only see that there are maybe 3-5 pilots on the current seniority list that may be in those numbers. So not to sure where you're getting your number from. When i started in 2011, we were at 1,700 pilots. So only down just under 200 pilots in 5 years. Our IAD base had what, 150 total pilots? So I'd say for a total, we're only down 50-60 pilots in the last 5 years.

The writing was on the wall for IAD from the start. Attrition allowed us to not be fat on pilots after that base closed. I believe that the ASA/CRJ side will fare much better in the long run than the XJT/ERJ side will. The problem is, when pilots tell other pilots not to come to XJT, I feel like most are referring to the ERJ side, but then that encompasses us as well. Which hurts us in the end. I love the the people that ***** and complain there is no movement here, but yet they tell people not to come here. Do they not realize that they need people junior to them to upgrade?

 

Good point here. Perhaps it's time to separate this thread somehow. Might as well since the merger seems to have all but officially failed anyway. Perhaps Inc. should just go on and run three separate companies and be done with it. Looks like that's exactly what they're planning to do anyway. Obviously the majority at ASA and XJT don't want anything to do with each other. Can't coerce or force them together so let them stay separate. Might as well see what happens.

Yeah, that's a good catch phrase for this company at this point in time: "might as well". Looks like that's the mentality management is basing their decisions off of now anyway.

Example:

Mgmt. voice 4: "Why don't we try X, Y, and Z?"

Mgmt. voice 1: "He||, might as well. What could it hurt?"

 

My apologies. My source didn't have some new hires on the list. Today we have 1513 pilots on the seniority list, with 27 of them on employment leave; so the net is 1486.

 

Maybe it's because many of us are not willing to lie to prospective new hires so that we can fare better. How would you feel if someone lied to you in order to take advantage of your naivety? Some of us have morals.