I smoke cigars on occasion and have a fairly extensive collection of fine cigars so I can appreciate it.

That being said, I almost always had to fatigue after flying a smoking flight. Something about breathing it in at altitude would always make me sick.

Try 11 hours of non-stop cigar smoking on an international leg. Did I mention that the outflow valve is JUST forward of the crew rest area?

I hate to see customers leave the company but I was doing hand springs when that guy bought his own airplane. Still can't figure out how he found a couple of pilots for it, especially at the price he was offering. Revolving door springs to mind....

I'd love to see who took the job.

One of our FOs interviewed and ALMOST took it. He chose well.

The guy who took it? Not so much.

Hey guys, sorry to get off track. I just had my Phone Interview and I was told from the gal on the other end that there is a 10yr upgrade time and it might get lower with the new TA.
Is that 10yr upgrade fact or fake news? And do y’all think it will stay at 10yrs or get lower? Thanks and happy Holidays.

Seeing as how there are 12 and 15 year F.O.s there and I know of a couple that post here regularly. This has been discussed ad nauseam. The numbers just don't allow seeing as you have folks in their 80's still flying for NJA. Hence why they were hoping for the 65 to 67 retirement ages. Issue is the ICAO standards. The top guys on the ILC metal have to come down to the smaller metal because of these limits. It's a shuffling game. Who knows. Upgrades are as high as giraffe p****** In other words. Stagnation stagnation stagnation. Things might move quickly if the new agreement passes. Fingers crossed!!!

Definitely NOT fake news. We have people hired in 2005 just now upgrading. Into a Phenom. :eek:Unless they won the genetic lottery and can’t fit so they go to the Excel or, better yet, the Latitude.

There is a seniority gap from when we weren’t hiring that will shorten upgrade a little but without a much-needed mandatory retirement age, it’s a totally moving target.

Count on a minimum of 10 years if hired tomorrow. If a retirement age happens, maybe 8. And hopefully, by the time 2027-28 rolls around, there will be a new entry-level Barbie jet that a real human can fit into.

All the while earning 50-60% of what your flight school buddies are making at Delta, AA, SWA, etc.

I would like to know why someone in hiring thinks the IBI would decrease the upgrade time?

Because how else would they recruit? Upgrades aren’t at the 10 year mark right now. Will they be? Yea probably. Lower than that? Maybe someday. The IBI and upgrades have no link. If there were ANY connection to upgrades and the IBI it would actually be detrimental to upgrades as this is going to create a need for less pilots. That’s less captains and first officers. Also, senior captains that were thinking of retiring will don the adult diapers and fly until they die because of the pay increase.

Not only does the IBI not stop attrition, it actually negatively affects upgrades and hiring.

Absolutely.

The ONLY reason upgrade time MIGHT shorten is the total lack of hiring for several years leading to a sudden change in relative seniority when the current 50-60 demographic (a substantial percentage of the list) begins to retire or lose their medical in the next decade.

The 2015 CBA and the IBI were designed to blunt the impact of those statistics and encourage more flying by fewer pilots. That will delay upgrades and hiring until, sooner or later, the numbers catch up.

Regardless, without a mandatory retirement age, it will always be a moving target.

Long story short, if you're under 40 and career earnings are important to you, look elsewhere. Same story, different day.