I thought they confirmed hotels for the next class?

 

That was the rumor, but BL said on the townhall that it’s being considered, but hasn’t actually been implemented yet. Lets not forget though that he told people in recurrent that the company had no plans of closing ORD only a month before they went ahead and closed ORD…

 

Thats what BL said so who knows? And he did say that. He said hotels will be provided to new hires. Someone asked when? He said next class.

 

The hiring situation is getting desperate. Even Delta is going to start providing training hotels.

 

I wouldn’t worry about Delta. Their 737 Captain award just went to someone with 3 months on property. 767 Captain less than 4 years. Anyone at F9/NK that was on the fence before will be updating their apps is my guess.

 

Maybe if they live in NY. Even still, if you take an upgrade in NY at 3 months in, you’re signing up for at least 5 years of reserve. I would much rather drive to work than commute to reserve for years. I’m sure some will jump as a result though.

 

Delta has over 6000 FOs senior to that 737 CA. My guess is if that position was really that great a deal, one of the 5900+ FOs senior to him would have snapped it up before he ever got on property. And about 5800 of those have more longevity, so they’d actually be getting more pay than he is. Which isn’t to say it’s a bad deal, he may be a local and eternal reserve might be fine with him. Different people have different values. Everybody makes choices and he made his. And sometimes the grass really is greener and the QOL is better. I understand that.

What I don’t understand is all the ‘woe is us’ cr@p I keep hearing.

I remember back in contract negotiations for both NK and F9. The pilots at both airlines were BEGGING people not to apply, not exactly calling you a scab if you did before there was a signed agreement - not quite anyway, but damned close to it. Everyone WANTED to put pressure on management to raise rates and improve QOL, and while - no, neither pilot group got industry leading pay, significant progress was made.

Well now the pilots unions have even more leverage. There’s no-kidding competition out there in hiring and even substantial attrition - not just at NK or F9, but at Alaska, Jet Blue, and other places - even among the Big Three who are raiding each other’s senior regional people. And now NK and F9 management WANT a JCBA.

From a negotiating standpoint, the unions have never before had it this good.

So I’m not going to whine about the people leaving. I wish them well and I am happy to see them leave. If they are senior to me I am DAMN happy to see them leave. I hope they do well. Same for the junior people. It’s not my job to keep these people here, it’s management’s job, and if they really want their super ULCC they better make the contractual changes that will attract and keep people, it’s as simple as that, and if they don’t the airline will fold. It’s not the end of the world if that happens - you take your type, your experience, and move on. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the BEST of times with quicker movement and more leverage in negotiations than you are ever likely to see again in your life. Might it come to a screeching halt? Oh yeah. $110 a barrel oil, higher interest, and inflation could have us in a recession in six months, but you know what else? An asteroid strike could take us all out sooner than that, just like it did the dinosaurs.

I can’t control the future and neither can you, but no need to whine about that. It’s always been that way.

But right now the tide is rising and a rising tide lifts all boats. We need to take advantage of that tide.

 

Well said, +100

 

Excargodog is exactly right.

Attrition is ammunition for us.

It's all good guys. A better contract is coming sooner

 

Frontier/Spirit has 283 planes combined. Their merger document shows them growing to 493 planes by the end of 2026. 15 pilots per plane means Frontier/ Spirit needs to grow by a net 630 pilots per year for the next 5 years. Grab your popcorn this is about to get interesting.