patternaltitude

Fellow Frontier Pilots,

Over the past few weeks, CEO Barry Biffle has been lauding the fact that Frontier Airlines is not experiencing negative effects from the “systemic pilot shortage” that is plaguing the rest of the US airline industry. He has repeatedly said that Frontier is “overstaffed” and has no problem attracting qualified pilots since it is the destination of choice for pilots seeking an airline career. Rapid career progression, a pilot-oriented culture, and the ability to earn more than a pilot at one of the large major airlines have frequently been touted as the reason prospective pilots are knocking down our doors.

This begs the question, why does Frontier feel the need to spend over $2 million per month in a “bonus program” to bait prospective pilots to come work for the “career airline of choice”? Recent staffing data shows that Frontier pilots with less than 4 years of seniority are leaving in the largest numbers. This latest bonus scheme does nothing to stem attrition for those already on property but attempts to limit the ability of future Frontier pilots to pursue career options elsewhere. It confirms to pilots employed at Frontier Airlines that Barry Biffle is only concerned with perpetuating his false narrative and not constructively addressing the issues important to ALL Frontier pilots.

Frontier management would be better served by abandoning the short-sighted schemes they continue to employ to solve their staffing problems and address the elephant in the room. The continued focus on not only cost savings metrics but with cultural practices of not building goodwill and a working relationship with its pilots, only serves to exacerbate Frontier’s attrition problems. Senior management should focus on changing the toxic culture they have created with heavy-handed discipline, continued violations of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, a lack of meaningful progress in addressing over 1,000 open grievances, fatiguing crew rotations, and a broken pilot training management system to name a few. Investing in the pilots who keep Frontier flying daily and creating an environment and culture where pilots see value in staying vs voting with their feet, would provide a much greater return on that investment.

One thing is certain, Pilots have more career options than ever before. Promises of significant growth and quick upgrades won’t fix the staffing issues the airline is currently facing. Until management takes an honest look in the mirror and commits to making Frontier Airlines a great place to work, pilots will continue to leave for airlines with management groups that truly value the contributions that pilots make. The Frontier MEC remains committed to engaging with management when they are ready to get serious and constructively address the issues that are important to ALL Frontier pilots.


In Unity,
ALPA FFT MEC

Subieguy14

2 million a month is a lot....

That's wages for our own gate agents at each domicile. (happier pax)
More customer service agents (happier pax)
More crew scheduling people (happier pilots)
Fixing grievances (happier pilots)
Updating our tech quicker (happier pilots and pax)

SteepTurnt

Ok but what about happier management?


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BiffleBalls

Has any major airline ever had to pay pilots to get them not to leave? The fact that we have to do this at all speaks volumes.

CRJdriver2017

lol besides regionals? Probably not.

brocklee9000

Agree with the words and the sentiment. But in all fairness, is there an airline out there whose management actually “values Pilot contributions”? Or any facet of labor? I’ve never met a pilot that felt valued by his employer.

But again, I understand what they’re trying to say. At the risk of sounding shortsighted and naive, I can already tell this will be better than my regional days, and hope this will be a long term destination. Coming from *that one* union-less regional, I’m eager to see what ALPA plus industry pressure/attrition can accomplish.

HighMinsChief

The same airline that tried to fire 44 pilots less than a year ago for sick and fatigue calls is having trouble getting pilots? NO WAY! The same airline that has over 1000 grievances can’t retain pilots. AA, DL, UAL NEED over 7000 pilots next year. 10 year captains leaving and taking massive pay cuts because of how volatile this place has become.

tom11011

We do not even reach the peak of the attrition for another 3 years. Then its 5 more years of what we are seeing today.

Most of the smaller airlines will have to consolidate.

turbojet28

Don’t forget the surprise and impulsive closure of a pilot domicile in a legacy mega-city! Just one more sound recruitment/retention program!

JoeFever1

Not saying you’re wrong but is there something to back this up or just an educated guess?