Siegel told us a couple of weeks ago that they'd like to work with the pilot group to figure out a domicile that works for the pilot group. TTN would be a nightmare when the weather got bad and people couldn't commute in. It seems to me that the best solution to that nightmare is pref bidding, with strong contractual rules, and virtual domiciles. We could staff TTN/IAD/CLE much more easily by starting trips from somewhere more palatable, like Florida. I can think of at least 4 captains who would love RSW for a virtual domicile.

 

Is there any other airline that has pref bidding and virtual domiciles that we can look at? Does it work for them, do they love it? Did they have the same kind of schedule flexibility we have now before they went PBS? Did they improve or diminish their situation when they transitioned? Personally pref-bidding scares the he!! out of me! I think we need to be VERY careful here.

How does a "virtual" domicile work? Is it basically an "outstation" domicile? Or is it something you sign on for one bid at a time?

 

Honestly, it almost seemed like info was changing throughout the day when I went. I heard 2-3 different class dates, and hiring (total) for this year about 50-60. Most of the hiring is apparently for higher aircraft utilization. They said very little attrition is happening in the FO/CA lists. That's about it for rumors from what I remember...

 

I sincerely hope you're kidding. That has got to be one of the dumbest things I've read on any pilot forum...

 

Either he is management or a pro-management Union person ready to "spin" the topic on how great PBS is. Agenda's are real easy to spot.

Sorry for the thread creep.

TEN

 

Don't be sorry - I don't think it's thread creep. This thread is the premier F9 thread, not only about hiring. And furthermore, it is important for new-hires and old-heads to be educated at what PBS really means. I personally despise it.

 

That had me scratching my head as well...a similar analogy would be if someone had brain cancer and the only solution was a mastectomy. The two obviously have zero correlation.

Pref bid at some airlines is ok, at other airlines it is horrible, at F9 it would be beyond horrible. We currently have a perfect system of hardline bidding (conflict drops) and incredible flexibility with add/drop/swap. Pref bid would be a MAJOR monetary concession for every pilot followed by a loss of QoL.

Then there is the negotiating capital we have deployed for certain benefits (vacation slide, sick replacement, MDL, DDL, just to name a few). All of that is wasted, meaningless if we go pref bid. Don't get me started...

 

That said, I don't think FAULT has an agenda - lots of people think PBS is a good idea until their lives begin to suck under it.

 

I have no comment on pref bid, as I don't know the effect it would have on the quality of life of the pilots.

As far as a domiciles go, it would stand to reason that they would align with the "focus cities," where a significant amount of flying will be from. The cities are Cleveland, Trenton and Washington DC. As I have mentioned before, there are some things in the contract that make opening a new domicile difficult for the company and they will likely try to alter some language in the contract to do that later on. However, I also believe the company will want to wait and see how these new focus cities work out before they create new pilot bases. Things in Trenton have gone very well (financially) but time will tell on Cleveland and Washington DC. If they go as well as planned, I would assume the company would love to make them domiciles.

WRX, did you mean that the company will hire another 50-60 in 2014? We have already hired more than that since January.

 

That's what I thought, but then somebody corrected me and said total. Obviously that doesn't make sense... So maybe that is for the rest of the year? Like I said, I heard lots of different facts. Definitely seems like things are in a state of flux right now.