Aside from AS, I haven't actively been looking. I'm relatively senior and my wife has a career, so our situation is fine with us. If the AirGroup pulls some stunt that makes me think QX's future is in doubt, that changes the equation.
That's what's in the balance here. I'm waiting to see which way it breaks.

I really enjoy my job, I'm old enough that starting over at the bottom isn't very appealing, and I hate commuting. But if we start down a path to only a handful of airplanes... I'll be following you guys out the door.

Yeah I'm in a similar situation, though I'm not very senior. I am living in a satellite base for the next two years though and don't much care for commuting out of here to another carrier unless it's Alaska or Delta. If bad news breaks, I'll widen that search to basically anywhere other than another regional if I can help it. It would really surprise me if they announced Skywest was getting the flying. That would close this place down and make Alaska look like ****. That alone seems like good enough reason for them to tread carefully, but AAG does seem pretty behind with the times on the current hiring climate which makes them a little unpredictable right now. We'll see...however it's looking pretty unlikely to have any definitive information by the end of the year at this point.

Well folks, it's the news we've all been waiting for...

Just kidding! Another email saying basically nothing from the company today. It's pretty much official now that we won't hear anything worthwhile until the new year. They've eased up on talking about changing pay rates (though I'm sure that's still on the table), but they're not letting up on PBS.

"Our initial plan was to get our updated cost and productivity model in place and ready to roll out by early November – with a final announcement set for right around the New Year. However, since we are on a very short timeline to reach tentative agreements that can be put out for ratification, and have made processes like our management team redesign more comprehensive, realistically we’re looking toward early 2016 before we’ll have a definitive answer."

We're running out of time to reach a TA! Don't read just vote yes!

First it was September, then October, then 'end of the year,' now "early 2016."

Then it will be "end of summer" then "end of 2016" then "We're giving the jets to skywest, but thanks for getting us through this summer."

Haha. That's what everyone was saying about this summer, but here we are still "competing" and way overstaffed at that. I think they were just hoping negotiations would be a breeze and there wouldn't have been so much pushback. They could have quietly kept feeding E175's to OO like they have been then just axed 20 airplanes at QX overnight if they wanted to shut this place down.

Aren't you excited......you are going to get to tour a 175 and a crj-900.....that should remove all obstacles and hasten a ta/yes vote.....I think they know that they effed this up and are going to try the old time and distance trick to cover it up.....

I'll pass...I RSVP'd my family though; 10 adults 10 children. :)

Why would Bombardier even humor this "competition" between them and Embraer? Every picture and discussion has been about E175's and in the past year they've ordered 15 E175's and announced the end of the CRJ program. Maybe it's just there to make the E175 look nicer.

Based on the union email, looks like negotiations are about to get real this weekend.

"We [EXCO] have been asked to delay publication of our update until Monday. The company is having internal discussions that potentially have a major impact on the direction of our current negotiations. In the spirit of cooperation, we have agreed to delay publication of the update, pending the outcome of the company’s internal discussions."

Is it time to grab the we-are-finally-being-told-what-the-****-is-going-on popcorn?

cant imagine why your EXCO is even talking to them....unless they mirror our mec at Alaska....bunch of mgmnt suck up desperados who dream if one day going to work in kahkis and a plaid shirt..,,,,Contract is not yet amenable...You have jet rates in the contract....Pound Sand....No cherry picking your work rules for shiny jets......

Simple deal......You have the seniority so shrinkage doesnt matter....or...you are smart enough to leave for Delta, American, United, SWA, UPS, Or FedEx....and if you ride the short bus you bail for Alaska , Jetblue, Frontier, Virgin or Spirit......Newbs can walk right into Skywest or Compass....

That pretty much summarizes it. Regardless of the outcome, this whole situation just might be the push a lot of people here need to get off their ***es, update their resumes and move on. I wouldn't be surprised if that's exactly what AAG wants. Cheap regional feed requires high turnover and we have 200+ pilots here with 14+ years of seniority.

It doesn't sound like the union is talking much about giving anything up. If they are, they're certainly not representing the pilot group at large. The fact we're this late into things and the showdown is going down this weekend (allegedly) speaks to that.

Fact is, everyone here with less than 20 years of seniority and more than 10 years to retirement should already have updated resumes in at majors. The only thing this might change in that regard is if you expand that to the "short bus" airlines, as you put it, of things go south here. I'm continually amazed at how many QX guys aren't applying to majors.

Any CA over the age of 52 probably isn't going anywhere, especially to AS. The pay cut and huge QOL hit keeps them here.

Well, hopefully the four targeted union work groups have formed a coalition to deliver a unified"pound sand" message to Horizon Air. That would be the best outcome and might refocus Horizon management on running an airline

Haven't heard much outside of flight ops, but the pilots and FAs sure seem to have been sending a pretty clear message that concessions aren't happening. I think if the union floated a TA to the pilot group that includes PBS without significant improvements (jets don't count) that the union would catch a lot of *** from us. Even more if there was anything about jets for Q400 pay. Hopefully we find out on Monday.

"....to deliver a unified"pound sand" message to Horizon Air...."

That's good, but I don't think that's the audience that matters. Dave C. might nominally be in charge of us, (and from all the accounts I've heard from fellow crewmembers interacting with him, he means to do well by us/for us), but he's not in charge.

AS bean counters are in charge, and this week we get to see if we really "are Alaska!":D
Where's my lapel pin? I can't find it right now.:mad:

Where's the popcorn???

Well, popcorn is getting cold. Apparently the union is meeting with management again tomorrow and won't send out an email until after that, so back to waiting indefinitely to hear what's going on...

The popcorn will be pretty stale by January.

"However, since we are on a very short timeline to reach tentative agreements that can be put out for ratification, and have made processes like our management team redesign more comprehensive, realistically we’re looking toward early 2016 before we’ll have a definitive answer."

No thanks.

It really doesn't instill confidence when we've been kept in the dark for months, then the union says on Friday "we were going to tell you today but the company asked us not to, but definitely on Monday." Then on Monday it's "we were going to tell you today, but the company wants to keep stalling, so maybe tomorrow." And today...crickets.

Infrequent, useless email updates from the union are getting old. Glad they're representing our interests...whatever those interests are...

You guys have quite the echo chamber going on this thread. Why don't you get in touch with somebody on the exco and ask them what's going on? You might learn a little about what's going and more importantly you might learn about the process.

The EXCO is in contact with us but they can't really say anything more than 'we're still talking.' It's understandable, yet irritating how the EXCO is bound by NDA's but the company can continue to bull**** us with propaganda for months on end.

What process? Our contract is good for another two years. This isn't a part of a defined process. The company said they'll expand our flying if we cut them a deal, so they had the union sign a seemingly extensive NDA and we haven't heard anything worthwhile since. The union has basically expressed the same frustration as us: "We realize the lack of details surrounding these negotiations from your Union, while the company continually bombards us with their story, causes a high frustration level amongst the pilots."

Honestly most of this wouldn't affect all of us that much if our existence wasn't being threatened and we weren't constantly hearing one side of the story.

The exco is composed of pilots just like you and me. They aren't management stooges or super senior guys looking to, "get theirs." Their job is to negotiate with the company and get back to us. If we like what they come up with then we vote yes. If you talk to one of them in person I guarantee that you'll come away much more informed then you will reading the qx facebook page or this site.

But where is the fun in that?

Just starting
 

I'm new and just starting with QX... anyone have an idea of latest reserve time and base that I should expect? THX

Base: Anything but Anchorage. Most people are getting what they want during class. (They'll give you your first choice for IOE no matter what.)

Reserve Time: Depends on the base. I'd guess the average is 3 - 4 bids.

I've been on reserve for 9 months now in PDX, and still roughly 3-4 bids away from a line (unless Alaska classes take FO's). It sucks. Would still be at the bottom of the list in virtually any other base too.

Don't mean to discourage you but why did you come here with all this **** going on here?

Is ANC not attainable as a new hire?

Interesting, thanks for the Reserve timing info. Came for the PNW and hoping for the best.

I didn't accuse the union of any of that. The only complaint I have of the union is that they told us they had big news then didn't deliver. Honestly I think the best thing to have happen right now is for things to keep on like they are and for the company to get nervous about a looming deadline for securing a new TA - a deadline they have, not us.

It changes a lot month-to-month but you can count on basically any base within a bid. SEA and ANC aren't as common right out of class, but every base as been held by a new hire this year at some point. Reserve varies significantly. I think the highest right now is about a year before holding a line, but it is a little higher than usual because we are overstaffed and have tons of composite lines due to Alaska suspending several classes this winter. Currently we are showing 64 pilots categorized as "In-Process Attrition." Not sure what the typical number is on that, but that seems high.

You don't have to tell us you are a new hire to get information. You posted the exact same thing on a different thread saying you are a new hire at TSA....

As of a few months ago it was, but things can change quickly.

What happened at TSA?

Whoops, meant to say it wasn't attainable for new hires as of a few months ago.

All of the fo's in the most recent class went to mfr. I would suspect the next two classes will go to mfr as well.

ANC is very stagnant on the FO side of things.

Once upon a time wasn't their talk of expanding the ANC base to do more SE Alaska flying? That whole segment of QX seems very disconnected from the rest except for what I hear from junior CA's that started up there. Maybe just another thing like base closures that has been tabled amidst the current jet discussion?