JetBlue job and lifestyle questions
 

I'm former military pilot (F/A-18 and C-12) currently doing jet contract work with the DoD. I've got my ATP, Class 1, 5000+ hours, current and qualified, etc... I've got about 10 years left for commercial flying and would like to do it at a passenger airline.

If anyone can pass any info my way about JetBlue, the hiring, the job, the lifestyle, etc.., I'd really appreciate anything you can pass my way.

Thanks
PR86

Almost 1200 days into negotiations.... company management sucks.... pay sucks.... need I go on

Well it COULD get a lot better with a CBA and a known direction of the airline (I’m still optimistic I know)

Or

It WILL stay as it is and if that’s the case almost any other major is better for spending the last ten years.

As of right now.

No crew meals, bad hotels, low per diem, low pay, bad health insurance, poor retirement. But hey, we do it for the culture.

If you want to work at an airline with the worst future seniority progression in the industry, the worst pay, debatably the worst management, the worst wasters of shareholder money (potato farms and electric paper planes, oh and worthless buybacks that have done nothing for our books), the most expensive domiciles, the worst domestic and international route structure of any major airline, then JetBlue is for you! Take your resume to an airline that will value you and your experience accordingly.

Man, do a little research. It's all over these boards.

I'll bite your troll sandwich...Delta, United, American, SWA, FedEx, UPS would be much better choices with 10 yrs remaining.

Apply at all of them ... Including JB, Spirit, etc.

See what happens ... Even less than 10 years can be a good way to finish a career.

The airlines are a roller coaster and right now JB is not at their high point ... Who knows what is next for any of the airlines.

Good luck.

Sucks right now and getting worse without a CBA.
If you can only get here- take it, get typed, and leave asap.:)

Agree with Powder above. Re your specific questions:

The hiring: My info might be dated but as far as I know there’s usually two hiring windows a year. The windows last a few weeks or so and you submit an application through the company website. You need to reapply each window (unlike Airline Apps, etc) in order to keep an app on file. It seems your best bet to get a call is to visit a recruiter at a job fair. Or, for you being prior military, go to a company “Vets in Blue” recruiting event. I believe they do the interviews in Orlando now and it’s a one day thing…it was fairly low stress when I went 3 years ago - basically just a face to face interview. But, unfortunately, as I understand now they’ve added in some sort of aptitude test. Once you get the job offer there can be a few months (or longer) wait for a class start date.

The job: Obviously varies quite a bit based on seniority, your airframe, base, etc. but you’ll initially be based in JFK or Boston. I’d say you’d have a good shot at whichever airframe you’d want because of your age (like I did :))…the oldest in the class gets first pick of the drop.

Whichever plane you take, plan on being on reserve for a year…maybe more / maybe less (it’s always a moving target). Reserve, in general, is not good if you commute but not too bad if you live in the local area.

The 190 is basically East coast regional style flying, mostly in the daytime, with two, three or four legs a day being the norm. Trips range from 1 to 5 days (one and five day trips generally go senior). The airbus does more “Major” airline style flying with fewer legs per day, transcons, etc. But as I understand it (I’m a 190 person) you’ll likely get stuck with a lot of redeyes your first couple years.

The big negatives with this place, in my view, and as has been mentioned, are the lack of a contract and few upcoming retirements. Being in a labor dispute (as we are right now) is not the best and nobody knows when we’ll get a contract (could be soon or could be years) or what exactly it’ll look like. Good luck!

Lowest retirement percentage of any major. With 10 years left there are better choices with solid contracts, better pay, work rules, retirement, healthcare, opportunity for advancement, etc...

The only reason that I can see to come here is if you live near Boston. The only other airline with a BOS domicile is AA, and it is rather senior. That is what this company has to offer....BOS.

If you commute or are interested in our other domiciles there are much better choices.

Good luck to you.

Gup

If you have 3+ years of seniority and live in base, this place IMHO is pretty descent.

Other than that... avoid

To echo what a few have said. If you can live in base, and if that base really is Boston then its a pretty good place to be. But no doubt it could be, and needs to be a lot better. I'm happy working here as I live near enough to Boston to drive and have some good seniority, 4+ years.

On the bus I avoid most red-eyes and get weekends and holidays off. YMMV.

I think we will eventually get a contract. When is another question. If you are going to commute anyway, or live near NY, then it just makes sense to go to one of the legacies if you can get it.

If you live in base, excited about having QOL then being an FO at Blow Jet is going to workout.
If you want to be a Airbus captain, love Queens NY and have nothing better to do , then BlowJet is going to work out...
If you don’t mind being paid 70% or less than your peers...man do we have a deal for you.
Come on down..

Just received an invite for the “on demand video interview”

Anybody know what questions are asked and is this a live video interview with HR and or chief pilots?

Any help you could provide would be appreciated

Thanks in advance

1) do you like to sacrifice your pay to work here?
2) do you like culture bucks more than USD?
3) do you like to perform janitorial duties on airplanes?
4) are you inexperienced enough that you aren’t a flight risk for a legacy if they call?
5) do you live in Boston?
6) do you like working more than your peers to subsidize the highest profit margins in the industry (that you and your (lack of) profit sharing won’t see)?
7) are you cool with undisclosed amounts (“millions and millions”) of money getting funneled to JetSuite x, potato farms, and other worthless tech ventures that add no value to the company?
8) are you cool with management that votes in $1.25 billion in stock buybacks to line the pockets of the BoD/C Suite while adding no value to the company, while refusing to pay market rate to you, the pilot?
9) do you look forward to working for the worst operated airline, to include regionals in that metric, in the US? (Instead of investing millions into the operation, its siphoned off for useless garbage like 7/8).
10) why do you want to work for an airline run by interns?

I think that about covers it.

Does this strike you as a “helpful” thread?

How would it be a live video with CP and HR if it were "on demand"?
Can you take it whenever you want?

Can you get a long block of off days?
 

Hello!!!


At low seniority.

I heard it is quite possible to get a reserve schedule that has all flying compressed into a block (with the mandatory 6th day off). Which allows 12 or more days off in one block... Using drop/swap/trade UTO/PTO as necessary.

I commute from Europe.


Is this correct?


Thanks

Yes it is.

This is a very defeated pilot group. Many people here such as bozo are spouting false propaganda to make things seem better than they truly are. The truth is that we have a contract proposal on deck that is grossly substandard and will affect your quality of life if passed. Since you are quite an accomplished professional pilot, you should consider an airline where pilots respect themselves and they fight for pay and work rules. May I suggest Delta, where they will love someone of your accomplishment. Many people here are stuck in a regional mindset of begging for sloppy seconds. They are happy to get any table scraps. To them sacrifice means standing in an informational picket line in the freezing cold for a day. Anything harder than that and they give up. Because the pilot group is so defeated, they don't know any better and they won't fight for better pay and better rules. The TA that we have right now was not obtained through actual sacrifice. It is the result of a few low energy meetings. When we had our greatest opportunity to do an informational picket, namely at the shareholder meeting, our people chose to stand down because blue jet gave them some kind of carrot that they bit off on. As a result of their naivety and lack of expertise, we got a TA that is not leading in anyway whatsoever and trails everyone. This means that you're going to be working harder to make the same amount as your equals at other respectable airlines. And in order for you to even begin to approach the compensation of other airlines, you're going to trade for a lot of time that you would've had at home. As a military guy and contract guy, you spent a lot of time away from home and the last thing you want is to be an airline where you're going to be spending a lot of time away from home also but not making very much. There's a few vocal guys here who seem to defend the TA because they have special circumstances such as being staff pilots, live in base, or have high seniority.

This communique is for entertainment purposes only. It does not implicitly or explicitly acknowledge employment with any air carrier nor is any relationship implied. This communique does not represent the opinions or policies of ALPA or JB ALPA and does not represent the collective pilot group, ALPA, nor does it imply collective bargaining, advocacy, or workforce actions intended to disrupt operations.

Currently you have 18 days of reserve duty. If you're a commuter, remember you might have to come in the day early or leave a day late (they can give you a reserve assignment on the last day that will make you stay New York or wherever an extra day). This is particularly true because they consistently release the reserve schedule late leaving you very little commuting capability after it comes out, forcing you to come in a day early just in case. Also, while on reserve your own tap starting at 0200L, depending on how you bid and what you get. Supposedly there is long call reserve but, you can't ever count on it since it is rare and they can switch you back to Short call. While it is theoretically possible to get 12 days off in a row, it certainly is not easy. Sure you can try to take PTO or UTO or call out sick but those are special circumstances and you can't count on any of that. The TA does not appreciably improve the situation.

This communique is for entertainment purposes only. It does not implicitly or explicitly acknowledge employment with any air carrier nor is any relationship implied. This communique does not represent the opinions or policies of ALPA or JB ALPA and does not represent the collective pilot group, ALPA, nor does it imply collective bargaining, advocacy, or workforce actions intended to disrupt operations.

in our current system you cannot have less than 2 days off in a row on reserve. You can get 6 on, 2 off, 6 on etc. I usually have at least 1 block of 7-8 days off a month without trying.

If this contract passes, you’ll be able to bid up to 18 on in a row.

Once your seniority can hold it, a reserve should be able to bid 2 weeks on/2 weeks off or 1 month on/1 month off by bidding your days right month-to-month.

This is a solid QOL provision for ppl who want to live as an expat in Europe or Brazil or wherever else, in order to leverage currency differences, but you won’t hear about it on here bc all ppl are doing is getting wrapped around the axle over dystopian codesharing fantasies that our existing rules don’t prevent at all.

Maybe the reason you don't hear about it at all is because there aren't many expats and not many people can get away with being away from home for that long. Add to that the fact that they can pretty much put you in whatever SCL silo they want so it could be a Saturday and you have 14 days left of rsv and they put you in an early silo while all the 3 day guys are in a later silo. When that early 3-day trip pops in, you get it. Kind of like what they frequently do right now with guys on 5 or 6 day blocks. At least if you are on a 3-6 day block of reserve days, you have a good chance of having some guys junior to you who are also on the same amount of days. If you're on a 22 day block you're probably on your own and they can put you in whatever silo/start time they want.

You can't do 22 days. 18. and only if you do it to yourself.

I thought you could do 18 days at the end of one month and 18 at the beginning of the next. Regardless, it's a moot point. Change where I said "22 days" to "13 days" and the argument remains the same.

I know it's only if you do it to yourself but I was responding to the poster who claimed not enough people were raving about this schedule option.

What data leads you to believe anyone except the top 1% can get 18 days in a row? We don't know how they intend to reprogram trips to lower cost. Many existing trips will no longer make economic sense (e.g. 10 hr 3 days). The TA does not explicitly promise any bidding results. I'd be careful giving the TA credit for allowing to bid X,Y,Z.




This communique is for entertainment purposes only. It does not implicitly or explicitly acknowledge employment with any air carrier nor is any relationship implied. This communique does not represent the opinions or policies of ALPA or JB ALPA and does not represent the collective pilot group, ALPA, nor does it imply collective bargaining, advocacy, or workforce actions intended to disrupt operations.

You are wrong trips before 3AM goes to LCR first go to a roadshow....PLEASE.

Yes, go to a roadshow and let them try to convince you through facts. Don't let them speculate! Let's see how far they get without fear-mongering and speculation. Ask them why they allowed the Dependability Policy to be made part of the contract.


This communique is for entertainment purposes only. It does not implicitly or explicitly acknowledge employment with any air carrier nor is any relationship implied. This communique does not represent the opinions or policies of ALPA or JB ALPA and does not represent the collective pilot group, ALPA, nor does it imply collective bargaining, advocacy, or workforce actions intended to disrupt operations.

I'm talking about SAME DAY ASSIGNMENTS not NEXT DAY ASSIGNMENTS. Trips drop in at short notice every day. Like I said, I have the roadshow covered. You can't spell "assumption" without "ass".

If it's his/her first day of reserve they can't just put you in the early Silo under the TA, unless waived on Flica. Still probably not good enough if you're commuting overseas I would imagine.

Mostly I don't agree with you and/or find you annoying, BUT, IMHO/FWIW/IDWH: Dependability Policy has no place in a contract, and it is puzzling ALPA would have allowed something VERY non industry standard into the AIP. I read a quote of your commute policy and whatever goes wrong, it is up to scheduling to decide (if) it's the pilot's fault. Very weak....

Right, but you quoted me and I wasn't speaking about your first day of reserve. "♪There's misdirection in the air... ♪♪♪" I feel like that should be a song and, perhaps, the anthem of APC.

Where is the dependability policy in the TA? I honestly couldnt find it.
Are you talking about the Commuter Policy, Section 18?

It is referenced as a catch-all to nullify pretty much the entire commuter policy.

Oh please! Yes you were. You think a commuter cares about being in the early Silo in the middle of their sequence? Tell me how that effects their time away from home?

The gripe you have about the early 3-day trips is just how reserve works obviously.

Where- Section /paragraph?
Im not doubting, I just want to read it for myself .

They allowed it because (1) this defeated pilot group failed to keep B6ALPA accountable to the mission, (2) they sold you out.



If you vote yes, you will further be part of the problem. That's just the truth. If you want to work within the process, then it gives you the chance to Vote NO and to make ALPA work for your 1.9%+ to get you a better TA 2.0.




The Railway Labor Act Simplified



This communique is for entertainment purposes only. It does not implicitly or explicitly acknowledge employment with any air carrier nor is any relationship implied. This communique does not represent the opinions or policies of ALPA or JB ALPA and does not represent the collective pilot group, ALPA, nor does it imply collective bargaining, advocacy, or workforce actions intended to disrupt operations.

Firstly, everyone shall note that Bozo and his gang has been unconditionally supporting this substandard TA even though he doesn't even read the TA!



Second,The TA outsources authority to the Dependability Policy on Page 102 (section B). Furthermore, in that entire section, BJ is allowed to determine what is a "consideration" in commuting. For example, if you had 2 flights but you couldn't make it, BJ could say there were gusts included in the TAF and that would slow down JFK operations, and it was your fault if both your flights didn't make it. They can always say that you should have come in 1 day before, 2 days before, 3 days before, etc.... It doesn't just draw a line at 2 OAL flights and 1 BJ flight. It leaves a lot of rope they can use to hang you. It's there in black and white for lawyers like Joanna to screw you with.


Third, the Dependability Policy is in the FOM, Appendix D-1. I turn particular attention to the list of things that go against your "dependability" (hint: almost everything).



Lastly, remember I said months ago to beware of a contract that outsources language and gives authority to policies. This is precisely what I was concerned about. They can rewrite the FOM whenever they want. The contract has no real hard lines drawn in regards to commuting... it's actually WORSE than what is in place now since we have no contract in place at the moment. When the contract gets voted in, it legally acknowledges the authority of the Dependability Policy (bad). We cannot allow open-ended contracts that let BJ do whatever they want. The whole purpose of a contract is to draw the lines, then color inside of them. Well, this has no lines.



The Railway Labor Act Simplified



This communique is for entertainment purposes only. It does not implicitly or explicitly acknowledge employment with any air carrier nor is any relationship implied. This communique does not represent the opinions or policies of ALPA or JB ALPA and does not represent the collective pilot group, ALPA, nor does it imply collective bargaining, advocacy, or workforce actions intended to disrupt operations.