Welcome B6 Pilots
 

THIS IS THE PLACE

Through all of the flight-deck ranting, one question has been recurring over and over. When are we going to get a bulletin board to start talking? There are a few pilots who've looked into setting one up and nobody wants to risk attaching their name to a URL or a web-hosting account.
For now, this is as good a place as any and the resources available on this website are very good. It does take a few days to get registered but anonymity is assured. I wrote to the owners and this was their response:

"The short answer to your question about anonymity is: Yes - you and
you're friends at jetBlue are assured of complete anonymity if they
wish it. The ONLY exception is if we are required to do so by court
order. This has never been a problem and we don't expect it to be,
although it is our policy to cooperate with LAW enforcement agencies.
We do have measures in place to remove questionable posts from our
forums, so we hope things never get to that level."

"Privacy on the Airline Pilot Central forums, and the site in general, is
covered in our Privacy Policy and published on our site. In short WE
don't share any personal information provided to us by our users.
Disclosure of info on the forums is limited by individual posters based
on the content of their posts, but be assured that APC does not disclose
information about individual posters. That said, we strongly discourage
anyone from posting any identifiable personal information on ANY
Internet forum."

I feel pretty good about this site. I would encourage anyone who plans to speak their mind in such a way as to offend the establishment - to stay away from information that may in some way identify you.
The court order is a concern, so please do not use names (including management), make sure you understand what defamation is, and never-ever threaten anyone.

I have spoken to numerous jetBlue pilots and the word is going out about this forum. Please - if you're looking for a place to build concensus and hash things out, let other pilots know about this web-site.

Communications between jetBlue pilots is lacking to say the least. It is essential that we start to talk about what is bothering us. Particularly with a new survey coming out. If there is a message to be sent, the survey will be the first place to start.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read and to speak your mind.

Fly Safe

I'm spreading the word. Why don't you copy some of those rants from the other site? Thanks for standing up - even if we are anonymous.

Question to any JetBlue pilot

Has JetBlue ever not renewed a pilot's 5 year contract?

No.
But it would be nice for some of us to have a round table with a conract attorney some time.
Know any?

That would be an excellent idea. Especially since they keep making changes to the flight scheduling guide that affect our pay, but we have no approval over. An example it the change in the definition of the "red eye pairings" like ONT, SEA etc to reduce the number of pairings that get the trip rig. Personally I feel that the flight scheduling guide is a DEFACTO part of our contract and can't/shouldn't be changed unless we approve it. Just my opinion.

FNG

My opinion is that it's just a matter of time before there's a union on JB property. Job security alone is worth the dues.

But make sure you don't go ALPA.

bluer,
We need more pilots up to bring a rehash over from the hangar. Some people are having trouble registering.
If you are, please e-mail: [email protected]
We'll get rolling soon.
Keep talking,
Realistic

We've seen a spike in the number of AOL users having trouble getting the registration verification email (from airlinepilotcentral.com), AOL is notorious for bouncing messages that IT decides is SPAM. Members using AOL accounts may need to review their spam filter settings. In your spam filter settings, add "airlinepilotcentral.com" as a domain that you wish to accept email messages from.

The account verification process should take about 5 minutes, as soon as you register - the verification message is sent. We've checked the verification script under several configurations and it is sending the verification message as expected.

Regards - Paul

QSO finished meeting last week and this was a concern. I think your going to see some real positive changes in the near future.

Excellent. Has anyone heard any specifics on the meeting? Flight scheduling guide, pairing construction, virtual basing, reserve work rules, etc...?

FNG

plus, will they go back and fix the changes they made with out our input? I hope so, but I won't get my hopes up.

FNG

I haven't heard anything.

Sort of like the positive changes we saw after that wonderful "agreement" was mailed to us a second time?

;)

Union
 

I don't think any airline out there started with a union. We are still in the touchy feely stage at jetBlue but I can see some issues coming down the road that will bring this issue to the forefront faster than most people think. Still a great place to work though!

I agree with both of your statements. But I think there's still a lot of talking to do before we throw in the towel. Whether it's on-line or on-the-line, many of us are starting to scratch our heads and say something.
The next survey should be a litmus test. This forum could actually serve as a chalk board for outlining what we feel are issues that need to be addressed.
I have my pet issues but that doesn't mean they are important to everybody and I know that there are numerous other issues on the minds of jetBlue pilots. If we could nail down five big ones and collectively communicate those issues on our anonymous surveys then even if nothing was done we could say that the seeds of collective action have been sown.
Realistic

I didn't mean I was ready to throw in the towel and you are right about us all having different issues. My "paper" is not worthless so that is not a big issue for me but I know some are so I can understand your concern. I have and will continue to diversify mine as I become vested. I know that is not an option for most.
Five good core issues sounds like a good number. We don't want to overwhelm them!

1. more job protection
2. scheduling parity
3. pay rates on the 190. (it sucks)
4. ??
5. ??

what else did you have in mind?

1. Higher BASE Pay
2. Higher BASE Pay
3. Higher BASE Pay
4. Higher BASE Pay
5. Better Benefits - Such as Medical!

1. Blend time-and-a-half into straight pay with a 3% bump.
2. Get an HMO.
3. Staff the airline to a level that provides the open time and reserves to meet the goals set in the White Papers. Pilots should have input on a minimum level of open time and reserve coverage.
4. Establish a pilot elected pay and benefits committee - the scheduling committee should not be commenting on pay. The scheduling committee should have term limits to eliminate the featherbedding and cronyism.
5. Take 401K to 6% matching and pay profit sharing as profit sharing - in cash. My retirement should not be dependent on whether or not this industry is doing "well" or not. Profit sharing will still provide incentive and we will have a 401K that approaches what other pilots in this industry enjoy.

Seems you're doing a lot of this on your own . . .

Realistic,

Keep up the great discussions! We all have different vantage points making this a healthy forum.

Communication is key if we are to keep it small as we grow.

You are not on your own. KEEP TALKING.....everyone! Go Blue!

Some suggestions....
 

1. Cost of living raises that will compensate for lost wages over the last 5 years

2. Establish annual cost of living raises for future raises

3. Increase productivity

4. Prevent JB/Crew Services from making changes to the Flight/Inflight scheduling guide without pilot/FA permission

5. Fix Flight/Inflight scheduling guides to restore items changed over the last 4 years. (definition of 13:30 rigged trip as an example)

6. Add miminum pay/hours per day for pay, not a “time away from base” criteria. Make it 5 hours per day, not 4 hours per 24hrs time away from base. This will help force productivie pairings.

7. Improve reserve workrules. (there are so many I can't liste the changes needed!)

8. Establish separate Pilot and Inflight Crew Services

9. Improve Medical and decrease cost! (how about a separate plan for the pilots and thier families from the rest of the company. Most pilots tend to be in better health and that the average employee and that should reduce cost)

10. Fix the 190 pay scale

I've got so many that I can't even stop a five. We all need to answer the survey, and maximize the negative and disatisified. This will drive down the approval numbers and hopefully wake up management and make them take notice. If most of us employee are unhappy they can't blow smoke up our a$$ any more.

Just my opinion....