jblumindtrick

Very honest. Nice job...

nospin

I am going to try to get as many of us as possible to look at this website. I hope that if everyone does that we can make a difference with the survey. If you know a way to get more on board we need to do it quickly.

If you have more to add, disagree, or disagree with any facts, please reply so we get the story straight.

Thanks!

Realistic

Thanks for the very comprehensive contribution.
Your observations are spot on.
The end is not near when people speak their minds, but there are two groups who will tell you it is:
The first are the ones with blind faith.
The second are the ones who are cleaning up at our expense.

This company is only five years old and the people who set up flight ops and the various committees/fiefdoms that go with it wasted no time creating a very comfortable situation for themselves. The compensation disparity from bottom to top is ridiculous and it will not stand the test of time.

Pilots who join in only to find that they disagree with a philosophy are found to be unblue and promptly ignored. When we speak up or write in with complaints we get impatience, anger, or mumbo jumbo that no one can understand. Many of the buzz words and programs (blue oasis, dynamic basing, etc.) appear only to be delay tactics designed to molify the masses.
We go to POL and get a Tony Robbins seminar. The only time we get unaltered truth is when some committee boob accidentally forwards an e-mail that he/she shouldn't have and then they just circle the wagons and pretend that nothing happened.

If cost is SO important, then why is capital spending out of control? We spend money (often times on huge mistakes) as if gas prices are $25 a barrell but when we discuss pay/benefits we go back to the tried and true labor scare tactics.

Great business plan - very smart senior leadership - glad to be here - love my job - looking forward to a very bright future - BUT PLEASE! STOP BULL****TING ME! Tell me the straight up truth (you know, the one you guys talked about at Ruth's Chris last night) or don't tell me anything at all.

If dynamic basing turned out to be a bad idea - say so.
If we're actually giving out sweet deals for 190 staff - say so.
If the West Coast is done growing - say so.
If complaints about a certain committee member are piling up - say so.
If we never intend to move forward on health care coverage - say so.
Let's divulge (de-identified) what pilots have earned on a yearly basis.
Let's enumerate every single junior manning event.
Let's uncover the wasted dollars when check airman and other insiders get paid for trip protection, needless deadheading, and high dollar trips for check rides and round tables all over the country.
Let's find out what it costs us to have seven or eight Chiefs running around with Blackberries. And let's explain why we need them when most of us have been self-managed for most of our careers.

This is an airline and we are pilots. Values and good attitudes do not change the realities of the industry, or the tendency for individuals (especially pilots) to look out for number one. I could give a list of pilots at JetBlue who are very adept at looking out for number one. I can find a hundred pilots at this airline who will tell you from experience that the divisions are happening like a Hollywood script.

It doesn't mean we don't have a bright future. It just means we're no different from the guys/girls at SWA, DAL, TWA, UAL, AWA, etc. To pretend that we are is the height of arrogance.

automatique

Well said.
I hope the pilots from that "other airline" will respond. You know, those guys that make 30-50% more $ and have another 7 days off a month.
Those "visionaries" that took that great risk to start this place.
Of course, they were unemployed at the time...

Double Digit

I beg to differ. I was in the sixth class at JetBlue and all of the pilots in my class had good jobs before coming to JetBlue. As a matter of fact the average flight time at that time was something like 11 to 12 thousand hours. I would like you to name 1 airline that makes 30-50% more than me and has another 7 days off. You are mistaken. $179,000 and 20 days off a month work for me.
Sarcasm....aint it great! LMAO

This is sarcasm gentlemen! It is not meant as a dig or brag! I know there is a vast difference between 1-200 and 200 and below that needs to be addressed. Hence the sarcasm. You guys need to relax a little.

BlueSide

double digit,

If you are only getting 12 days a month off and you are that senior, you need to rethink your bidding. Maybe a 90+ hr 21 day off line will help cheer you up! Those transcon turns are really going to help you out. You and the other top 199 are going to love it.

Realistic

Double,
Clearly you deserve to make so much more than I make at 75 hours.
Resume's aside....
There is a standard in this industry and we have broken it to the detriment of hundreds of pilots.
Now...we can claim that this is all to increase productivity....and....we're different at JetBlue (we always have to be different because we're so much better than everybody else)....and....what will happen to productivity if we go to straight pay?
Nothing!
Senior pilots will continue to fly 90 hours (100 credit) a month...mid-seniority pilots will continue to fly 85 hours a month....junior pilots will continue to fly 75 hours a month...and there will still be very little open time because the company (wisely) doesn't want to pay for reserves. Nothing changes.
The only thing that will happen is the the gravy train will stop and we will start to compensate ALL pilots along a scale that is fair and balanced - you know - like FOX news.

automatique

No disrespect intended; I'm sure the initial pilots were very experienced. However, talking with many of the very senior, many were unemployed when all the majors were hiring like crazy. And 3 years later, furloughing like crazy...

You are the one that needs to wake up. You already work for the airline I was refering to. The airline I work for paid me 108k last year and I work 18 days a month. Maybe what you can't figure out is it's the same company.
Two or three years seniority shouldn't make THAT much difference.
BTW, I also had 12000+ hours when I came here.

Blue 2

Which airline did you sign-up for? Whichever one it was I hope you are getting all the contract pay it defines. If not please post what pay scale you are on.
Didn't expect reserve? Didn't expect a seniority difference in pay.
What will you say to the junior pilots in five years when you are in another airline ?

Realistic

I signed up for the company that up until recently was hyping the following:
1. Annual pay based upon 90 hours a month every month.
2. Growth that would make reserve a brief inconvenience.
3. The most flexible schedules in the industry.
4. Scheduling practices that bring humanity back to air travel.
5. Stock options that would make us all wealthy.
6. Profit sharing that would make up for the shortfall in base pay.
7. Health care coverage that would IMPROVE once we grew.
8. A pay and benefits system that would seek to mirror SWA.
9. A West Coast base.
I hope for the sake of our interviewies and new-hires we've begun to tell the truth. My expectations were not met. That's OK, we just have to roll up our sleeves and start by filling out those surveys.
What will the pilots who come after us say if we were to be successful at blending the pay rates, bringing our pay system back to an industry standard slope, and putting the focus back on real dollars instead of the possibility of dollars some where in the happy future?
"Thank you."