I spoke with a friend of mine at NW that said pilots were getting Displaced to the panel in Anchorage.

 

Well said, and well said in a response earlier in this thread. Some among us don't understand, or can't get past the fact, that date of hire means absolutely nothing before - and now after - this arbritrated agreement.

Fwiw, I slipped 1/2 of 1%...whooptie freakin' do. Now it's in the hands of our collective management to make this thing work -

 

That's 100% wrong. No one was forced to the panel. Those displacements were removed, per an LOA between the union and the company.

 

No no...those displacements were canceled. People on the panel are doing it by choice. I am a FE in ANC and it is the best damn job I ever held. It is the best kept secret in NW. I live in Dallas and can hold DC-9, A-320 and the 75. But the 747 panel is such a sweet gig that I'm willing to commute up to ANC to do it!

 

Ok, I gotta call BS after reading these comments. What is so great about the panel? I flew DC-10s, very familiar with the panel. It doesn't pay as much. You're still commuting.

So what is it that makes it so special?

-Fatty

 

Hmm. Panel on the -200, dozing for dollars and seeing some interesting parts of the world versus right seat in a DC-9 flying 4 or 5 legs a day and laying over in Chicago, Newark, and Kansas City every time you turn around... I personally prefer the -9 gig, which is what I'm doing now, but I can see how others might feel differently.

Also, -200 panel pays more than DC-9 FO

 

They get international override pay and the work rules/schedules they have right now are awesome. I have many friends up there doing it and not a single one of them wants off of it. You're talking about the actual job as an engineer and they are talking about the schedule and qol that comes with the position.

 

Ok ... it makes sense now.

Thanks.

 

I'll call your "bluff".... for one thing, it pays, at the end of the month, almost as much as DC9 captain, after all the 'extras' are factored in. I flew the -200 panel from 1999 till 2002, and now, after 6 years, am approaching what I made (per hour, and wages earned) way back then. When I got off the panel, I was making $141 an hour, and won't make that as a -9 captain next year. However, apples-to-apples, the left seat on the -9 was almost $200/hr, pre-concession pay rates. So a jr. ca. on the -9 at 75 hrs was making (end of the month) making what the 'piano-player' on the whale was, if he were flying, say, 85-88 hrs a month. Throw in a commute to the left seat, and it's not hard to see why a guy would not move off the F/E seat till he could hold A-320 captain, which was pretty normal. Hope that adds context....

chuck

 

Longer trips = Less commutes, also it pays more then the DC9. Plus, the flying is waaay different. To each their own. It has sometimes been a VERY senior position.