NO MAJOR AIRLINE loses Pilots to other Airlines like JB does. When hiring begins next year, JB will lose hundreds (again) to other Majors. JB will not attract Pilots from the other Majors period!


Destination carrier based on what????

Or, is it so, to you, because you have no 4 yr degree or TPIC?

Let me ask you something.............

Do you think it would be possible to forecast JB Pilots having a competitive contract within the "next" 5 years?

I can tell you that, statistically, it's HIGHLY unlikely! And, I mean HIGHLY unlikely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you can't negotiate in business, it will be the "other guy" who will be "making things better", FOR HIM!




JJ

 

An airline who's health insurance benefits are worse than American Eagle is not by the negotiated definition, by the PVC, a destination airline. The goal was to become such an airline right up to the point Jetblue unilaterally gutted the benefits of this airline and threw out the agreed upon method for basing the peer set.

 

Remember the "Industry Leading Process" that was promised?


JJ

 

Destination carrier or not, we need people who want to make this an even better airline. Places like Delta/Fedex are where they are today because they continually work to improve their CBA.

The best thing we can do is motivate others to come here who will be a good asset to the group, are aware of the strengths/weaknesses, and want to improve upon the current situation.

If we continue to push people away from jetblue then the only ones left in the pool will be those who are least desirable by other carriers, and most likely to believe any propaganda.

 

JB will continue to hire guys who don't have the qualifications to go to the other Majors. They will be happy just to be out of the regionals.


Checkmate!



JJ

 

I fall into that group, but strongly support a CBA. Actually, I have much more riding on this place being a true destination airline than someone with competitive quals to go to a legacy. I want to make this a better place, because I probably wont be hired at DAL/UAL/FDX/SWA.

 

I have recently quit jetBlue to pursue career in one of the legacies.
I can tell you, that jetBlue is a great place to work if you young want some experience in larger equipment with mediocre pay, and don't care about your basic benefits -retirement, medical, STD, LTD, or protection in case of mergers. jetBlue will make you a believer, that they are the only airline that "cares " about you, and do everything to protect you form other evil airlines that care only about profits. Overall I was pleased while working for JB, nice coworkers, work environment, equipment, etc; gate agents always made sure that I'm taking care of while commuting, unlike some legacies counterparts, FA will make sure you doing fine while on redeye.
However, the overall atmosphere in jetBlue is uncertain feel for the future changes; anytime there is a talk about possible merger with another airlines, i.e.. AA several months ago; everybody gets spooked, no body has any idea how merger would play out with out defined CBA, many blue juicers say "Dave" will not do it, "Dave" this, "Dave" that; clueless about typical corporation's responsibilities towards share holders. People ask many times, how was it possible that Hitler got so much power, well look no further, there are many idiots out there that truly believe in every word some's telling them, and they'll follow to the end, oblivious to their upcoming demise.
"Organic Growth" - is thrown around all the time, the fact is, that they will never specify how many airframes are coming for true growth, and how many are replacement. In 2011 we had 10 A320 from which 9 were replacements. 2013 all A321 are additions, but how many old ones are going back, no body knows.
Pay review - last year we got pay increase of 2.2%, and 3% increase in 401K contribution (company desecration), all of this was taken from "great" medical benefit for "wellness" in 2013, almost 250% increase in out of packet expenses - you better don't get sick or end up in hospital, because you'll go bankrupt under this benefit. There are plenty of JB pilots who say that new medical is not so bad; however, many of which are military pilots, and use government "socialistic" medical benefit (hypocrites) Life is Better in Blue
Pay - if you on reserve, you'll never see a dime out of the above 78 premium pay, monthly bid devisor is set at 78 average, so naturally senior pilots pickup everything out of open time. There are plenty of pilots on second year pay, that fly on average 25 hours monthly. Who benefits the most - yes, you guest it - seniors.
Your retirement - PEA quote "...the Airline reserves the right to amend the Plan or any future plan at any time and from time to time, or to terminate the Plan or any such plan, consistent with applicable legal requirements."
Medical - as mentioned above, no negotiations, no PVC review - take it or leave it, don't like it, oh well.
PTO (Personal Time OFF) - you get only 9 hours per month - if you get sick for a 4 day at 20 hours, there goes your two months worth of PTO, that is used for your sick and vacation. Many Blue juicers, and cheepos show up ..... (fill in the blanks) and you will used up all your PTO.
JB has no plans on expending west coast, they will not compete with Legacies like AA, UAL, DAL, or fly against undercuters i.e.. VA, which flies below the cost. Good news they will fly routes with min 5% margin in profits.
There are also positives:
Reserve - if coverage is good, especially Monday - Friday, you'll get plenty of Long call reserve 14 hours min call out. If you play your game well, you'll end up with 23+ days at home. Many times company will give you PRL (pre released days off) just before first come first serve SWAP. So if you have 12/13 days off + 2 PRL = 15 days of scheduled days off at home. Now, if you bid right or you do the right initial SWAP of your reserve days and have M-F schedule, your first week of the month is almost guarantee to be all LCR (long call reserve) with last day F being REL (released for off days) voila - you just made your schedule with 20 days at home. Many times I have bid M-S 6 ON 1 OFF, 6 ON etc; so I can have my 2 Saturdays PRL. If I got lucky, I stayed at home M-Tu picked up a three day W-Fr got 11-13 hours of credit, and then I got off till the end of the month, since I had credit at the beginning of the month - best months for this September, October, January, February, March.
As you can see, JB reserve rules are pretty good, as long as they have coverage, and SWAP-ing of reserve days are definitely something that no too many other airlines are offering. jetBlue Reserve - awesome.
Vacation PTO - well, if you did not get sick and have not used your PTO, you can definitely use it for vacation. This is where JB shines. When bidding vacation, you are assigned 35 hours per week, so if you bid two weeks (70 hours) you are automatically a line holder and have entire month off; However, your PTO is deducted only 24.5 hours per week, total 49 hours you gat 21 hours for free or premium pay depends how you want to look at it! If you want to make money, vacation month with two weeks off is the way to go, plus you have plenty of days off for your actual vacation. Bid two weeks, pickup additional 4 day of 20-24 hours credit, and you are over 78 premium pay to pay for your vacation expenses.
Uniform - company gives new uniform with leather jacket option, and then you get $200 credit every year, to buy stuff from their online store; Luggage Works, Travel Pro, etc..
Travel - In my opinion is good; however, because is not seniority based, but first come first serve amongst employees, some having difficulties traveling from JB cities i.e.. Salt Lake City. There are plenty of other airlines agreements in E-ticket and paper ticket, all on line, which makes it very easy for international travel.
Hotels - in general, very nice, sometimes fancy, sometimes hit and missed, but I think no one should complain too much.
Internal politics - CBA vs pro Company - 50/50 You'll fly with both, but recently I think because of the merger situation that have risen up in last 7 months, and recent health care BS, many more have decided towards some type of CBA. During your training, company will go above and beyond to convert you to the JB believer, juicing you every day, I'm not saying it is bad, however, just keep an open mind - there are no corporations that operate only based on what CEO wants, but what's best for share holders; therefore, JB future is uncertain as an in-depended carrier. One of my last flights was with one of the JB funder senior CA; after telling him about my situation, I was shocked; he told me that I'll be better off going back, then staying at JB. He doesn't believe in JB juice anymore after 13 years of service. He simply put it; "if you below 40, and have been here for less the three years, move on". My seniority calculator was showing at the day of separation, that I'll be in the same seniority for 20 years if nothing changes. JB will have to double in size in order for me to hold a CA on reserve for E190, something to think about it.
So there you have it, my abbreviated positive vs. negative on JB. Good luck any way you decided, I truly enjoyed my time at B6, and had mixed emotions while leaving, but everyone of us have different needs. jetBlue is good for holding off for something better, but not as a distention, just my opinion.

 

Wow, thanks for your insight. Just wondering what year did you start B6?

 

I've posted my reasons in a couple of threads. Feel free to go back and read them. You're more or less underlining exactly what I'm talking about. You're jumping to insulting your audience. Great way to win people over to your side. Awesome. Good job. For the record, I have close to 3000 TPIC and a four year degree.

Sure. It's "highly unlikely" to forecast anything in aviation accurately 5 years from now. So, are you giving up on trying to get a CBA? If so, do the rest of us a favor and just leave and/or drop the conversation. There are those of us that are a) Pro-CBA and b) still want to stay at B6 to make it happen. If you're burned out, that's cool. Just step to the side.

 

Lemme see, in my class that started on 11/7, that would be...none of us. 11 guys total, all high time, one military, two corp (one with a lot of international TPIC time) and the rest were regionals. I think 2 guys weren't CAs with 1000+ TPIC. However, the easily met UniCal's mins.