Holy crap. TWO reserves in DFW for May.

 

And those are by choice

 

Well that certainly backfired on them.

 

I went home for a long weekend between CPT and the sim since I had about a 10 day break. After the checkride, I went home until I got my IOE schedule.

Training isn't exactly easy, but as long as you put a decent amount of effort into studying, you'll be fine.

 

Good to know, thanks!

 

Does anyone happen to know if Mesa's current contract is the one easily found on the MAG ALPA site? It's dated effective December 2008 and amendable 2010. That sounds out of date to me.

I'm curious about what happens to captains who upgrade "early" due to the lack of FO's with 1,000hrs. Do such pilots get captain pay? Are they pushed back to FO once enough upgrades occur senior to them? Stuff like that.

 

I think Mesa is having a hard time keeping up with the additional flying do to available sim time. Several flights cancelled this week do to lack of crews on the E-jet. Junior assignments are rampant on the captain side as well. A lot of new crew-trac peeps not making it any easier. A couple of captains have been JA'd in the right seat with available FO reserves. Does not make sense.

 

Yes you get captain pay!! Technically Mesa can downgrade you if senior peeps are upgrading after you. But we would have to be stacked with a abundance of captains. Highly unlikely unless the music stops.

 

1) Yes that contract is the current one. It is common for regional managements to drag negotiations out for a decade or so, because the RLA/NMB is a broken system that places zero pressure on airlines to renew decades-old contracts. There have been many, many LOAs/MOUs/clarifications regarding sections of that contract over the years--for example the commuter clause is much more lenient than the original one in the original CBA language. Maybe e-mail the association and ask for the copy that has all the interpretations/rulings/LOAs/MOUs attached.

2) If you upgrade early you'll most definitely be on CA pay. You'll still be on probation your first year, but you'll bid and be paid as a CA.

3) The only way you would be bumped back to FO would be if there were a displacement (base downsizing/closure) or loss of flying, and the company ran a bid for which you could not hold CA in any base.

4) If FOs junior to you later bid CA, they of course still go above you on the Captain roster for monthly bidding/vacation bidding/etc.

I wouldn't worry about getting bumped back to FO for the forseeable future. With attrition and new airplanes still arriving, you should upgrade fast and stay in the left seat for as long as you want to be here...you might end up getting pushed down onto reserve for a bit by FOs senior to you coming over to the left seat, but you should keep your left seat.

 

Up to 60 FO reserve lines in Phoenix this month. Sounds like there will be a lot of base assisting in DFW, but this will be great for SAP. Summer flying should bring back some lines though.