Anything's possible but JO is on record several times saying he doesn't want to go that route.

 

A new hire bonus will only speed up the attrition further exacerbating the problem.

The problem is twofold:
1) Attracting new hires
2) Pilot retention

Endeavor management figured that out quickly. The quarterly bonuses satisfy both sides of that equation.

 

If Mesa would do what Endeavor does, I would be happy here

 

I think you're thinking too
much into this... more like the current load work is so high in crew planning due to expansion and them losing one of the crew planners they have fallen behind on updating it monthly.

 

Who knows..

I mean, 18 captains above me left in the last two months. I feel like the company would rather ignore the writing on the wall than to drop the gimmicks and offer us something remotely close to industry average, which would fix the problem overnight.

 

1) The value of our quick-upgrade carrot is declining quickly as upgrade times plummet pretty much everywhere else, especially Skywest with their highly desirable Western base options and compensation

2) Envoy/PDT/PSA have extremely solid pathways to AA, which will only further reduce upgrade times at those companies as AA hiring picks up over the next 1-10 years. CommutAir seems to be securing a preferential interview with United. Endeavor offers huge incentive pays and a guaranteed (albeit low-odds) interview with DAL

3) The company seems to be unable and/or unwilling to pay anything more than the last TA, which will never fly

I've enjoyed my time at Mesa, and it's worked out very well for me thus far. But I am concerned about our ability to staff existing and future commitments.

Hopefully, the new HR and Crew Resources/Planning directors just hired (who both seem to be highly experienced and competent) are smart enough to realize that the only zero-cost way to reduce attrition and shore up recruiting in the short term are:

1) Better base options

2) Something--anything--to dangle at existing pilots and give them second thoughts about leaving asap. A preferential interview at United or AA, regardless of the stipulations or odds of success, would incentivize people sticking around a bit longer on average imho. Humans are prone to overestimating success with such things, otherwise we wouldn't have Powerball!!!

Better bases or a carrot like a preferential interview/flow...only two "essentially free" things they can use to keep more of us on this pumpkin patch a bit longer.

 

Outside of increased compensation flow is the only real game changer.

 

AA and United would be against it while we're working for the other...

 

The rumor over in the RAH thread is that UAL wants it to apply to people who have only ever worked on that side of the house. Take it for what it's worth, don't shoot the messenger.

 

Just came across an interesting thread from late 2008: http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/re...ne-pilots.html
Whatever happened with this? We may have been going through or close to bankruptcy, but the pilot groups still should have capitalized.
If only he knew. By the way, how long has the "whipsaw" term been around?
Again, screw the A-Listers.

Wow. Did that really happen?

Thanks for the advice.

The thread goes into great detail about historical challenges MAG pilots have faced and why their contracts frequently lagged behind industry average. Defeating Freedom, the recession, bankruptcy, etc. However, none of those excuses are valid in 2015 or 2016. The pilot shortage will cripple the current regional model and Mesa may not weather the storm if significant improvements aren't made. It may not weather the storm anyway. Regardless, I'm glad the pilot group stuck to its guns on that vote. If improvements cannot be made in this environment they can never be made, and improvements need to be made.