AZJETDRIVER

Where is the the actual info?

alphasierra01

On another note, there is a nasty rumor of no more upgrade classes until Dec due to lack of FOs. Anyone got an idea how true that is?

NovemberBravo

Its plausible but I doubt it since we're still taking Ejets and have attrition every month that needs to be covered. They are in a better position to cover flights with more spare captains since you can sit in either seat.

iFlyRC

Upgrades are the lifeblood of this airline, without them, Mesa truly brings nothing to the table to entice new people to come here.
Mesa would be better off upgrading everyone, having CA on CA flying as the norm if it would attract people here. Very least would bring the pay up to industry standard.
Theres just so many warning flags, things written on the wall, that I believe everyone is looking for a way out now except those that are about to upgrade.
I think it is bad publicity to offer CRJ upgrade slots and everyone looks the other way... That is simply unheard of. Not offer classes, make people starve, then re-offer it perhaps. Be warned, if your seniority right now can't hold a line as a DFW CA, you will be on reserve forever. Only attrition from the CRJ CA's who are only time building to move on, will you move up. Far too many lifers on the CRJ side.

Xdashdriver

April 28 new hires just did their orals this week. They have 6 days of FPT training to go through and most will be starting their sim training the second week of July. No big delays until IOE. IOE has been backed up a couple of weeks recently. Not sure if it's still the case.

flapshalfspeed

Wait, what's the point of even negotiating (or hearing from the negotiating committee)?

Negotiations at this airline--with this ALPA chapter--seem pretty pointless to me: why would Mesa ever give us a penny more than what we're getting now, when we're still covering the vast majority of our flights on-time, and when new hire classes are (miraculously) mostly full?

As long as n00bs keep coming to the trough to feed on the slop, there's no reason to put more slop in the trough, am-i-rite?

Zero, zero, zero reason for Mesa to give us a penny more as long as new hires keep showing up in decent numbers, and as long as our MEC turns a blind eye to new-hire iPad payments/crashpad reimbursements, referral bonuses, no-stay hotel reimbursements, etc. (which they will). Our MEC has basically said "Status Quo? Section 6? Lawsuits? Uhhhhh...that's kind of complicated I'm going to go home now and eat a sandwich--bye" (door closes in ALPA office).

The average Mesa pilot will gladly stay in horrible hotels, gladly taxi single-engine, gladly pick up tons of open time, and gladly roast the pax in 30+C heat to save fuel for daddy UAL/AA--who pay us a fraction of their payrates to fill up their widebodies with pax, indirectly subsidizing their own pilots'/employees paychecks.

The present global seniority list here has absolutely zero comprehension of how the average regional ALPA chapter typically functions to block any changes to wages & work rules during an open Section 6 negotiation--particularly when it comes to a company offering money to new hires/referrals in lieu of increasing compensation across-the-board in a new TA.

Put simply, the average pilot here is here out of self-interest and self-interest only, and a decent percentage of FOs I fly with are very delusional in their projections of upgrade times and/or ability to make it to a legacy and/or background/record/skills w.r.t. moving on to a legacy/LCC.

With that said, Mesa's pilot cadre is kind of like Silicon Valley/Law School/Investment Banks/America in general at the moment--100% of us think we're going to be the ~1-10% who actually make it out of this thing on top, with a secure future/retirement. But a majority of us will very likely end up being Mesa lifers/furloughs/downgrades/etc. at some point in this cycle or the next.

None of the above is meant to bash on Mesa, or our pilot group, or our our management. I actually really like our chief pilots and hands-off management culture. Just stating a cynical, impersonal opinion on what I feel is a slightly delusional cult of career positivity that seems to be infecting the ranks of many regional pilot groups, particularly the junior end of this pilot group...sigh.

iFlyRC

Things are moving smoothly on E-Jet side, on the CRJ side, it is a different world. Only 5 new hires in the last class.

squawkoff

Absolutely true. If Mesa were to announce that they were getting 30 or more airplanes (fleet expansion) you would see the flood gates open up. People from Envoy, Expressjet, Skywest, etc. would come to Mesa. Why? Because the most sought after experience of aviation is the coveted TPIC. People would give up money, QOL, benefits for it. I do believe that many think they can get their 1000 TPIC and they can have their pick of which legacy they can go to. That may be true 10 years down the line but I don't think it has the influence many think it does. It sure doesn't hurt to have that experience though.

CBreezy

Honestly, I don't even think that's necessarily true anymore. With many, many regional airlines offering quick upgrades (TSA, CA, PDT, GJ, PSA just to name a few), I don't think even adding 15 airframes would get as significant lifeblood injection that it did only 2 years ago. I have former coworkers outside of 121 aviation that are looking in. I can't even begin to tell you how many of them have told me that 121 TPIC isn't important anymore and they'll be hired once they get 2000 SIC. You tell them that you have several thousand TPIC and know hundreds of others with it that haven't gotten a phone call but they ignore your advice. "Yeah, but I know other people who've been hired as an FO after being with X airline for only 1.5 years!" No one can predict what those idiots will do.

Rdetocopy

Thank you once again Xdashdriver. I appreciate the info.