Das Auto

Agree with the health insurance. I was hoping it was just teething problems with the current policy being relatively new, but few healthcare providers are prepared to deal with it and the constant chasing up of claims is getting old.

Did you get the impression that the vesting schedule is starting over, as in 3 years from Jan 1st 2021 or those that have been with Gama 3 plus years as opposed to 5 are now fully vested?

MikeBates

I hope that isn’t the case. That would be very bad news and would frustrate many pilots’ vesting plans.

BuddhaPilot73

Email we received on the DPJ side today said you essentially kept wherever you were in the vesting schedule i.e. you’re already at three years then you’ve met the requirement. It added a year for many of us. I’m on a managed aircraft, so I’ve asked the question a couple of times as to what happens to our actual employer’s matching funds should they decide to pull their aircraft off the certificate before we’ve hit the vesting period. Crickets. The mass email pretty much says stop asking questions about how this works. My aircraft owner contributes those funds so they have a right to know.

goingplaces

And raises across all fleets

hdgbug

I don't really know much about DPJ's (I've heard the APC pay scales are inaccurate) and TMC's (don't list anything on APC) pay scales, so maybe this is a raise for the controlled aircraft on those fleets. I would love to hear how exactly this new pay scale has effected pay at DPJ and TMC.


But for a huge majority of the controlled fleet PIC's and SIC's at Gama this is not an increase over the previous pay scale. I am about 30% from the top on the new integrated seniority list, and when you pull out the Gama King Air crews, I am under 15% from the top. This new pay scale will not give me a raise until almost the end of the next year. So between 85-90% of the King Air crews (which makes up approximately 35% of the total integrated seniority list) will not be seeing an increase to their pay scale, and most of them not for many years to come.


For the controlled fleet PICs at Gama, the year 1-4 scale is exactly the same. On the previous scale the raise went to only $2k/year starting in year 5. This new scale does have a $6k raise at year five and then increased the yearly raise for years 6-9 to $4k. This new pay scale does go out to 20 years, which is an improvement over the previous one that only went to 10 years.


For the controlled fleet SIC's at Gama, they will not see any change in the payscale in years 1-4 (except for $1.25k increase in year 2, but year 3 remains the same total salary). In fact, the new SIC pay scale is substantially lower starting in year 5 than the previous. The big win for the SIC's at Gama is you retain your years of service when you upgrade. Previously, when a 2nd year SIC upgraded, they went back to year 1 PIC pay. Now you would slot in at year 2 PIC pay.


I've heard that the new insurance package is an improvement for the DPJ and TMC crews. However for Gama crews, we have also had a reduction in benefits starting in 2021 as health insurance will now have an employee contribution. I'm not here to debate about whether or not our current insurance was worth being "free". But the fact remains that we are now contributing towards insurance which is lowering our compensation.


The cheapest family plans, health with a $3k individual deductible, will cost you about $3,300/year (health, dental, & vision). If you go to the platinum plan through a well know provider, rather than the unheard of one, it's going to cost around $7,500/year.


Is this new pay scale an improvement in the long run? Yes. I'm glad to see the company recognizing that a $2k/year raise starting in year 5 and a pay scale that only went out to 10 years wasn't going to cut it. While this definitely doesn't solve all of my issues with the pay scale, it does get closer in terms of the long term salary rates. However, the net result today for a huge chunk of the crews at Gama that have been directly supporting WUP for years is a pretty substantial reduction in compensation as a result of the insurance.

Das Auto

I'm glad to finally see a seniority list. Before, if someone went from the King Air to the X while their seniority dictated it wasn't their turn, it certainly rustled a few feathers. That was when the pay was equal across all 3 fleets. Now that there's a $6k difference in salary, the favoritism game can no longer be accepted as policy.
I agree that training and disciplinary records should also be considered, but the guys and girls who have served their time on the King Air should be allowed to transition up the ladder when their number comes up. No more cherry picking.

stang

Last update those of us in the DPJ hiring pool received , was possible classes in the new year. With DPJ and GAMA being integrated into Wheels Up, any idea how they will handle the pool situation across the different ones?

Diesel8

When did you last get an update? We don't know anything either.

There is integration between two of the absorbed companies that is ongoing now. How does this affect new hires? Unknown.

I wonder about upgrades. I went from looking at rapidly upgrading, and now that appears to have completely evaporated with no hope in sight.

stang

October but then on the FAPA Virtual Job fair in November it was mentioned about the integration and again said they are hoping to start classes in Jan for the pool and resume hiring next spring since the pool if currently full. Bummer on the upgrading, it seems anywhere that is going to be limited until movement happens again.

Tankerds

I just upgraded at wheels up (Gama fleet), upgrades have started again they’re just not doing as many as pre-Covid.