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16 year contract a problem?

Old 06-14-2007, 08:34 AM
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Default 16 year contract a problem?

Any American Eagle guys care to comment on this letter?


All American Eagle pilots,




I would like to announce the launch of a new innovative pilot career development program at American Eagle. Developed with ALPA as part of the Plan To Win Project, the goal of this voluntary program is to assist pilots seeking mainline careers with their job search and application preparation. By helping participating Eagle pilots that may have a goal of flying for a mainline carrier, the program will enhance the career opportunities for all pilots while securing the future of Eagle by improving the cost competitiveness of the company. Once again I want to stress that this is a voluntary program.

A key element of the program will be a dedicated Career Development Staff to provide career guidance to eligible Eagle pilots, including a personalized economic analysis showing the lifetime financial impact of transitioning to a mainline carrier. For pilots opting to pursue a job at a mainline, the department will assist pilots with the application process, including: logbook preparation, letters of recommendation, and interview preparation.

All Eagle pilots will be eligible for the program in seniority order. Participation is entirely voluntary. I will be sending personal letters, in seniority order, to Eagle pilots in the near future to further explain the process. Given today's difficult recruitment environment, placement spots will become available as Eagle successfully recruits more pilots than is required to maintain current levels of flying.

Once we have established a pool of candidates, seeking to move to a particular mainline or cargo carrier, Eagle management will meet with that airlines senior management and attempt to form a preferential hiring agreement. For carriers where no partnership is in place, Eagle will still provide pilots with interview and application support.

We are also working with third-party lenders to arrange loans for pilots to bridge any gap in pay between Eagle and the initial pay at a mainline.

We believe this innovative program creates a unique "win-win-win" situation for pilots, mainlines, and the company. For pilots who joined Eagle with the goal of flying for a mainline, the program will provide a leg up in the highly competitive application process. For pilots wishing to stay at Eagle long-term, the program will create more opportunities for advancement as senior pilots take advantage of the program. Mainline partners will benefit by getting preferential access to a highly experienced, well trained pool of Eagle pilots. For Eagle, the program will help the company reduce its average seniority, and will reduce costs which will help to secure Eagle's future while maintaining a pilot group with a broad range of experience.

I appreciate your professionalism, Jim W.
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Old 06-14-2007, 08:38 AM
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Sounds like Eagle wants to cut costs by getting a "younger" pilot group.
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Old 06-14-2007, 09:28 AM
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If this is for real, it would be good for eagle.

However I'm not sure how many major airlines will be falling all over themselves to give preferential hiring to the cream of eagle's seniority list

Or maybe AMR is going to bribe some airlines to help them with their waste management problem...kind of like a dowry?
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Old 06-14-2007, 09:32 AM
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Its a good business strategy. Pay a small, one time sum to offload your top earners. Kinda like early retirement. Bring in an influx of new hires making 25% of what the top earners were making. You'd probably break even with paying for their training and first year pay at CAL.
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Old 06-14-2007, 09:50 AM
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Sounds like a good idea but consider the following:

-AE CAs have been here forever, they are making close to $100k and getting 17-19days off per month. They have wives, children, and a life outside of flying. They are in their mid 40s-mid50s age wise, have a house and have no desire to move or relocate.

-If you were in this position would you want to get hired at SWA, have to move across the country or commute to be on reserve in Oakland (or wherever), take a paycut down to $40k and take out a loan to cover the paycut and moving costs (check that letter, AE will help you get a loan if you want, they wont pay you)?

I dont think many people would want to do this. The majority of AE CAs I have talked to dont have a desire to go anywhere. Many of them already have seniority #s at AA(from the flowthrough) and they still don't want to do that because of the paycut.

ALSO: last time I checked, SWA, FedEx, UPS, CAL, DAL were in no shortage of younger applicants who would be able to offer more to the company in terms of years of service.

In my opinion, this program from AE is not going to accomplish much. They do want to lower the average seniority of our pilots, and the only way I think that can be accomplished is a flowthrough to AA with better than first year payscales when it happens.
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Old 06-14-2007, 09:52 AM
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But, I want to flow through....
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Old 06-14-2007, 10:00 AM
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they want to help the upgrade drop so by getting rid of the old timers who cost alot of $$$$ So we get people out that makes more CAPT slots get all the AA guys back thats more CAPT slots.....We save a little money and if the big wigs stop taking it as a bonus and we buy new planes then that makes more CAPT slots. This last CA Bid was only like 15 because the school house is packed to the gills with new hire and upgrades. Thats why we are Typeing Sr F/O's and letting F/O go threw short turm trainning if they are upgradeing on same aircraft.
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Old 06-14-2007, 11:32 AM
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Default I hope UPS rejects this as proposed.

Bad deal for folks at other carriers. Would think this would be a ALPA national thing to be fair to those ALPA pilots (I'm not ALPA though) and they would push same program for all ALPA pilots at regionals. Seems like a bad commercial for ALPA unity.
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Old 06-14-2007, 12:38 PM
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Its not an ALPA thing its a AMR thing ALPA has nothing to do with it

DOG nice OA flap
Have u seen the arrow?
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Old 06-14-2007, 12:48 PM
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Originally Posted by SaltyDog View Post
Bad deal for folks at other carriers. Would think this would be a ALPA national thing to be fair to those ALPA pilots (I'm not ALPA though) and they would push same program for all ALPA pilots at regionals. Seems like a bad commercial for ALPA unity.
That is very true as well. If ALPA national supports this proposal from the company then what does that say for the future of ALPA carriers? Will other carriers try to get rid of their senior workforce in order to keep labor costs low? Isnt the whole idea to be able to build seniority and enjoy?
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