Comair signing bonus......
 

Heard through higher ups in the training department. Possible SEVENTEEN THOUSAND dollar signing bonus in the works with a 6 month contract to attract newbies. I wonder how this is going to work into the cost savings plan, are we gonna get PPAS Generation 2?

$17,000...you've GOT to be kidding me. I know that they've been having trouble getting people to show up for class dates, but still. I wish I could have got that signon bonus.

I think I would have a better chance of crapping a gold turd, either way the pay would be the same????

can i quit and interview again, id give up my senority # for 170000.....hahahha

$17,000.00??? Your kidding right? Talk about a pilot shortage. I am surprised they haven't lowered mins even lower to a Comm. Multi yet, or at least 300tt.

Its' gonna be a field day for hiring next year, or has it already started??

I think they could lower their mins as mentioned above, and it would get more "applicants", and could save management the $17,000. Their website still says 600/100 which under "today's standards" is high.....I mean just over the past 2-3 months American Eagle went from 1000/100 to 800/100 to 500/100 to 400/50............that quick.........it's also "holiday season" approaching us, so I would imagine that a lot of recent grads are waiting to apply so they can stay home with mom & dad one more Christmas, since they know they won't ever see if off any time in the near future, once they start as a newbie F/O.

Now is the perfect time to apply. During training you get all holidays off. They would also be in a good position to bid holidays off while on reserve too.

As far as i've been told it isn't 100% official yet, but this is the training departments "brain child" to get pilots in the door. Since CA just had 2 classes with 23 people combined not show up. 1 showed up in the first class, two weeks later, only 4 showed up. So they combined the two for a whopping new hire class of....FIVE!

ho boy....

haha how would you like to be the only guy to show up. that must have been completely akward...but a great story for the next interview!

17G's will make people come no doubt but thats not even necessary. as was mentioned before, dropping the mins works just as good

you sure it is not $1,700 that sounds a little more likely. but $17,000 would equal second year pay which is what they tried before. it is b.s. if this happens I would expect the union to fight it. look at pinchanickle they are being sued by alpa over a $500 sign on bonus

Our MEC would never approve 17,000. From what Ive been told they stopped the last time the company wanted to give a bonus to new-hires... the feeling was if they get a bonus, everyone gets a bonus.

I want bonus!

After taking a pay cut in the new contract, I think you would have a major problem with most pilots if Comair offered a sign on bonus of 17K to new hires.

Things would slow to a screeching halt.

I'm going to have to call Baloney on this one. Nobody would offer that kind of a signing bonus, especially for a 6 month contract. Training alone takes 3 months, so that would do them no good at all.

Also, the thinking of "if they get a bonus, then we all should" is bogus. It's a signing incentive. You don't give hiring incentives to those who have already hired. That's like going out, buying a car, then 3 years later when the newer models cost less, demanding a refund because the price went down. :confused:

If they can't hire pilots with the current tools, then they must change hiring strategies. There's a lot of people hiring right now. You must sell your product, i.e. incentives to come here.

Cessna... I'm not so sure that it's a 'bonus' everyone who is already hired wants... with the pay cuts and loss of QOL... I think we all deserve something, especially if people new on property get something without having to go through the strike/paycut/BS/whatever that most everyone else on line has.

And our profit sharing? Please. Even before taxes its a joke.

If this hiring bonus goes thru (and that's a big if)..I wonder how these new hires would be perceived by our pilot group. Especially by the new pilots here already who missed out on this bonus. I think it would be a difficult first couple of years for these guys at Comair.

Ha, well..thankfully the signing bonus isn't 17,000

but it is 3500. with a 6 month.

Heard it from a chief pilot.

So it's a total of 6500 for new hires? 3k in per diem and 3500 bonus? I tend to think that's still enough to make some of the senior Captains crazy

Regardless of if Comair is going to offer a new hire bonus, if you can not keep your pilots that are working at the present you can offer all the money in the world and you will still be short staffed. What I want to know is what will Comair do to retain present pilots? Seems that attrition is higher than normal and that not just Captains are leaving. I know of several FO's that have left for bigger opportunities. If other carriers start to feel the pinch they might start sucking up and hiring lower time pilots with 121 experience and not necessarily pic time!

If Comair continues with its anti-morale tactics on its present staff, we are circling the drain as I speak!

[quote=andy171773;264240]Ha, well..thankfully the signing bonus isn't 17,000

but it is 3500. with a 6 month.

Heard it from a chief pilot.[/quote

Mins gonna fall too? below 600/100 ?

Things really are coming full circle (If this rumor comes to fruition in any way). You used to have to pay for your job at Comair and now they will pay you! Some of the old PFT guys must be stoked

Maybe they should fix the Trip productivity, to help offset the need for pilots. Hire more pilots to sit in hotels and airports to operate 18 hr 4 day trips, 10 hr 3 day etc.. Then give them a hiring bonus to make them feel all warm and fuzzy. Talk about pi$$ing money out the window. This company will never get fixed.

You guys are all full of ****!

Why does the union and everyone else get their panties in a wad over a signing bonus? Companies all over the country do it all the time. It's nothing new.

you can count me as another high time (~5 year) fo that's leaving at the end of the month. You can only abuse somebody for so long before they leave. Out of my new hire class of 11, there are only 3 left after i leave next week.

ya I would fight it if I were at Comair, if the new hires get 17,000, everyone gets it.

I hope we fight it, it is crap. If they want to give them a bonus, they have to give all of us a bonus. Since I don't see that happening, TOO BAD!

Also, if they want to raise new hire pay, they have to increase everyones pay.

It's the principal of it. Instead of making this company a better place to work and attracting people that way, they are bribing people to come and work for conditions that are not favorable.

They refuse to fix the real problem.

Damn skippy. You gotta get in.....where you fit in. Timing is everything, just like seniority.

Let the playa hatin' begin.:p



atp

I'd like to know who started this rumor? Their is no way i believe it. But unfortunatley i still don't meet their mins.:( Oh well PSA luvs me.:D

Hope so, I want (need) a bonus as well... Can I quit and get re-hired? :D

How new are you?

It's because we,the pilots, want more money. When the union negotiates higher wages, the company cries foul because "they can't afford it".

But they can afford to give new hires $17K signing bonus? AND Why should new hires get a bonus? We're the one's who sacrifice day in and day out, are away from our families and we don't see a penny.

THEY HAVE A VERY LEGITIMATE ARGUMENT.

For the record- I hope this pilot shortage gets worse. It will force companies to do what they can to attract pilots. Then when they pay them better, the pilots will be happy and management will say to themselves "Wow, pilots are actually good people when we treat them good. And they're willing to help us out!"

Management teams know this. But as my father said to me when I was growing up. "There is always someone willing to do your job cheaper".

17 gs! thats not too far fetched, a lot of hospitals offer huge bonuses to nurses! they even pay for school, if you sign a long enough contract! These bonuses are sure signs that the industry is changing and the ball is now in the pilots court!

I still feel that a crazy sign on bonus is treating a symptom instead of the problem. You cant fight cancer with asprin and you cant fix a chain saw wound with a band-aid. Eventually the airlines will kind of start to realize this and will maybe try to make this career more appealing!

3500 was confirmed by a chief pilot..but it's not even a hit on the company..cause if you take the singing bonus..you don't get the per diem which classes are already getting..which works out to about 3500 anyways.

Sly devils.

I guess HR blatantly asked a class that came in recently "what do we need to do to get more of you guys in here?" and I guess signing bonus was a popular answer.

I definatly didnt not get 3500 in per diam during training. It was probably around 2000......maybe.... i was there 62 days total, per diam started about 10 days after being there when we were assigned jfk equals $1900 dollars.........

Thread Drift
 

Every captain I have flown with (when I get to fly) is either leaving or planning on leaving. So what could the company do to improve moral so that people want to stay. No flames please....And don't say more $$. I don't think more $$ alone would fix the problem.

Or am I way off base and people aren't supposed to stay long term here in the first place?

First...I'd rather have the per diem.... its not taxable.

Chow....some would say just that, that people shouldnt stay long term..... but the reality is that a percentage will for reasons that are theirs and theirs alone.

The way I see it... Comair was once a place that was called a "career company" where it felt like a family and people were willing to give up the chance at heavy iron and the "majors paycheck" to stay close to home with a company that gave a damn about them and took care of them.

Right about the time "Daddy D" took over, they stopped giving a damn and it stopped being a career company. I think in order to keep people, a few things need to change.

For one, a few people in management need to go. We all know who they are, so no point in naming names.

Second, trips need to be more productive. December is a nice start, but it's a holiday month with lots of flying. It needs to stay that way. Lots of flying leads to growth. Growth leads to upgrades. Why stay at a company slinging gear for 5-6 years just to upgrade and then spend possibly 2-4 years on reserve as the junior captain when you can go to other companies and upgrade in 2?

Third, we need more flying and more growth. How many times have we flown a route, and all of a sudden its no longer ours? How often do you hear "[Place name of airline here] stole our flying!" The BOS base will likely never happen now that we do much less BOS flying than we once did. Yes, I understand it's not "stealing", but from our viewpoint and gripes with management with no forseable growth, it certainly feels that way.

Fourth, the pay for pilots and other employees needs to go up while management's pay needs to go down. Maybe not to post-strike pay, but certainly higher than what it is now. I agree with HercDriver abut per diem. 1.55 will hardly buy you dinner on the road.

That's just my piece, but what do I know.

Driver;

Sometimes your comments make my day. ;)

Now don't hate the players.....