Ughhh....It Starts at AWAC
 

Company is offering COLA (TOWOP) to 30 Pilots for the month of August. I think they were looking for 20 Captains and 10 FO's.

At least they were nice enough to call the bid an "Award" when it comes out in mid July :p

Well at least it's a month only. I'm waiting for 9E to do something like that in the near future. I don't know about AWAC but here in 9E, 90% of the pilots would take a month off with no pay in a heartbeat, including myself. Off course this is not good news, it's acutally the trend of the industry right now. Hopefully AWAC and others will manage to weather the storm without furloughing anybody.
Good luck Wiskies!

"This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it. "

Good luck to you guys/gals that are affected by this. Hopefully, it will only be August...

Again, good luck!

What bothers/scares me is that these companies (including mine) offered or are offering COLAs during the summer months, which are the busiest flying months of the year. What happens in the fall when the block hours go down??

we had COLA months while hiring last year at comair....a couple times, I wouldn't get too freaked out by it....If you got a part-time job you can do where you can make some extra cash take the month off and go do that.....

Some people will actually want to take a month off and travel. Its only a bad thing if you are forced to take it.

The hunt for red october

I thought thats where that was from..hahaha


"Sound the Collision Alarm!"



Anyway, back on topic.....Our MGR in DCA mentioned the other day that airways is gonna look to cut back a bit of our flying (I believe they can reduce it by 13% max) If the COLA's arent succesfull, they can look to furlough up to around 70 pilots....

My plan???? Dig for Oil in my Backyard....and then sell it at 90$ a barrel :cool:

I really hope we can make it through this without furloughing...


Fingers crossed sitting about 30-40 from the bottom

SOAB! I assume that they would just furlough the 70 newest pilots, and I am sitting in the mid-sixties from the bottom! :mad:

LOA for 30 folks or furlough 70 folks???

I'm from Kentucky but that math don't compute...

I *believe* the reduction in flying starts in Sept but the TOWOP's start in August. My guess is they will ramp it up depending on the takers. I'm on reserve and hardly ever fly, we must be pretty over staffed right now.

Indeed...but they are looking for Captains to take COLA as well....my guess would be that the bottom 70 FO's....1 senior Captain is equaly to about what maybe 4-5 FO's??

I dunno....and again it was "Up To" 70.....I think the COLA is just to get the ball rolling.

Im here just over a year....I dont really know how much hiring we did last year...but i dont think it was a whole lot...

Hows Chinese Mesa doin??? :p

:confused:

Kunpeng?! ::shudders:: It's a disaster waiting to happen LoL

Guess I'll put my floaties back on and chill here in the pool some more.

were are you sitting reserve.....I have flown everyday I was on call this month

We hired quite a few people last year. I'm just now coming up on one year with the company and there are just over 100 people below me on the list. It really is unreal just how quickly things changed with the industry. This time last year a pulse would get you in the right seat, now there isn't a day that goes by that I don't worry about having a job tomorrow. :(

That's all right - seems like you're a glass-half-full kind of guy LoL

Too bad my man Fred Thompson didn't go too far in the Presidential race.

I think it will depend on the actual block hour numbers when the company finally discloses the information from Airways. So far it has been rumor mill and the management has done a poor job explaining why TWOP is needed. Has our August flying been reduced or are we over staffed?

A fall reduction and possible furloughs would depend on what the company and the union can come up with in terms of cost netural solutions to minimize the bad news.

There is no way Airways will give the 50 seat flying back even if oil comes down. Some communication from ATW would be nice! My guess is that we will not know for a few more weeks until the company and union meet.

Yup, I am sure he would have been able to bring sanity to the oil commodities market. And get badly run airlines to run better. :rolleyes:

Airlines hire based on attrition or expected attrition. Obviously, due to the fact that nobody is hiring AWAC's attrition has sharply dropped. So we are fat on staff at the moment. As attrition continues at several per month this situation will change.

Even last month five captains senior to myself left AWAC. And my seniority is not bad.

I think a very senior ORF captain is retiring in July and some others may follow later in the year.

"....Russians don't take a dump, son, without a plan......."

Probably just as good as any of the other "candidates".

Not that great from what I gather...

What's that got to do with it? Another elephant in the WH that would favor un-ethical CEO's over labor? Sounds like you might want to rethink that statement, IMHO.

Offering voluntary LOA's in February or Oct might be normal...but in June??? Hope for the best, but you should also have a Plan B dusted off just in case.

Yeah, that's what I heard through the rumor mill that our flying would be reduced in the fall. I kind of expected that the TOWOP might occur in the fall but not in August. hhhmmm...


Working on coming up with a plan B though, just in case.

The Hunt for Red October?

Whew! Thanks for rescuing me. I have no idea what the issues are and how I want to vote. I was a sheep just following the masses mindlessly until you came along and showed me the path to salvation.

Give me a break. There are hundreds of other issues to consider other than un-ethical CEO's.

I have a question, at other companies do TOWOP's go more senior or junior? Also, do you usually get to keep your medical/travel benefits?

It is my understanding that all benefits are kept through the TOWOP. Because there is no paycheck, the company sends a bill for your insurance and pass privileges. The CASS system checks your payroll status and it is my understanding you remain on full time pay status with 0 hours credit for the month. Thus, allowing you to jump seat as well.

Voluntary TOWOP goes by seniority at AWAC. If pilot nr. 1 requests it he will get it before pilot nr. 2.

Involuntary TOWOP (aka - furlough) is the exact opposite. I would assume that most companies would work that way.

So does anyone know if at AWAC if you take the TOWOP, you'd have to pay for the health insurance? I read the contract but it doesn't state anything.

You have to pay what you'd normally have payroll deducted.

If you are on the AirWillyForum there is a good thread going with info...