3green,
I just had the "pleasure" of going through recurrent and had the head of Flt standards, head of training, and many of the ground instructors in the class. These folks were "checking the box" for their yearly and also (for the ground instructors) going through a recurrent in prep for being able to teach it. Anyway... we were clearly told that there are no immediate plans for more classes. The two classes going through OE/finishing sims are all FO's and scattered throughout bases (as far as I know). The latest vacancy that is effective 1/1 is supposed to "realign" the reserves across the board and the 2 classes are in theory going to get our FO staffing right. I don't believe it EXCEPT for ATL. We got the "doom and gloom" speech from "Mr. Memo" (Current PNCL folks will know who this is) about ATL and the -900's. Evidently we can staff them to the point where every crew gets their own plane, with a spare 6 crews on reserve per plane waiting, and we are still late getting in due to reasons "beyond our control". The forward looking class schedule was a "maybe" for a class in the spring, summer, and fall. There were no mentions of upgrades anywhere forward looking. There were 2 conditions that would change all of this... 1.Airframes- if we either keep the "Temp" -900's, get more airframes, or an increase in flying. 2. A pilot contract- the staffing requirements would be higher (min days off, schedule, vac language) and would require a bit more staffing (1 upgrade class and 1 NH class is the idea to cover the additional manpower required). I hope this stirs up the mud for those in the pool, either way there is no clear future hiring plan.

 

Why does every 9E thread turn into "When are you going to hire, how many in the pool...blah blah blah."?? For once and for all, Pinnacle is not hiring and will not be for the forseeable future. Mesaba is hiring....try there.

As far as the CA's keeping their seats, its much cheaper for the company that way. Besides, those guys would have had super seniority for their seats back for any vacancy up until april.

For those "senior" fo's that waited to upgrade so they could hold a line or whatever.reason...I dont feel bad for those guys. They should have upgraded when they had the chance. I do feel for the people that did the mentor program only to have the rug pulled out from underneath them just as they were finishing the program. I dont see any upgrades coming any time soon. So relax, enjoy your 15 days off and keep your fingers crossed that upgrades are coming.

 

I was going to say the same thing. It seems two people on here are very impatient. The Nickel will not hire until spring!

Mr. Memo.. LOL. I love it! We all have to justify our jobs...

 

I think we COULD see some upgrades (only maybe a class) in the spring IF we get additional summer flying (not more airframes, just additional marketing hours that the summer typically brings). The economy, fuel (currently OK), and mother D will determine things. There are many FO's who are here and not going to upgrade til they can hold a line. I waited till I turned 23 and happen to have pretty good seniority, unfortunately I was just a couple months late to the immediate upgrade party. As soon as upgrades start again I will bid for any base I can hold, although I think some of the FO's more senior may step up to the plate and get the type, payraise, and the spot on scheduling speed dial.

 

Seniority means squat on reserve. Bout the only thing its good for is getting weekends off and thats only if you in the top 5 or so. A person with a mid 800 range seniority number, they are still looking at years....yes, years on reserve.
ATL - mid 500's till a h.s line
DTW- high 600's
MEM- mid 600's
MSP- low 600's

 

November 18, 2008



CANCELLATION NOTICE OF VACANCY 08-11



Due to continued marketing changes, we have elected to cancel Vacancy 08-11 which was to be effective 01Jan08.



That sucks for those guys.

 

Pinnacle, Colgan traffic up in October - Memphis Business Journal:

Based on what I read and understood, Pinnacle was going to get more flying in the upcoming months.

 

Unfortunately a press release is not a crystal ball... In the crew rooms over the last few days I have heard rumors and seen sentiment of doom and gloom to pure euphoria with no facts to back up each end of the emotional trough.

Those in the pool- hang tight
Those working here- do your job and go home

 

No winter time = less flying.

 

like someone mentioned on our pilot boards they guys are still going to keep their captain spots. they found out it is cheaper to lessen the displacement than it is to displace, pay the money, and then have them come in the next vacancy.. pretty much what they are trying to do is make it so they never got displaced at all