Ray Blaszak

For the record I am not an airline pilot nor do I claim to be one. I have a few questions regarding PSA. First, what does a blended ratio mean? It's my understanding that pilots fly 200's and 700's. So does that mean that one quarter a pilot can only bid on 200's and the next quarter he might be able to bid on 700's? Also, are there any other airlines out there ( ASA comes to mind ) where a pilot might be able to bid interchangeably? Meaning, can I bid one month on the 200 and next month on a 900? Or am I pretty much stuck with my assigned equipment? Also, what would you rate PSA on a scale from 1 (low) to 10 (high) on training?

Ray

heading180

I believe Mesa does this. I know when they do their sims their pilots get qualified on both 200 and 900. Now whether pilots fly the 200 one day and then the 900 the next I don't know.

BankAngle09

The blended rate means that we get paid the same for flying both airplanes. We dont make more on a 700 trip than the 200, unfortunately we make less on the 700 but more for the 200... pay still sucks though but is not the worst for this.. We do fly both month to month, some relief lines are built with both from week to week and on reserve i have flown each in the same day, just depends whats at the gate! ASA seperates the two types to my knowledge but pays more for the larger plane...

The training was pretty good, i dont know anything different but there isnt anything i have found that i didnt know talking to friends scattered throughout... the sim was excellent training! to answer your question though overall i would give it an 8-9 on your scale. any other questions feel free to PM me

Atwoo155

Bank angle is right. The Blended rate is the pay rate that our contract gives us. Its bases on the ratio between 200's and 700's. The more 700's the higher the pay, the more 200's the lower the pay. Its that simple.

rickair7777

The downside to this is that senior guys who want more money can't get it by selectively bidding larger equipment.

The upside is that you can bid your desired schedule without worrying about getting paid less if you happen to get the smaller equipment...I have different rates and it's a pain to bid for the schedule you want on the equipment you want, and then try to prioritize if you can't get both.

Junior pilots get paid more than they would otherwise.

It's also easier to calculate payroll (and verify it yourself), and you don't get stuck with the lower rate for training, sick, vacation...

resetjet

Correct, one payscale for the 200 and one for the 700/900. You have to bid for your equipment as well as your monthly line bid.

BankAngle09

Thank you for the info! congrats on the 900's by the way

seafeye

Is that a joke?...Sorry thought he was talking about PSA...my mistake.

Ray Blaszak

Okay, understand the blended ratio now. So at ASA you fly the 700/900 interchangeably at a higher rate but, 200 pilots are stuck flying 200's? So what is a bid?

seafeye

Oh boy....Here is airline 101

Airline has a month worth of flying to get done.
Say there are 75 pilots.
The crew planning dept. makes a monthly schedule of say 50 lines. These lines are made up of 1,2,3 or 4 trips. Some with as little as 1 leg/day to as many as 8.
A pilot with the highest seniority gets to choose which line he/she wants. Maybe he doesn't want to spend a night in CAK (Don't know why) so he picks a line that doesn't have that overnight. Or say he wants weekends off or whatever. Point is he chooses what schedule he wants. Then it goes to the next guy/gal. Then the number 50 guy gets whatever is left over. The last 25 suckers get stuck on reserve and live in the crewroom. They get only 10 days off a month and fly the crappy trips that people call in sick for. Or the 7-8 leg days.
The line holders get paid what they fly. The reserve people get hosed. They get paid 72hrs. Rarely would they go over.
All pilots at PSA are paid the blended rate.
Captains at PSA get paid much better than F/O's.
That's all i feel like typing right now.