According to my Southwest buddies, every time contract time rolls around, PBS is the first thing to get crossed off the company's list. If Southwest can live without it, why can't we?

Well for starters Southwest isn't competing with other carriers for contracts.

Here is a little of what the MEC has to say about PBS in an email, there is more info in it:

- Vacation pay increased to 3.5 hours per day
- Open time left over will be a max of 4%
- Minimum day pay increased to 3.86 hours
- Contract extended 1 year but negotiations can still start in May 2010

They say this is a "trailer," and we should wait to see the full picture before coming to a yes/no decision. Every pilot will get the full LOA when available and there will be multiple road shows to ask questions and see demonstrations of the system.

That same ASA Connect e-mail that FlyASA is talking about also implies that the way PBS will get the furloughed pilots back is by WINNING MORE CONTACTS. So basically ALPA is gambling on the fact that PBS will help us EXPAND but if we don't get PBS we can SHRINK. The very least PBS can do right now is get our cost down and help us keep our DL contract when it is up for review next year and that can at least give us stagnate growth. Then we can probably comeback just to attrition. It is a catch 22 guys. As a furloughed ASA pilot and these options, I am starting to really lean toward PBS. Because out of the 3 options Shrinkage is the nail in our coffin. Attrition at ASA is modest and will be there with or without PBS and expansion is not out of the question as well. Attrition with shrinkage is a mew point. But Attrition with stagnate growth or growth is better. Therefor the best of 2 evils is PBS. I THINK. opinions?

agree, can't compare contract flying to own flying.

Reading this I couldn't help but think of the Seinfeld episode where George is in the Hamptons and gets shrinkage from being in the pool.

hahaha nice.

PBS gives us hope and potential to grow. Without PBS there is no hope. We will be stagnate at best until the hiring spree starts again in 3 years.

We have it and we love it. The key is to have a good software package and a strong enough agreement to prevent the airline scheduling department from messing it up.

The second part of a successful transition to PBS is training the pilots to use it. Most of the complaints we have from pilots saying they were getting screwed were by pilots who typed with their thumbs and had never used bidpro or other sorting programs.

Congrats ASA. Good luck with your transition.

Best of luck boys. You will need it. I know our company uses this software, and the pilot group has had to become very way of such a tool, and its' possible punitive uses.


-The Stig