Just from looking at the email ALPA sent out with he highlights, i will be voting no. we didnt get ANYTHING in return if we give then pbs. I need a SkyWest guy to correct me if i'm wrong, but i believe they get 35 hours of virtual credit for vacation. we get 24.5 with an option for 4 more. With opentime, some of the crappiest contracts in history allowed you to pick up or drop partial trips. this would would cost the company $0 dollars to implement, they just didnt want to give us the satisfaction. and extending the contract by an extra year is a definite no go. there are so many areas that need patched, i dont want drag it out for a another year.

things i would like to see in the PBS TA:

equal or greater value for vacation as skywest, at least some changes to the reserve system(the big one being that they can not move your off days), min day credit of 4.0, an increase in min days off for line holders and reserves, maybe even a little pay raise, opentime pickups credited on top of 75(even if the line you are awarded is only 65 hours).

I could go on forever. dont give up more QOL for a 1% raise in 2010. i dont see how we are getting anything in return for our sacrifice. and dont vote yes because you think its inevitable that pbs is coming. dont vote yes because john pennecamp says we are going to "grow like crazy". those words alone should be a red flag. we were suppose to "grow like crazy" after we signed the ta in 2007, but the facts are that asa has not grown for 10 years, so dont think for a second that voting this in will change anything.

Your guess is as good as mine. Obviously people who commute from that area would jump on it. We also have quite a few who commute from CAE, and I'm hearing that the CAE will be a jump over point between ATL and IAD, kind of like BTR. That's the reason for the CAE maintenance expansion.

I'd also guess the DFW "anywhere but hellanta" crowd would look into it too, but DFW-IAD would be a hard commute.

One option ASA has is to run a virtual base, or even flow people through as we do now in CVG. From what I've heard, ASA has said they will not open a base unless they get a three year commitment since we've been burned so many times with that (SLC, LAX).

Easy answer... September 2007, all over again. They won't double cross this pilot group.

Keep in mind that what you saw is only concepts! The negotiations are ongoing. Wait until the actual language is written, and what it actually means is explained at the roadshows. Would you reflexively push the fire switch just because the master warning alarms? Of course not! Well that's basically what you're doing by saying at this early stage you'll vote no!!!

maybe you should re-read it. it says those are the highlights of the AGREEMENT. to me, that means that those parts are already agreed upon and they are waiting to make it formal for the LOA. they might change some wording so the company can navigate around things easier(red arrow days for example), but its likely the numbers wont change.

what were some of the things you wanted to see come with the pbs proposal?

With all due respect, you're showing a misunderstanding of how the process works, and your statements are incorrect. They AGREED to CONCEPTS. It is all subject to change once the final negotiations take place and the language is written. This is not like the TA for a contract... they are writing an LOA. The devil is in the details. Basically, all they announced is that they're sitting down and having serious negotiations now. Up to this point is has been abstract "what if" discussions.

I Agree, so far I see nothing we are getting in return that even comes close to the loss of qol for taking pbs. Fix the open time? Big deal we could fix that in the next contract. And what open time with pbs, don't forget that is what pbs does it eliminates most open time. Forget about improving your line or building it up to 95 hours unless your very senior. And just like the used car salesman telling you "better act now I have another guy with a deposit on this car" the company telling us we will grow like crazy is a joke. But hey they already have John P. spreading the word! Now a clause with guaranteed flying is something to look at but a rumor, Please. All I see so far is working more days per year/shorter vacations, less pay buy not being able to build up my line, less control over my schedule/overnights.

It defaults to 2.9 hours per day of vacation but we can change this before bidding opens. We can choose to set the value per day from 2.5 - 3.75 hours.

Would I be correct in saying that PBS saves money because we, the pilots, will be making less with optimized 75 hr credit lines and the drastic reduciton in open time? That sucks but we'll end up having to take the hit to save the company money if PBS is to get voted in regardless sometime soon. I guess I just don't see how money is saved without taking it away from us. I don't totally understand the workings of PBS so I really don't have much knowledge to base anything off of about it.