Skywest staffing
 

Has anyone heard any rumors or anything of new hires at any point? I don't know if it is like this in other bases, but I got on skedplus at about 9:01 last night and tried to drop at least one of my trips and got denied for all of them. Is SLC or DEN like this also?

Feast or famine.... "welcome to the suck"

We are very understaffed in ORD. I get called on several of my days off being asked for favors, or to notify of something that is outside my reserve period. I believe we are understaffed system wide. Why we don't have anybody in class right now is beyond me. Its only gonna get worse over the summer.

Seems like the only place we're overstaffed is in FAT with EMB CA's.

SLC seems to be about right. I get used a fair amount but I really get ABUSED when flowed through DEN or ORD into the United system. I bet we are a little understaffed right now and come summer it will be a scramble.

Yup on the brasilia as a FO, dont look to drop or swap any trips that are out of the window of the trip you are trying to swap from. I am sure this will be a common thing thru the rest of the year..

The old timers have also mentioned to me that the company traditionally runs it lean. I guess this is what they mean. It’s hard to get time off but not too much in the ways of swapping or picking trips up out of FAT town. … my take anyways.

I dont know how you are swaping in FAT, only 1 day had over 3 reserves. Unless they were on the same days as the trip you wanted to exchange, there is no way to get around min reserve staffing.... But at the same time I dont really want to swap for one of those awesome 15 hr 4 days that are available as open time in fat.

Those 28/29 leg 4 days crediting 24 hrs sure looks painful out of PSP and LAX.

Normal staffing is getting 90+hr lines every month and never being able to drop a r/t. Seriously, if the company isn't running out of reserves nearly everyday they feel overstaffed.

Some positions are overstaffed, some under. I only been awarded over 80 hours in the bid a couple times in the last year and a half, and have absolutely no problem getting time off in SLC.

ORD is
 

I was awarded a 97hr line in March and will have a 95hr line during April in ORD. We are low on reserves every day.................

I'm enjoying reserve right now. FAT CRJ FO. Worked 7 days last month. 4 days so far this month. We're short enough that they they won't have any coverage if they TDY me, but my number hasn't come up recently. Works for me. I like getting paid while I'm on the golf course.:D

Were getting nothing but 18-19 hour 4 days in the NW. I was only able to break an 80 hour award because of recurrent... We have lots of reserves.

PDX must be the only place with min staffing of bro fo reserves. SLC only has 4 res lines and Fat only has 3 and fat has something like 68 lines. I was TDY to sfo and fat twice in March leaving SLC below min staffing but that's just the love screw support has for me. I count 18 Bro fos on a VLA so even if they all came back right now I still think we'd be a little short. And I have heard from someone in crew planning that there have been a few who opted not to come back and that had they known then what tthey know now they prolly woulda kept the newhire class going. On the upside Uncle Jerry's new house sure seems to be coming along nicely.

Im a SLC RJ Captain, and bid reserve the last 3 months.. Last week i had one day they didnt call me!! thats the first day in 3 months I didnt work on a reserve day!! (But I do put call first.) (I would rather do reserve then a 16hr four day trips!!)

Not trying to be a smart [edit; guy] but until schedplus is full of red.....we're not understaffed, (not my opinion). We have 100 plus in the pool. United and ASA guys on the street. FAA approval for an abbreviated RJ class for those with recent RJ experience. The training dept. can be ready in a moments notice. We could have 150 newhires on line in 3 months. Don't expect to hear anything until its happening. This place is tight lipped.

"FAA approval for an abbreviated RJ class for those with recent RJ experience. The training dept."

We nver got approved for that.. It was a posibility 3 years ago, but was shelved when things did'nt pan out. I think Sked+ hurts staffing.. Alot of wasted reserve crews when someone drops a BIL overnight. Just my thought....

If you are able to drop what you want, Sked+ is a major boost to QOL.

Yep, in FAT we are overstaffed with Captains. For the last 2 years I've been able to drop whatever I want whenever I want. Example, I hold the a$$ end of a line (bid mid 50's with 58 guaranteed - 70ish targeted) and for the last 2 years I've been able to adjust my schedule to get evey birthday, anniversary, Thanksgiving and X-Mas off. All without talking to anyone, it’s been really nice! But it looks like that's about to come to an end.........

SkyWest on AirlineApps.com
 

I was updating my app and noticed SkyWest is now a "participating company" on AirlineApps.com. Not sure how long they have been on there, but hadn't noticed it before (when I applied, it was through their own website).

Anyone know when this happened?

The red arrow thing on sked+ went away with with the reserve tab.

By full of red I didn't mean the red arrows. Look on schedplus. A trip that is in open time that is red means "Added incentive from Crew Support" IE time and a half. On another note, I was unaware that the abbr. training deal didn't go thru. During my last PC the sim instructors were talking about it. BTW, I do realize they don't know everthing:)

Oh yea those! I've seen 2 in the last year in ORD. Forgive me for my mental slip since it never happens anymore. HA HA HA!

The abbreviated training program DID go through I repeat it DID go through. If needed it IS available at SkyWest. And yes I do have so first hand knowledge of this fact and have verified it.

Well hopefully they will hire some new people sometime soon. I've been moving up a little here a little there for awhile now, and being unable to drop things now I have a feeling its only going to get worse as the summer comes along and as the new 700s keep coming...

I just hate that their philosophy is that every reserve should work 74:59 every month. They go around saying things like:
"I wish I had 10 days off per month" - Jerry; Or
"I wish I only had to work 4 days a week" - Anita
They are so out of touch that they don't realize that running everybody so tight is taking a toll on family life. It is causing breakups, divorces, you name it. Then again, I guess they don't care either. It must be nice to be able to see your family EVERY DAY after work, and sleep in your own bed EVERY NIGHT...

Is it possible that they are running the company lean now because they see a decrease in flying coming in the fall and don't want to face the furlough problem then?

AMEN brother!!

good points!!

I wish I got paid for all the time I was doing my job, not just the time the door is closed. Anita likely works a 40 hour week, 160 a month and gets paid for 160 a month, I on the other hand work 10-16 hours a day and get paid for 3:45 and 75 hours a month. But I did just get to do a triple Elko overnight 4 day so I got that goin for me, which is nice.

Newty,

You will take your $1.65 an hour for working when the door is open and YOU WILL LIKE IT! Oh and BTW who REALLY needs to see their family more than a few hours a week and sleep in their own house? You don't really have anything that needs to get done at home do you? Your whole like is SKYWEST, right?

When I heard comments like this I was FIRED UP! 10 days off a month for me when comparing my schedule to Jerry or Anita would be like 4 days off. WHAT CRAP!@!!!!!

I was honestly surprised to read that Jerry would say something like that.

Think about this for a minute, Anita. For the month of March, I was away from base (home) for 301 hours, and got paid for 73:58. Sweet deal, right? Us pilots are sooooooo spoiled!!

I would trade for Jerry's job. $1 million+ per year for no days off is worth it, at least for a couple years:D

Anita's job? Heck no, I'll keep this one.

If you feel you're overworked and underpaid, get another job. I personally like flying and would happily move up another number on the seniority list. Furthermore our hourly pay rates have been adjusted because of the way our pay is calculated. Finally, if you don't like being on the road, perhaps professional aviation isn't for you. I can totally sympathize with your frustrations, but honestly guys, our pay structure and lifestyle has been the same for a long time so applying to the airlines and then being frustrated by the reality simply means you didn't do your research.

Not to mention that they don't have to deal with events that could kill them in their everyday job routine...

Our pay might have not changed in the last few years but our BENEFITS SURE HAVE... how is that nice charge for non rev on delta/united, or even on our own aircraft. Oh and the talk of ual going to increase the charge to 100 per person with a 400 cap. What about our Healthcare?

Its kinda hard to keep great moral with "TFAYDs"

You wish you would move up if I quit. There aren't many people that would move up if I quit, I doubt you are one of them :p

Seriously though, its not the work/pay relationship, its the attitude displayed from the above people that has me mad. It is blatant and total disregard for their employees' QOL, which they want people to think they care about.

Oh, and everything BHopper said. It's a shame that we pilots are so willing to deal with so much crap just to do what we "love". The fact that so many other SKW pilots disagree with me on that is frightening. The "shut up junior, you gotta pay your dues" attitude is rampant here. We need to fight to re-gain the QOL that SKW was once know for. That goes for everybody on the seniority list, not just the most senior.

I agree with you 100%...I don't know if guys like Duvie will ever "clue in"!

I agree. Most pilots at Skywest have never had to "pay dues" of the likes that those hired after 2006 are faced with. I have a feeling it's going to be a long ride up the seniority list. (But that horse has been sufficiently beaten, hasn't it?)

The group would do well to fight for improved work rules and pay. I fear that's as unlikely as the "one year upgrade" returning anytime soon.

Fight using what?

Some call is balls, others solidarity. Both things are hard to find in this industry...

When will SkyWest begin hiring.. Predictions?