What's up with recent Colgan Lines (iad)
 

I thought August was maybe one of those months where the schedules were really bad and you could let it go one month. The new lines for September are even worse. I have never seen lines this bad in 5 years at Colgan. I thought our schedules (quality of life) was supposed to improve. When you have 41 lines and only 6 have 12 days off, the rest the contractual minimum at 11, it seems like a slap in the face. How are people ever suppose to be with their families with schedules like this. Never posted before and just needed to let some steam off. I have never been a complainer but this issue is really getting to me. Did anyone email the union when they asked for input for the August lines and why we thought they were so bad. I guess Mesaba scheduling didnt care because they are worse. Is PBS going to be better than these horrible new lines that the mesaba scheduling is giving us or what and when are we getting it?

I never thought I'd say it, but I wish a certain, previously loathed someone was still making the schedules. At least there was a chance to enjoy some kind of quality of life. They put R1 back on a few of the lines, I didn't think they could do that with the contract. I'm not sure what is going on but I hope it changes, and fast. I remember when becoming Mesaba was supposed to make this place better. They can keep their shiny white airplane, I want our schedules and quality of life back.

I agree, I'm already feeling ill.

I kinda understood for august. If it was so bad that we had to cancel FO vacations for the month then it better have been so bad that most everybody had min days off.

These are really bad. 1 less day in the month means 1 less day off for everybody. The worst part is that the credit still isnt very good for that little time off. IAD is really inefficient especially in the afternoon but theres still tons of pairings with 1, 2, or 3 leg days and lots of deadheads. Seems to me they need to rebuild the pairings rather than just sticking a day trip or 2 day on the end of a regular 4 day.

Yes but what are you crediting?

Refer to the fastread from last month, everything is the same. And I think that the Reserve days are just carry in days not labeled correctly. Besides, 11 days off? My friends only get 8 with their business jobs! We are overpaid and underworked!!!:eek:

Yeah, and those day workers work 40 hours per week. I do that in about three days.

But... But... Roger Cohen said....

Drinking too much coolaide over at colgan? Those schedules suck! I have 16 days off hard line with 87 hours garunteed- All commutable.

I debated whether or not to reply to you on the assumption that you are inept at basic sarcasm.

I've got a weird feeling there will be random wave of sickness in September at 9L. If only it wasn't induced by the company.

+1

Exactly!

+2 ..........i seem a little *cough cough* sick

The company is abiding by the contract. What's the question again?

12 Days off is better than every reservist at the company. I am not going to disagree that it is a horrible deal but we voted for the contract. We should of, at a bare minimum, set the min days off at 12 days for everybody and set min credit at 4.25 hours per day (thereby increasing efficiency and days off). They know we commute and they know that 11 days off commuting is really like 6 or 7 days off but do they care? With PBS the bottom 50% will see a drastic decrease in QOL, there will be a lot more 11 day off lines, especially for the bottom line holders. PBS is all about the senior bidding max days off and picking up open time for time and a half. The only thing that might make things better is when the Union gets involved with building pairings. However that will again probably only improve the lines for the top half of every seat and category.

I usually don't rant on here...but...I must ask sitting Saab right seat in a junior domicile, how long have you been at Colgan?

You can have your quality of life back, give us that (on average 37% pay raise you got), not to mention the better work rules, and the massive gain you got in SLI...unless you were hired after Jul 1, 2011...go back to the way it was at 9L, tell me how it will work out for you...

You are in for a treat...when PBS comes, your quality of life will go furthur down the drain (if your not sitting top 15% in your seat in domicile), guys will prob end up pushing you down the list, and you'll be sitting reserve longer if you havent already. But you'll still have that pay and work rules, and everything else you got out of this merger, which could have been alot worse. There are guys at Pinnacle and Mesaba that have been sitting reserve for 4 years + (me being one of them), some previously sat reserve for 7+, so you wont get any sympathy out of me or them....any complaint from a QOL standpoint, well your in for a treat, my friend.

While I understand your not happy with your predicament, no one is on the bottom of the list, and i'de say alot more guys have it worse than you...That change your talking about is coming...it's called displacements and PBS...those arent very popular things these days, so hope for the best/plan for the worst...you still have a job dont you? Becoming Mesaba/Pinnacle was the best thing that could have happened to you (increase in staffing, better safety, better pay, better work rules, more aircraft), while you may be too complacent to realize how much better things are, you will in time.

Ah yes. Another inept individual who doesn't have a clue. The Colgan name is going away for a reason. Mesaba's management is at Colgan...for a reason. 'Nough said. Tell me how it is in a year.

I think that individual means only in reference to schedules. Everything else is run better without a doubt.

You're right, I should shut up and be happy with any decline in the quality of our schedules because I haven't been with this company as long as you have, and I didn't spend as long on reserve as you. I mean really, who wants to continue to to be home every night, with half the month off?

Please don't act like you know me, or the situation I am in, or assume that I do not realize the gains we have enjoyed as group. We benefited in ways we couldn't have hoped to without the merger and I'm tired of the holier than thou attitude some pilots on this board have. Yes, generally speaking we're better off, even someone as "inept" as I am recognizes that. As much as pay, a contract or the SLI impact my life, my schedule probably impacts my quality of life more than any other aspect of this whole merger and integration. Therefore when it is impacted like this, I reserve the right to be unhappy and do what pilots do best - complain. That being said, I lost a ton of seniority, relatively speaking and my pay raise wasn't even in the same zip code as the figure you gave. And I'm grateful for what I got out of it, because every little bit helps. That being said, I've elected to remain in my current seat and base because I live 15min from the employee lot, bid in the top 10, and enjoyed a quality of life that was as good as my current situation will allow.

I have not said a word about the fallout from the JCBA, or the SLI because I know that in general, we're all better off for it. I have seen a lot of whining and complaining and mud-slinging from people at all 3 companies over things they cannot change. Within an hour of one another, two different people come on here, make assumptions and proceed to assume they know something about me, talk down to, and insult me based on a post I made in a thread about schedules that do not affect either of them, at least based on the kind of aircraft they have posted in their profiles. Really guys?


And yes, I realize the irony of my making an assumption when I, only a few lines before, called someone out of assuming something about me.

I've been at Mesaba for 4 years, got put under every Pinnacle pilot hired before July 1st. Don't tell me I don't understand the situation. There are a lot of people that are going to suffer a lot worse than you and I. Schedules suck, yea I know. I commute and I go back to reserve next month and unless I change bases, that's how it's going to be for a long time to come. Your not the only one.

Um, thanks for your input as to what life is like at Colgan. Come back when you know what you're talking about.



Yes, this!

The only guys that have a right to complain are the ones on the nine hundoooooooooo !!! They are the real pilots!

Nobody will win in a ****ing match. Everyone gained and lost something. Besides, I always end up ****ing into the wind.

I hope it gets better for you. For all of us. But that doesn't change the fact that our schedules out of IAD got all balled up recently. If you're unhappy about yours, start a thread about Mesaba schedules and bellyache to your hearts content. I'll listen. I'll contribute if I have something constructive to say but I'm not going to make any assumptions on your seniority, or your cognitive abilities to comprehend the night and day difference between where someone sits this August versus last August.

My whole intent was to point out that this thread is about former Colgan guys at a base formerly known as a Colgan base, and two non-Colgan pilots came in assuming an awful lot about someone they haven't met and know nothing about and that I did not say that you don't understand THE situation, but that you most certainly don't understand MY situation. At least not prior to my other response. Maybe it helped you understand my point of view, maybe not. If you or the other fellow have something constructive or supportive to say, I'm all ears.


On an unrelated note, Saabs, did you just reference a certain YouTube video? I see what you did there...

Oh, and I guess since we're starting to let the thread creep, CJC IAD SEPT schedules are crap! Back to your regularly scheduled thread.

What are other 9L bases schedules like?

IAH and EWR both were affected, although it doesn't appear to be quite as bad as IAD. BOS isn't as good as it was for August, but they're again, probably the best of the bases at least in terms of lines.

So then tell me is life better or worse post merger?

You guys just can't be happy...I've ran into alot of the Colgan guys flying out of DCA or BUF and I can say for the most part 9L has a good group of folk, but I'm genuwinely tired of you select few guys coming on here expecting more after what you've already been given. Truth be told you may not have gotten that 37% raise on average (that was presented in the roadshows) but I'm guessing you got some. Try being a DTW Saab guy, almost 80% of there base is going to be on reserve next month with the Saabs going away, not to mention alot of them are senior than me and making a lot less an hour, remember it could be worse. It's not just you guys any more, it's XJ and 9E too...something you'll have to realize. No one likes change, but it's coming. As far as to the way things are now and are going to be, I can tell you as someone under the Mesaba system for 4 years, you will notice a big change. If your complacent to think that won't happen, best of luck to you.


Then why call out Mesaba? why say ...Obviously that wasn't your whole intent...We know how PBS works (your getting it at 9L), we know displacements are coming, this will undoubtedly change your QOL...so what don't we know?

If your willing to make statements like that, you need to be willing to take some heat for it...I hope you get your change I really do...hopefully it's not for the worse...we are all in the same boat

And I'm genuinely tired of former 9E and XJ guys coming on here and reaching about how lucky we should feel, as if a 9L even being included in a passing thought is some great honor to us or any of the other tired, dead horse topics concerning the past and present 9E/9L/XJ situation. I'm tired of people from all 3 companies whining about how the SLI screwed them, or that their feet hurt or that the sky was the wrong shade of blue. The JCBA and the SLI are done. Lets move on, nothing is going to change. Ironic, given that I now complain about something that can't be changed, at least for the upcoming month.


I called out Mesaba because, from what I've been told, is that someone, or a few people formerly at Mesaba are now in charge of building our schedules, and were so unhappy with what they saw when they got here they decided to change them to what we have now. If I'm wrong, and you know something I don't please say so. I could have been more specific too, that it was management that I was referring to. I have no issue with the pilot group, or any other XJ or 9E employee for that matter.

I know changes are coming. You should see the number of manual revisions we've had in the last few months alone. I don't have an issue with change, in general. I do take issue when it negatively impacts my quality of life like these schedules are.

Either way, you're absolutely right. We're in this together now. I hope we can all move forward with that in mind.

So what have you been told...someone or a few people? which one is it? by whom? get the fatcs straight before you start calling out an entire airline...

I can assure you our crew planners have enough to worry about, FS, our director of crew planning, does even have time to return phone calls right now, especially with the saabs going away and allocating all their time to the upcoming Multi-Class Bid...

We've had change too dude, we got a brand new POM and they gave us 2 weeks to read through it and start everything fresh..."same boat"

If you're gonna blame anyone for the bad schedules at Colgan, blame the management that allowed the severe short staffing on the Saab to occur. The schedules for August and September would have been crap whether they were built by Mesaba or Colgan.

We had days in July when we started the day with one or zero reserves. You can't run an airline like that and the lineholders had to work more so we could staff enough reserves. The other option was build schedules like July but get extended/junior manned into your day off.

100% correct!!

These Colgan guys are so cute!

When are you guys going to put down the koolaid and stop trying to save the world. This whole thing saved a bunch of xj guys from from furlough and it seems like the colgan guys got the shaft, except for the fences. Mesaba won't save the universe this week, no matter how much koolaid you drink. Those lines are crap, there is no excuse. At 9e we have pilots running prefbid, hopefully you guys at colgan will start that soon it seems to work ok.

I think I fix up pretty nicely. I always get compliments on my looks.


Yes, it's Mesaba building our crappy lines (who would have thought Colgan management actually built better ones?) but it won't be forever and the sky isn't falling. Yes it's a huge quality of life hit, but let's just hope it's a temporary one. On a positive note I was actually positive spaced 24 hours prior to my deadhead today. That's a first. Progress!

So this is their way of Junior manning us into what would have been our day off without paying us our due fee. I'm telling you right now, they're gonna wish they didn't do this.

very true here. Mesaba brought the contract, cjc brought the jobs. If you're a senior mesaba guy, i can see why you don't see it this way, but if you were furlough fodder, I think you may actually see some value in deal.

Okay, well, I guess it is better to know I have a six day trip rather than getting the surprise on day four. :confused:

Bingo! Also if it is in your line, you can't ignore a phone call or refuse the draft. Our fearless leaders have won a double-header.

I doubt they will wish they hadn't done it. Calling fatigued takes action on the pilot's part: some won't do it, others remember the "Family Oriented" Colgan and get nervous. As for sick calls, everybody knows you pilots are just a bunch of slackers who convert sick time into "sickations". The company might as well flog you now so you burn your sick time and won't have any to use during the holidays.

You both seriously need to get over yourselves, please. Despite your belief, Mesaba is not the end-all, be-all operation you think. You have issues, and also have areas of your operation that are in need of improvement. We should ALL be continuously striving for improvement.


Look, I believe most people are in agreement that we are all better off as one, rather than 3 separate companies. This thread is about the poor quality of the lines at Colgan for the past two months. They are decidedly worse than they've EVER been; and not coincidentally, it just so happens the past two months, the Mesaba people have been running the line construction.

So, again, please spare us with the Mesaba will save everything about our crappy operation rhetoric. Because, at least for now, that's not happening. Do I expect it to continue? No, of course not. I do believe the Mesaba influence will do great things for our operation, in time. However, we bring many positives to this game as well. This is a collaborative effort and we should be trying to use the best of each of our operations to make the new one the best it can be.

I'd rate this thread a minus star if I could.

+1

Kinda hard to listen to anyone at 9L complain about QOL and gains. Every single pilot at 9L was a few inches short of winning the lottery. You can't have your cake and eat it to and then ask for XJ's and 9E's. If you've been at 9L for 5 years then you have the senority to improve your QOL. You will get no sympathy here. How about the 7-8 year XJ guys who will most likely take a hit after displacements. QOL? Keep your complaints in the crew rooms.

These guys are talking about line construction. That has nothing to do with winning the lottery or anything else. Pure line construction and nothing more. Line construction. Let's all say It one more time. "line construction and nothing else"