Slaphappys problem is that he isn't in the REAL WORLD. he is still living in a fantasy world that will all come down on him one day. My friend at skywest gets called everyday to be junior manned even when he has a 30/7 issue!!! Make a mistake on that, and the slc fsdo will be knocking on your door and all the company will do will shrug its shoulders and say "you shouldn't have accepted it if it was illegal".and when they do he will wish there was a union there to protect him. not just sapa to show him the door.I bet slappy loved his .24cent raise. slap my man, you are keeping the bar low.....

That is not true, there isn't rampant junior manning. Also the company does fight for you if you get in trouble with the feds. Even those clowns who ran off the runway are back online. I'm happy with the way things are and i'm sure 51% of the pilot group is too and thats what counts.

As someone who is starting to put in resume's I have on question that no one seems to want to answer: If SkyWest is so bad why are so many 121 pilot's quitting their current job's to go there? It just seems to me that if having the union is so great and wonderful and makes their job's sooooo much better why quit your job at a unionized 121 carrier to go to that awful non-unionized SkyWest? Seems ironic to me but I seriously want to know.

FYI The current SkyWest class that started on Monday (Jan22) is 3/4 121 people from Mesa, Eagle, and Horizon to name a few. Our interview group today was the first group in a long time with no one 121 people in it.

You need to read your posts more carefully. Skywest is not a bad place to work. I have never said it was, and don't think anyone on these forums who works here has said so either. And yes, many 121 pilots are coming over here. However, there are major issues going on that need addressing. As mentioned before, with the advent of PBS, many of us are forced to work insane schedules, those that would never have been seen before with hard line, traditional bidding. I personally saw one such schedule which had 14 duty days scheduled in a 16 day period. That's only 2 days off in a 16 day period, all for only straight pay. This is how the company can afford to understaff and get away with it, PBS is allowed to force any flying on you it wants while it creates your schedule. It became very clear that this system is only a benefit to management, and maybe for some very senior crewmembers.

Some other things: Management's recent "reinterpretation" of their cancellation pay policy, which amounts to less compensation if any of your day gets cancelled. Management's "pen-stroke" policy change to the alcohol and duty time policy (yes, this was finally rescinded, but it was a blatant violation of the agreement between management and SAPA), and I could go on.

Once again, Skywest is not an awful place to work. I like it here, otherwise I would not have been here for the past 3 years. However, I think having some sort of legally binding representation (not necessarily ALPA) would benefit the pilot group as a whole. It would give us an enforceable contract, and prevent management from imposing whatever they wish upon us, whenever they want.

I have a pretty good hunch that the main reason for most of the Eagle, Horizon, etc. pilots jumping ship to here is due to the exponential growth we are experiencing, and the opportunity for a quick upgrade. Jet upgrades are currently at less than two years (1.5 years I think to be exact, if you have the time).

True, by this summer they are predicting upgrades to be lower than 1.5 if you have crew time and the 2500 hrs. The Horizon guy was for QOL reasons. The Mesa guys ..... well we can figure why their there. They all hated Mesa!

Time for the BS flag...

You obviously know nothing about SKW whatsoever, so why are you making a fool of yourself? I know all about both SKW and alpa (from painful personnel experience).

My difficult decision to not support the alpa drive was reached after hearing several alpa pushers (such as yourself) telling outright lies to new-hires during their recruitment drives. The idea is noble, but the implementation is crappola (esp at the regional level). Fix mesa first, then come talk to ME :eek:

SKW does a very good job of taking care of their own, lots of people do lots of stupid sh*T here (including bending airplanes) and get to keep their jobs. Unless you lie or show up drunk, they will work with you. I know, I know...at an alpa carrier drunks, coke users, and liers get to keep their jobs too. Well, you know what? If you're a liar, I'd rather see you fired than not. If you have a substance abuse problem, get help NOW before you get caught (or kill someone).

Because some people make bad life decisions such as going with the first airline to offer them a job. Then once the honey moon is over and they see flying a shiny jet full of people for what it is (a JOB), they realize there are better places to be in order to reach your goals. Example: If you want to upgrade quick, get your PIC and get hired at SWA or FedEx then going with Horizon or Eagle is a bad career move. If you want to have a home with walls made of something sturdier than cardboard and eat more than rat turds, going with Mesa is a bad career move. See where I'm going?

Some people will tell you "Get on with ANY airline as soon as you can no matter what! Get on that seniority list, it means everything!" Thats a load of BS. It doesn't matter how quick you get on a seniority list if you just jump ship in a year because you hate life. Now you're six months and 100 numbers below your buddy who waited for the right opportunity to come around. I've seen it over and over here at XJT. Ask Saab, he is uber junior to me but he was flying 121 way before I was. Get my point?

Thanks for your reply's, from everyone I talk to who actually works there they still feel it is a great place to work. It is those who do not work there that have the most negative to say about SkyWest. I was just wondering if there was more to the story than what I see on the surface.

Makes perfect sense.

Couldn't of said it better myself! We see it time and time again, all you would have to do is pole a Mesa new hire class and see where they are in a year. I'll tell you where they are, sitting behind us at SKW or XJT!

One of my instructors went to Mesa just after I got my CFI and now he’s 200+ numbers behind me at SKW, he had a year head start on me! SAD!

[QUOTE=Ellen;106909]Some of my friends at SKYW said that they have organized a 1-2 day (Call-in-Sick Stoppage of Work) to coincide with SKYW's earnings conference on February 7th.



I highly doubt it.

hahahahah,, I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT SKYWEST??? wow man you must really know me. suffice it to say you may work there, and i still probably know as many people as you there. i could walk into the main offices by the tower at the slc airport and talk with alot of my friends. I CHOSE not to go to skywest for several reasons. 1st, wanted to get back to the south seeing thats where i am from and was tired of utah. 2nd, although there was a lot of growth, there were also a lot of complaints from my buddies. i wont go into the list since you obviously know the answers to everything!! JM is rappant just so you know. I just talked to a friend of mine and he has gotten 2 calls this week. luckily right now you can flat out refuse a jm assignement, but that will change, the company will make it so you cant refuse, or you get a certain amount of refusels. and then what buddy? You just have to do it!!! no binding contract to help you out. with all this growth they are just going to make up rules as they go along and you are going to be the one to pay for it. pay attention man. you must not have been in the business to long.

by the way, wasn't a skywest pilot that was on the news recently for being drunk?

Its not that a union makes your job better. What it does is gives you a contract with the company. And since its a contract they cant break it without an loa, and people have to agree to an loa anyway. where as at skywest i remember a few years ago when they changed the 8 hours bottle to throttle rule to 12 hours bottle to throttle. They did it without asking anyone. they just made it a rule. personally i think 8 hours isn't enough anyway, but that just goes to show you that if they can change that they will change anything,, all they have to do is get their buddys at sapa onboard, and we all know how easy that is. also ask the guys at colgan how much they want a union now that they were bought by a union carrier. all skywest is doing is whipsawing the asa (alpa) pilots to death! closing bases, taking planes, its one of the biggest whipsaws ever!

The children pilots who post here are really starting to **** off older pilots. Your job is to fly, not negotiate for better pay, a better life...its to fly. Its what you like to tell the ladies at your local pick-up bar.(that's pobably depressingly true) I fly for a small corporate company and it's always about the customer. I think when you're 20 anything in this generation you're filled with entitlement. Most of you cranks didn't serve a day in our military, didn't compete at an elite level of athletics, didn't work a really, really hard day in your life and you want some friggin union to come into your life and protect your ignorant hiney when you screw up while on the job.

These boards are filled with young cocky arrogant children and in your twenties you are a friggin child. You have no life experience so stop trying to play grown up. Just work, be humble, call your parents and tell em you love em and thanks for giving you the opportunity to fly for a living...'cause they probably had some big hand in making that a reality. Just keep your mouth shut and one day, it'll be your turn to be CA. Stop worrying about all this crap because there's so much more to life than a shiny jet and epaulets. I think lots of folks here have forgotten that. Dig deep 'cause that's where you'll find the perserverance to suck it up and deal.

Skywest sounds like a damn fine opportunity as does Horizon and ExpressJet. You guys are lucky. It sucks to see this bitching back and forth.

Sorry for saying all this but damn these posts are just too much.

Ok, I don't want to appear rude or anything, but this is EXACTLY the mentality that has reduced regionals to their current status. If we don't strive for QOL, managements across the board would actually have the pilots paying the company to fly! I'm sorry my friend, but you couldn't be more wrong about this point.

oh SNAP,, this guy is crazy. He is the capt that tells the fo to sit on his hands, shut up, and look out the window, while he flies the plane straight into the ground. yeah. this is the guy i want to be in charge of an airplane. i thought that additude was almost gone from the industry, what with the several accidents that have been attributed to such a thing.

Actually, I doubt he's a captain at all... He just posted elsewhere he needed a multi partner so he could get enough time for the regionals... Which is why I'm confused about him lecturing us about being such a "lazy" generation?:confused:

wow,, so he really is just crazy then, not a power trip, or an entitlement issue, he is just really crazy. ok, i can live with that.

no i just think you guys are like children...it makes me laugh


newbie...heh

These guys are in their twenties. its funny. And yes I did ask for multi partners in my area because its great to fly with confident folks. Wanted more than a 100 hours. Suck it up boys, you aren't old enough yet. Pay your dues. This ain't band camp.

This is a sign of the youth of America........when they call us guys a decade older than them.....crazy. I feel real remorse for the US as a country. Its destined for something really bad if our entitled mass of non acheivers make our decisions. ........My that AXE body spray smells hip......I really forgive you boys for saying what you say to me. Its your life, I know. But damn, accept some humbling advice once in a while.

Once again you are a lying sack...nothing you have said about SKW is true!

I've been in the business a while.

I have never been JMed at SKW (unlike my previous alpa job)...they call and ask and I politely decline, maybe once or twice a month.

As soon as SKW management makes life here annoying, I'll consider a union...preferably in house.

SKW alcohol policy is 8 (EIGHT) (10-2) (All the fingers on one hand plus three fingers on your other hand) hours, not 12 hours. I for one like it that way...I'm too old to get frat-house drunk anymoe, but I like a beer with dinner, even on short overnights. Drink Responsibly!

ALPA is useless at the regional level. Once again, fix mesa and all the other f-ed up alpa regionals and THEN come talk to me :rolleyes:

As a regional pilot do you, R777, feel putting the 2% into your 401K or even a lifestrategy fund thru Vanguard / T.Rowe Price/ Janus is better than giving it to ALPA in membership dues?

V/r,
LAFF

so you are in your thirties, and you have it all figured out??? man you are going to be bored for the rest of your life.

nope. everything i have said is true. wether it has happened to you or not doesn't mean it isn't true. just like people around here say the get juniormanned all the time, yet after almost being here 2 years, i have NEVER BEEN CALLED. so like i said, dont call me a liar, because i am telling the truth. not everyone at skywest is wearing the company issued rose colored glasses my friend.

and you better check your drinking policy, it is 12 hours. i just checked.

The policy is 8 hours. It was changed by management to 12 hours all of the sudden by management (violation of agreement with SAPA), but was eventually rescinded back to 8. The current policy is 8 hours AND no detectable amount of alcohol on a test (but I think there is leeway to .019 BAC).

ok, wasn't sure if it was changed back or not. last i heard they changed it with out asking or telling anyone, i am suprised sapa came back and challenged it.

It's 8. Again, you are a lying sack. I suggest you take your attitude and BS over to flightinfo where you will be appreciated. I can usually participate in civil conversations and learn some things here, but since you don't want to play nice I'm not going to respond to you any more (well maybe on FI). Have a good day.

I think anyone in their right mind would rather keep that 2% and put in their 401k or pay their mortgage or start a business or buy a boat. But where do you think the wages and benefits came from to allow you to do those things? Out of the kindness of management's heart? Ask a SkyWest newhire FO how much fun living in California or Chicago is on $19/hr.

Unions.

No.

Thanks for getting my point...

-LAFF

I'm with Rick7777, fix Mesa, Trans States, and if ALPA can find the time to get the GoJet flying back to Trans States, then I'll vote for it as well.

Isn't ALPA in a conflict of interest by promoting/allowing/not doing anything to prevent Mesa, SKYW, etc., from flying 900s for what they get paid? Also, I thought everyone on here thought that the 900 is for mainline, so why is ALPA not standing up for the majors and fixing scope language in the major airlines' contracts that they represent? Why is ALPA national not telling the Mesa and whoever else is ALPA that flies 900s not to do it because it hurts us all in the long run? Why is that?

Rick7777 hits it dead on, fix the carriers that have less than we do at SkyWest before telling us how we need ALPA.

I also checked our policy manual today. It specifically states that it is an "agreement" between SkyWest, Inc. and the pilots. I look forward to losing my job when they change something in there without the approval of all parties, which is also written in there, and I file a lawsuit against them! (Wishful thinking, I know!) But truly, our Policy Manual is written like a contract and specifically states all parties must agree and that the Policy Manual is an Agreement!

However, apparently the F/A's went to court, filed a class action suit and lost. I believe it was regarding pay. I would personally like the opportunity to hear the reasoning the judge gave for not finding that this "agreement" between SkyWest and its F/A's exists and ruling in favor of SkyWest.

And before all of the pro-ALPA nuts go off, Trans States' contract was also broken by Uncle Hoolas by creating GoJet. ALPA went to court to prove that GoJet was an Alter-Ego airline, which clearly was in violation against page one of TSA's contract regarding Alter-Ego airlines, and take a wild guess who came out of the court room smiling?

Now everyone go off on me and tell me I am ruining the industry instead of answering my questions!

Of course I'd rather put it into a 401k, but as I have said before unions are necessary in this industry. Of course I recognize that SKW's policies are based on union negotiated contracts. Every industry has room for one or two companies that voluntarily meet the standard without a union. I have paid union dues in the past and will likely do so again. My current problem with alpa is not the 2%, it is:

1) The damage they would likely do to SKW. I have seen alpa at work at my previous airline and don't want that in my life now. If SKW descends to the level of other regionals (no it's not there yet) then maybe a union would be necessary (hopefully in-house)

2) The fact that the alpa implementation at the regional level is an abject failure (and a lot of major guys aren't much happier). They appear to have disregarded the regionals and left them to flounder, or possibly even sabotaged them to the benefit of the majors.


On the positive side, the new guy Prater has made all the right noises and appears to recognize the problems on the regional side. Maybe he will make some headway, but we'll have to wait and see.

I would be interested in alpa if they able were to:

1) Fix mesa, and the other jacked-up alpa regionals.
2) Establish a NATIONAL plan and standards as to where this profession is headed, and then enforce it.

v/r,
R

really civilized. :) i don't bother jumpin around on message boards. i just stick to one, sorry it happens to be the one where you try and play nice. any who, like i said, they implemented it without asking, most people threw a fit, and then they eventually chaged it back. so relax man,, you are wound up way to tight!

That starting wage is pretty pathetic. If you figure in duty time the starting wage is probably closer to $13.50/hr. TO FLY A JET! What a bargain for them. If only the flying public knew. I can see it now in USA Today!


If the public knew this, they probably wouldn't get on a plane. Maybe the US Govt. needs to mandate a Minimum Starting Wage for an Airline Pilot since it involves the Safety of Millions of Americans. Maybe that should go into the Patriot Act.