Its a good company. There, said it! Good variety of equipment, maintenance, decent pay, bases, good crews, large network, stable (maybe too stable). If this was a really bad company then we wouldnt have a problem with people staying here for 10 yrs+ Pilots are good at bitching, I am sure you all could find something to complain about in regards to your company.

If you like it at AE, then all the power to you. You are certainly entitled to your opinion. I cannot say definitively if it's good or not because I don't work there - and I thank God everyday I don't... based on what my buddies say. However, people stay there for 10+ years for two reasons. 1. They went there with little-to-0 PICT and it takes forever to get it because of the lenghty upgrades, thus making it hard to step up to a legacy, SWA or UPS/FedEx. 2. People spend so much time just moving up the ladder, they feel like they have too much invested to leave. I'm not knocking anyone who stays for those reasons - to each his own. But most (not all) people don't stay there because it's a stellar company.

Also, you speak of people staying 10+ years. What about the retention problem AE has and the fact that AE can't fill new-hire classes? There a ERAU students getting offered jobs before they even graduate. I'd imagine the long upgrade times are mostly the cause but it's not the only cause. It's not the most "pilot friendliest" environment over there.

I worked at Eagle, and it was probably the best company I have worked for. The only down side was the long upgrade. Upgrades will come down quite a bit with the lack of hiring between 2001 and 2004.

If/when the upgrade time comes down, things will be much more attractive at Eagle and life will be better. But the adverserial (mgmt vs. pilots)environment will still be there. Most of the crews I have met have been good people, - infact, an AE FO saved my commutin' a$$ last month. I hope things improve for everyone there.

Two questions that can answer the mysterious "will the upgrade time decrease" question.

1. How many people were hired from 9/11 through 2004? Someone mentioned a lack of hiring from 2001-2004, but does anyone have any hard/approximate numbers. Or just simply during what period did Eagle not hire?
   
2. How many flow throughs are there at Eagle? Are they mostly at the top/middle/bottom of the AA furlough list. This number can be used as a good guage for the number of pilots who will be leaving Eagle in the next few years.

Sure would like to hear some examples of why our work rules are inferior. I am a line holder at Eagle and life is quite good.

-152 people hired between 01/01 and 01/04
-258 between 01/04 and 12/31/04
-113 between 01/05 and 12/31/05
-234 between 01/06 and 11/27/06

-348 AA flowbacks currently at eagle
-394 AE/CAs who already have AA sen #s
-243 additional CAs who have bid flowthrough but have no #

To bid flowthrough you have to complete IOE on the jet, so the most junior CA who has bid flowthrough was hired around 7/98. Majority of flowthroughs without #s were hired early 90s. There is a lot of potential for upgrades to drop, but it would be a lot of big 'IFs' for things to work out perfectly. Basically 348+394+243= 985 CAs that have made intentions that they are going to AA eventually. The 348 flowbacks will all go, but it will be interesting to see if/when the flowthroughs will go.

Your #'s are VERY VERY optimistic. Most of the 394 with numbers will grieve hardship and retire at AE. In May of this year the flow through/back letter 3 expires. The 243 without #'s may never get to go to AA. The only definite thing is the 348, they will leave, but it could be along time before they go.

Don’t drink the Kool-Aid. Nothing ever happens or changes fast AE....

Yes, the #s posted were best case scenario. Like I said in the post that would be the perfect situation and there were a lot of big IFs. I agree that all of the Flowbacks will eventually go (may take a few years) and anything beyond that depends on the letter 3 negotiations which are coming up in Feb 08 on our negotiation round.

Barring age 65 or a merger at AA I think all flowbacks will be gone by year end 2008. I just flew with one who accepted for April and he was only the tenth of 30 iirc. He said 9 of those 10 are flowbacks and that the non-flowback acceptance rate is around 8 or 9 to one. Rumor is about 500 recalls this year so a large majority of flowbacks will be gone by this time next year. Now if we could just get a little growth and hold off on age 65 for a few years...