PSA info
12-02-2015, 08:09 AM
#11
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2012
Position: CRJ FO
Posts: 4,599
Originally Posted by AboveAndBeyond
Here is the latest "news".
PSA received 11 CRJ700's from Envoy, and now are receiving the additional 900's. There are 3 new 900s that entered service in the last couple of weeks. PSA management has said that they want to add 2 airplanes a month, but mainline has told them that it needs to be 3. The Envoy 700's that arrived are beat up, bent, and fly like crap, and most pilots wish that they never received them and they stayed at Envoy. Most people tend to think that once the company is not able to fill new hire classes, 200's will start to be parked.
Dion said in a town hall that he is not worried at all about finding new pilots. No one is really sure what he has up his sleeve, but it will be interesting to see if there is a plan or if he is being optimistic. There are rumors that PSA is going to be taking pilots from other regionals that are currently operating 200's to operate the 200's that are on property, but there is absolutely no proof of this and personally I doubt that this will happen. PSA is currently paying for the CPT ATP written class, and everyone expects a hiring bonus. It is doubtful that there will be a first year pay raise, but stranger things have happened.
CVG is opening in a few weeks, and will start small and grow from there. Expect it to be mostly 900's there.
There will be another base, but it will really be up to mainline to see where it will be. Everyone is thinking that they are waiting to see what will happen at Republic and Envoy before making the decision. Envoy has plenty of good pilots, and is capable of taking on additional flying, but no one is exactly sure where they will happen. PSA was offered additional flying out of LGA or DCA a few months ago, and chose DCA.
Upgrades are continuing at a good pace. The latest bid was for 30 upgrades. Anyone in the company that is eligible and wants to upgrade can do so within a month or so. That does NOT mean that everyone passes upgrade. If you are not ready, they will happily let you know that and send you back to the right seat. If you put in for an upgrade, be ready. With that said, most of the guys that have been coming in from other airlines have been doing very well in upgrade training and are making great captains.
Flow - The flow is currently 5 per month. There are 1183 pilots currently on the seniority list, but there are a couple hundred that are not active. There are many sim and ground instructors on the list that are not even eligible to flow (65+ years old, no medical, or other reason), plus only a couple in the top 100 that want to flow. We get an additional flow spot for every 62 captains that we add to the list. Since the last upgrade class announced was for 30, PSA could reach the next 62 in a couple of months. With that said, most people are NOT excited about the flow and are updating their applications with all of the majors. The attrition has been pretty consistent with people going elsewhere.
The DO told people recently that PSA will have to start offering a hiring bonus in the next couple of months. PSA is not supposed to be hiring right now, as they said that they were taking a break to clear up the backlog that they had this summer. Even during this "break", they have been running small classes just to keep the system working. The backlog is now gone. The training footprint is back to where it should be. There are additional IPT's and sims on line, and 100 check airmen. Hiring is supposed to start back in January with 25 per class, with a class starting every 2 weeks.
Additional flying - PSA has been doing quite a bit of new flying in the past few months. Several new destinations have been added, and new Canadian flying is starting in January.
Quality of life is decent, but there are certainly things that the company has been doing to make life at PSA as painful as possible. The reserve grid and critical pay arbitration is not back yet, and the company still thinks that -10 people on reserve does not make a day critical. Scheduling is constantly pulling crap that is against the contract.
SAP! - The schedule adjustment period is still slow, but supposedly improving. This is one of the biggest benefits at PSA. It allows any line holder to swap trips with any open time trip during that period. For instance, nearly every line holder dropped Christmas this month. The bad news is that nearly every person that is not a line holder will be working during Christmas. With the SAP, you can also trade trips 2 for 1, or 1 for 2. If you want to drop down to 65 hours, you can. If you want to fly 95 hours, you can. If you want to drop that crappy 15 hour, 4 day trip, you can. Once the SAP is over though, don't expect much schedule flexibility. The reserve grids are crap, as are the trips in open time. The company hides open time, or breaks it up so it is not worth picking it up.
Displacement for FO's continues to happen. As an FO, you can expect to get displaced off of a trip at least once a month. You are pay protected, but do lose the per diem. If you live in base, or have an easy commute, it isn't too bad. At worst, you are put on Long Call Reserve with a 12 hour callout. Best case scenario, you are released (if they don't give you notice or are displaced mid trip). There are people that are flying 40 hours a month that are getting paid for 80, so that isn't too bad.
In the end, it is like every other regional. There are good parts, and there are bad parts. If you want to upgrade quickly, PSA will be a good place IF, AND ONLY IF, PSA is able to fill new hire classes for the next 18 months. If they fail to hire enough pilots, the new airplanes will stop coming here and the upgrades will stop.
PSA received 11 CRJ700's from Envoy, and now are receiving the additional 900's. There are 3 new 900s that entered service in the last couple of weeks. PSA management has said that they want to add 2 airplanes a month, but mainline has told them that it needs to be 3. The Envoy 700's that arrived are beat up, bent, and fly like crap, and most pilots wish that they never received them and they stayed at Envoy. Most people tend to think that once the company is not able to fill new hire classes, 200's will start to be parked.
Dion said in a town hall that he is not worried at all about finding new pilots. No one is really sure what he has up his sleeve, but it will be interesting to see if there is a plan or if he is being optimistic. There are rumors that PSA is going to be taking pilots from other regionals that are currently operating 200's to operate the 200's that are on property, but there is absolutely no proof of this and personally I doubt that this will happen. PSA is currently paying for the CPT ATP written class, and everyone expects a hiring bonus. It is doubtful that there will be a first year pay raise, but stranger things have happened.
CVG is opening in a few weeks, and will start small and grow from there. Expect it to be mostly 900's there.
There will be another base, but it will really be up to mainline to see where it will be. Everyone is thinking that they are waiting to see what will happen at Republic and Envoy before making the decision. Envoy has plenty of good pilots, and is capable of taking on additional flying, but no one is exactly sure where they will happen. PSA was offered additional flying out of LGA or DCA a few months ago, and chose DCA.
Upgrades are continuing at a good pace. The latest bid was for 30 upgrades. Anyone in the company that is eligible and wants to upgrade can do so within a month or so. That does NOT mean that everyone passes upgrade. If you are not ready, they will happily let you know that and send you back to the right seat. If you put in for an upgrade, be ready. With that said, most of the guys that have been coming in from other airlines have been doing very well in upgrade training and are making great captains.
Flow - The flow is currently 5 per month. There are 1183 pilots currently on the seniority list, but there are a couple hundred that are not active. There are many sim and ground instructors on the list that are not even eligible to flow (65+ years old, no medical, or other reason), plus only a couple in the top 100 that want to flow. We get an additional flow spot for every 62 captains that we add to the list. Since the last upgrade class announced was for 30, PSA could reach the next 62 in a couple of months. With that said, most people are NOT excited about the flow and are updating their applications with all of the majors. The attrition has been pretty consistent with people going elsewhere.
The DO told people recently that PSA will have to start offering a hiring bonus in the next couple of months. PSA is not supposed to be hiring right now, as they said that they were taking a break to clear up the backlog that they had this summer. Even during this "break", they have been running small classes just to keep the system working. The backlog is now gone. The training footprint is back to where it should be. There are additional IPT's and sims on line, and 100 check airmen. Hiring is supposed to start back in January with 25 per class, with a class starting every 2 weeks.
Additional flying - PSA has been doing quite a bit of new flying in the past few months. Several new destinations have been added, and new Canadian flying is starting in January.
Quality of life is decent, but there are certainly things that the company has been doing to make life at PSA as painful as possible. The reserve grid and critical pay arbitration is not back yet, and the company still thinks that -10 people on reserve does not make a day critical. Scheduling is constantly pulling crap that is against the contract.
SAP! - The schedule adjustment period is still slow, but supposedly improving. This is one of the biggest benefits at PSA. It allows any line holder to swap trips with any open time trip during that period. For instance, nearly every line holder dropped Christmas this month. The bad news is that nearly every person that is not a line holder will be working during Christmas. With the SAP, you can also trade trips 2 for 1, or 1 for 2. If you want to drop down to 65 hours, you can. If you want to fly 95 hours, you can. If you want to drop that crappy 15 hour, 4 day trip, you can. Once the SAP is over though, don't expect much schedule flexibility. The reserve grids are crap, as are the trips in open time. The company hides open time, or breaks it up so it is not worth picking it up.
Displacement for FO's continues to happen. As an FO, you can expect to get displaced off of a trip at least once a month. You are pay protected, but do lose the per diem. If you live in base, or have an easy commute, it isn't too bad. At worst, you are put on Long Call Reserve with a 12 hour callout. Best case scenario, you are released (if they don't give you notice or are displaced mid trip). There are people that are flying 40 hours a month that are getting paid for 80, so that isn't too bad.
In the end, it is like every other regional. There are good parts, and there are bad parts. If you want to upgrade quickly, PSA will be a good place IF, AND ONLY IF, PSA is able to fill new hire classes for the next 18 months. If they fail to hire enough pilots, the new airplanes will stop coming here and the upgrades will stop.
Eventually I think most regionals will offer starting pay somewhere near $35 /hour and also offer some sort of commuter clause that provides for 4 hotels a month. I don't think PSA is there yet, but by 2017 who knows.
12-02-2015, 08:26 AM
#12
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2014
Posts: 521
Originally Posted by chrisreedrules
I would agree with most of this. The only exception I have is to note that we will not stop taking deliveries of 900s or the 700s. We will most likely retire the 200s on a 1/1 basis until staffing catches up if it starts to be an issue.
If it were not for the recent dip in oil prices, the desert will be filling up with 50 seat airplanes from every company. This is a temporary reprieve.
12-02-2015, 09:08 AM
#13
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2014
Posts: 742
Originally Posted by AboveAndBeyond
The DO told people recently that PSA will have to start offering a hiring bonus in the next couple of months.
NO "HIRING BONUSES", DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!
IF THEY WANT TO GIVE NEW HIRES MORE MONEY, THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE TO GIVE *ALL OF US* MORE MONEY!
NON-NEGOTIABLE!!!!!!
Tell your friends.
12-02-2015, 09:10 AM
#14
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2010
Posts: 3,201
Originally Posted by Slick111
NO "HIRING BONUS", DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!
IF THEY WANT TO GIVE NEW HIRES MORE MONEY, THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE TO GIVE *ALL OF US* MORE MONEY!
NON-NEGOTIABLE!!!!!!
Tell your friends.
IF THEY WANT TO GIVE NEW HIRES MORE MONEY, THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE TO GIVE *ALL OF US* MORE MONEY!
NON-NEGOTIABLE!!!!!!
Tell your friends.
12-02-2015, 09:12 AM
#16
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2012
Position: CRJ FO
Posts: 4,599
Originally Posted by Slick111
NO "HIRING BONUSES", DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!
IF THEY WANT TO GIVE NEW HIRES MORE MONEY, THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE TO GIVE *ALL OF US* MORE MONEY!
NON-NEGOTIABLE!!!!!!
Tell your friends.
IF THEY WANT TO GIVE NEW HIRES MORE MONEY, THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE TO GIVE *ALL OF US* MORE MONEY!
NON-NEGOTIABLE!!!!!!
Tell your friends.
12-02-2015, 09:23 AM
#18
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,097
Originally Posted by Realtalk
Yeah I find the notion of you guys wanting more money kinda funny. Take pay cuts to asks for more.
Exactly. Industry back stabbers and yes voters complaining. Too funny.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
12-02-2015, 09:24 AM
#19
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2012
Position: CRJ FO
Posts: 4,599
Originally Posted by Realtalk
Yeah I find the notion of you guys wanting more money kinda funny. Take pay cuts to asks for more.
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