There are NO 1800 hour CA's at Pinnalce.... The reduced mins for upgrade are 3000 hours (3500 hours standard) most 9E CA's have around 3500 to 4000 hours when they upgrade. As for 250 hour FO's as much as it pains me to say it show me a regional that doesnt have some of those things.

 

i didnt say xjt and awac are much better places to be, i just would have preferred to go there mostly because union representation/protection means a lot to me. all i said was skw is doing nothing to raise the bar.

 

I agree that SkyWest isn't doing too much to raise the bar. Apparently, we aren't what we used to be. I haven't been here long enough to say either way, but I keep hearing things were better two years ago. I personally think that with the last pay proposal being voted in even though the EMB guys were left out, speaks very sadly about our pilot group. I think that is such an insult to your fellow employees and it really disgusts me.

I just hope all of you ALPA guys realize that having legal representation isn't going to make management abide by the contract. Talk to anyone from Mesa and Trans States and you will understand. Not saying I am against ALPA by any means, but management does what they want with or without a union and it won't be stopped until something big happens. Perhaps something like ALPA slapping the company with a huge lawsuit when this crap happens on behalf of all the pilots in the company is what it is going to take for this crap to stop.

 

well the latest mesa slogan "fix it or burn it down" should see to it that management plays ball there. not saying its good to want to see your company go down, but hey if they treat you like crap, then its in everyones interest to see to it that it does. good luck to mesa in september i hope they get the contract they want.

anyway skywest obviously has smarter and better management and people are generally happy here. theres no "militant" need for a union like there was at some places. but koolaid is right, the emb guys got hung out to dry at the hands of the rest of the pilot group. i was not given the chance to vote, and i thought for sure something that ridiculous would not pass. could this have happened at a union carrier? perhaps... i dont want to spark up the union debate for the millionth time, its always gonna be peoples differing preferences based on research and what fits the industry's and the employees needs the best.

 

hahaha, how long ago did you work at pinnacle, you just love to bash them so you must have worked here. and space monkey is correct, all of our captains have 3000 hrs

 

You probably will not really ever need to argue a "3000 hour" captain. The company, or any airline for that matter, does not have the authority to lower that time. It is required for insurance purposes. Well, I guess if they want their insurance premiums to skyrocket, they could, but since they pay a 50 seat pay rate for all jets, it is kind of obvious that they are not going to do that.

 

A 900 airframe is a 900 airframe, you can, and probably will, one day be flying it with more than 76 people for very poor wages. When the company puts all the seats in and says here go fly it, are you guys going to negotiate a new payrate? Oh wait, they don't have to negotiate with you. Unless its the 705 airframe your argument is pointless.

As for other pay rates, here are 5th year pay rates for 86 seat aircraft as taken from this website:
AWAC: 76 (under illegal concessionary contract, if they get the old contract back 90)
Mesa: 67
Republic: 76
Skywest: 66
US Airways: 86
Air Canada: 118
Jazz: 77 (and thats for the 705 airframes)

To break it down for you, a $10/hr difference at 75hr guarantee over 12 months works out to be $9000. I hope those bonuses are really good over there.

Actually, and this is under their concessionary contract which is still being worked out in arbitration, but AWAC 50 seat pay is $2 more an hour, 70 seat pay is $3 more, and 86 seat pay is $10 more an hour, respectively when compared to skywest. And AWAC does have many UNION protected and negotiated work rules, which the company must follow because its more than an "agreement", which all increases take home pay.

Edited for my typing and lack of spelling

 

cant but laugh here at this NON union carrier " taking " flying from a UNION carrier.........hipocrate f%^Gs!

of course they will say since its after the fact its ok......HIPPOCRATES!

 

Hipocrytes.....

I'm not trying to start any trouble. At the group interview for SkyWest I went to while on layover in KIAH the two guys giving it were pretty senior. The question was asked about lack of union and if SKW ever planned on joining. The two guys said, their words not mine so don't shoot the duck, that there is currently an "inhouse" union that is there for disciplinary action should it be needed but that within 6 months the pilots would be voting on if they want to join ALPA or not. Hope I'm not saying something I shouldn't. Has anyone else heard this? I hadn't till then. If you're wondering who it was they were in KIAH on Feb. 28th. doing the group bit.

Duck

 

there is no inhouse union at skywest. its called SAPA (skywest airlines pilot association) and their salaries are paid for by skywest. they have limited (almost no) power and they are management puppets. if management wants to fire you, sapa cant do anything about it. they can TRY to fight for you, but management always has the final say. this is not a real union, just a fake pilots association that does nothing