I don't think that many new hires have gone to the Encore + yet- it's still very new and we only have 2 or 3 so far. I believe all the pilots who were unable to get the 18 day schedule were captains. I personally do the 18 day schedule for the money, but I prefer the 7 and 7. The first year 7 and 7 pay is still higher than just about any other first year job out there. The 15 day flex has a 10 percent by fleet cap and can be junior assigned into, but they didn't force 10 percent on every fleet. The 7 and 7 is the default schedule since 18 day is only voluntary or for training and the the 15 day is limited to 10 percent (and didn't get quite there). The union pretty much wanted to guarentee that 7 and 7 is available for almost everyone who wants it. The company was hoping for more pilots to take the 18 day (don't have to hire as many pilots if more people work more days). My hope (fairly slim odds) is that they do another IBB that throws more money into the 18 day schedule to entice more pilots onto it. It only pays about 2 percent over the 7 and 7 daily rate and at first they were saying that it would pay at extended day rate for each day each day over the 7 and 7 15 day a month average. Unfortunately they didn't make that happen, but I think they would definitely get closer to the 40 percent if they threw some more money out there.
09-18-2023
AIRLINE