Treehorn

Can someone explain why so much attrition at Atlas lately?

DC8DRIVER

Major airlines are hiring.

Atlas lags behind all majors and most national carriers in retirement, work rules and pay. There is also a growing resentment of the way that the Atlas scheduling and travel departments violate (or try to violate) the contract on a daily basis.

8

spasekace

Anybody here attend the 4/29 ANC interviews with me?

Treehorn

Thanks. So, Atlas lags behind the majors but would you still classify it as a great, good, or fair place to work for?

captainv

That depends almost entirely on you. If you live in Florida and get hired into ANC - not good. If you live in ANC...

And then there's how well you adapt to the lifestyle and the very significant ways this airline differs from where you came from. Some guys are truly made for this kind of flying and would be miserable anywhere else. For others, it's a stepping stone. A lot of us would be perfectly happy to stay here for the long haul, but current conditions and the financial benefits of leaving for a major would make us jump if given the opportunity.

Despite all the many ways we lag behind the majors, I enjoy the trips where things run smoothly - i.e. Travel books my airline tickets to/from work, I have ground transportation and hotel reservations when I land, the catering is sufficient, and Scheduling follows the most basic parts of the contract when changing my schedule. Most trips have a few hiccups. Some are completely FUBAR from the word go.

I won't tell you to read the entire thread, but a couple hundred pages would give you a much better read on how you'd fit in here than you getting a couple of responses to a very personal and significant question.

Treehorn

When scheduling does book you to and from work, if it's to and from your base, you get hit with imputed income tax right? How do you avoid that?

WTFover

Live in your base!

Treehorn

Move to anchorage. Got it. Thanks.

Anyone else have advice?

DC8DRIVER

Or only bid for trips that start somewhere other than your base then Atlas has to get you there on your first day of work (gateway travel to your base will happen on a day off) and on their ticket..
JFK is best for this but it will not be where a new hire would get based. A new hire will go to ANC if on the 74 and CVG if on the 76. More and more trips seem to be starting from base.

captainv

As with all things Atlas, it depends. My first base, I got hit with every hotel stay (before/after my trip) and every airline ticket. In my current base, I have yet to pay a cent. I've heard from guys in the same base that one gets hit, while the other does not. Some guys appeal every taxable charge. You won't have a choice of bases initially, of course, but you can ask around when you get on line.

As WTFover said, you could opt to live in base, or bid one within driving distance (the company will pay mileage up to the cost of an airline ticket). You could also elect to jumpseat and not utilize Gateway travel - the risk being that if you don't make your trip, you could be subject to disciplinary action. To minimize the tax hit, you could talk to Travel 4-5 days prior to your trip to get a cheaper ticket. US Air is pretty much $250 anywhere in the US if they have seats.

For all its limitations, Gateway travel is still pretty awesome. After almost a decade of commuting, it's fantastic to not have to pay any attention to anything except my departure time. Even if you're paying the tax, it's likely a lot less than having a crashpad, paying for taxis and whatnot. I would prefer that we move to a home-basing system with no tax exposure, but that's a fight for the next contract.