Quote:
Originally Posted by KnockKnock
You’re saying that because Alaska ranks at the bottom of the top 5 airlines in the country, it’s a terrible place to work? Is that a correct interpretation of your statement? So because we are 4% behind in pay, a half % behind in 401K, our scope is almost zero and our section 25 needs improvement, this is a “TERRIBLE” place to work? I think a more accurate assessment would be that AS is lagging in leadership and contract language but it’s not a terrible place to work. You clearly have no idea of what a terrible place to work looks like. To validate your point you say no other Legacy pilots left for AS from ‘14-present. How many VX pilots left for AS? I know a few. How many AS pilots left for VX? I don’t know any. How many of those same Legacy pilots left for VX? If that’s how you measure a terrible place to work than it kinda negates your point because that would mean VX was an even more terribler or the most terriblest place to work since nobody left their Legacies to go there (voluntarily). I know those aren’t words but that’s how my 3 yr old would say it and I think it fits nicely into this pointless argument. Yes, when compared to the top 5 airlines in the country, AS is lagging and needs to get its ish together to complete and improve employee/management relations. A “terrible place to work”, ha, no. Every airline has been at a low point. Some of those same airlines are top players in today’s market. Let’s see how this plays out and in the meantime, write your leaders/reps and let them know how you feel.
Let’s admit that AS today has two separate entities that feel differently. Legacy AS and legacy VX. On your end there haven’t been any major losses. Maybe a couple guys lose their AUS turn or ABQ turn lines or whatever other crap the Airbus is taking over. On the VX side everything is changing for the worse. With no scope, Airbus routes are giving way to E175s. A base closure with no support or info on what do to in order to move. Told twice we’d get Fedex letters explaining everything and nada. Losing scheduling to a worse system with worse rules. Some of those are extremely archaic. A huge issue is seeing how you guys handle outright violations. For example, it came out a couple months ago that mgt messed something up in scheduling (something about step trading windows or some coverage that results in things not being approved but should have been approved). And the pilot response was that your leadership basically shook a very hard finger at mgt and told them not to let it happen again, but the rumor I heard was something very similar did happen again. It comes off as a lack of backbone issue. I digress. Terrible place to work? It depends on your definition of it, but compared to the other legacy carriers yes this place is going downhill. Let alone all the other stuff, having zero scope alone makes it terrible. Nothing like seeing E175s take over Airbus routes, and didn’t they say one Airbus lease in 2019 wouldn’t be renewed? No one knows what their game plan is but I can tell ya if you think morale is bad now just wait IF they start returning Buses and replacing more routes with E175s. The TPA protections go away after the merger operational date expiration thing. After that, block hours and fleet numbers are all up in the air or on the chopping block.
As for guys I know one AS guy that came to VX as Packrat mentioned. I also know one guy who interviewed at VX with me and wasn’t hired, and then was in an AS class 6 months later. I’m sure that’s also true vice versa. As for the hiring dynamics, the industry was what it was in 2007-2008. I can’t speak for who came to VX and their reasons. I can only speak for myself, and losing a base, facing a 2200nm commute, schedules that won’t touch east coast home overnights, going from a decent scheduling system to a crappy one, losing days off, less efficient trips, etc, for me ends up being a terrible deal. The payraise doesn’t make up for it. And put another way, if this wasn’t a terrible deal then would I be looking for employment elsewhere? Because as it stands I am looking to get out. I don’t think I’d say that for anything but a terrible deal. Maybe my wording should be it’s a terrible deal instead of a terrible place. Just my honest opinion. In the merger so far, the 117 east coast based pilots have lost the most. It is what it is.