Turbosina

Uh huh. How long you been here?

Bravix

I'd love for SkyWest to go ALPA, but it isn't going to happen. Too many that have had bad experiences with unions during the economic downturn and too many that are lifers and super comfortable with what they have.

@You and Kent, I'd argue that SkyWest (and Republic, I don't know much about Mesa's status) have fairly strong negotiating/leverage capital, depending on where they want to spend it. Let me pull some quotes and numbers from the most recent United annual SEC filing:


Context (This snippet is part of a section talking about risks)
"Although the Company has agreements with its regional carriers that include contractually agreed performance metrics, each regional carrier is a separately certificated commercial air carrier and the Company does not control the operations of these carriers."


Regarding aircaft owned, could United simply take planes away and source labor from another airline? Lets look:

Embraer 175: 154 operated, of which United owns 54. The 175 is operated by three UAX carriers: SkyWest, Republic, and Mesa.

Embraer 170: Of the 38 operated, United owns 0. All owned or leased by Republic.

This is the 2018 10-K, so it doesn't include recent changes, in the case ExpressJet entering into 175 operations and other fleet changes. If United were to somehow pull all Embraer flights from the three airlines resisting the jumpseat changes, the only operator with a training program and FAA approval to operate these aircraft is Expressjet. They neither have the labor to operate these, nor the aircraft (again, most of these aircraft aren't owned by United).

Lets look at the CRJ:

CRJ 700: 64 operated, United owns none. Gojet operates 25, the rest are SkyWest and Mesa

Crj 200: 128 operated, United owns none. 60 are operated by SkyWest, the rest are Air Wisconsin and Expressjet.

E145: Ew But in all seriousness, none of "the three" operate these. Mostly operated by ExpressJet.

In total, 52% of United's regional aircraft are operated by SkyWest, Republic, and Mesa.

What does this all mean? Sure, long haul United could shift more of their operations from the three carriers not participating in the jumpseat agreement to their smaller carriers. Frankly, it appears to me that United has already been taking steps to better balance their regional dependence between more airlines, with less flying at each. However, it isn't feasible in the short term. This would be an incredible feat, with an incredible financial hit on United to match. They'd have to fund all of these fleet transitions, recruitment, training, aircraft aquisitions, etc. as there is no way in hell that GoJet, ExpressJet, Commutair, and TSA could in their current states.

I wrote this after 1 am because I can't sleep, hope its coherent

Bravix

Long enough to have never been hassled for any of my emergency/sick calls and be a captain in spite of them? Though I'll admit, chief pilots vary from base to base and though I've seemingly been fortunate, I've heard of a certain chief or two that people have choice words for. My experience however, in this regard at least, has only been positive.

If you've had experiences within the last 5 years where company threatened your position for missed days that were out of your control, where you made actual attempts to get to work and couldn't, please share. I can only claim to know what I've experienced and heard so if you have something to add, please do.

Floyd

Does Skywest intend to rescind the reciprocal cockpit jumpseat agreement they signed almost 20 years ago vs calling on it's captains to deny the jumpseat to certain groups?
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chitolin

Well, according to UALPA “we discovered that documented jumpseat agreements did not exist between united and the UAX airlines...”
So, somehow they deemed that agreement you posted invalid


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Inkoreausa

Remember Comair? That’s the path SkyWest is going down. Enjoy the ride. You are kicking a hornets nest for absolutely ridiculous reasons and look like a bunch of children. Good luck.

Floyd

Just trying to understand. I think there are two issues in this regard. The agreement signed in 2001 basically allows us to omc in each other's cockpit. It would be the same as if UAL and DAL(OAL) had an agreement. The second, and most current issue at hand, is a UAL system jumpseat priority recently put forth by UAL. It is either signed and agreed to, or not signed and the carrier reverts to OAL.

I believe I can continue to take Skywest pilots until the 2001 agreement is rescinded with a 30 day notice. A jumpseat priority list does not preclude the Captain from using their discretion. I say discretion because at United, the jumpseat is regarded as my seat and not the company's unless we are talking FAA for example.

ORD170

This whole issue is between pilot groups, and not management. Do you think Republic management wasn’t in touch with United management, before they backed their pilot group? I have no idea about Skywest, but I can guarantee you BB wouldn’t back this, unless he vetted this through senior leadership at UA. You do realize United has representation on the board at Republic? If United management wanted this issue solved, then it would be solved. I’m curious how UALPA envisioned this going down? Did they really believe Skywest and Republic would just roll over?

I can’t say I agree with denying the Jumpseat though, because it seems like an emotional reaction. At the very least, they should provide UA pilots the same status they provided AA pilots (OAL). I suspect that’s how this will end up in the long term anyway.

PhantomHawk

You keep saying “union”.......why do you keep using that word?

tonsterboy5

Heaven forbid a zw pilot(UAX) gets on an expressjet plane(UAX) ahead of a Skywest pilot that flies American painted planes. Maybe your “union” instead of stomping its feet could negotiate with United to separate your Uax only pilots from the pack so they are higher on the list than non uax on uax.