Welcome to ORD.

Most of the guys in my class were from the west coast, and those who got ORD are already heading to LAX ans SFO after 2 months of reserve in Chicago. The flying is mostly 200 for junior lineholders but I spent the past month and a half doing only 700 trips (I'm still on reserve). You'll do a lot of 4-5 leg short hops on the 200.

I can't speak for the commutability from the West Coast, but guys in my crash pad are mostly west coast, and from speaking to them it doesn't sound horrible, just long.

 

The 175 out of SFO is quite junior on the 175.

 

Oh I didn't realize that it was Skywest bringing the industry down as opposed to Mesa,PSA etc etc etc. I have no complaints about our work rules (then again I am not on reserve which is what most people complain about), 401k is low for sure, but so are most of the regionals who have a far lower hourly rates to boot. Its unrealistic to compare our benefits with that of mainline. If you want to have a decent retirement you either have to have a second source of income or go to mainline, lifer at a regional will never have the 401k benefits of a mainline pilot....everybody knows that...

 

No they don't. Otherwise they would've of bought us in 08. Sure, they sometimes miss the mark on contract rules. Nothing a grievance hasn't fixed. And when there isn't an agreement, it goes to arbitration. It's crew scheduling who usually messes up by trying to interpret a contractual rule that has years of precedence behind it doing it a certain way. But upper management is very careful in not violating sections of the contract. They've seen what happens when they try that. It's more trouble to them than its worst because the contract is policed by the union and the pilots. They get called out on it really quickly and then they have to deal with it by trying to justify it and possibly getting an arbitrator to decide or just fixing it and making the pilot(s) whole. It's a good incentive for both side just to follow the contract.

 

I don't think he was comparing you to mainline. I think he was comparing you to other regionals. As for work rules (everything other than pay rates), your benefits side does drag almost every regional down, including Mesa and PSA. Just do a comparison with the percentage in premiums your pay in healthcare: 38%. Now PSA and PDT have been dragged to that and they are putting pressure on envoy as well. Look at your vacation and sick accrual. It is the lowest among regionals and the sick accrual has also been brought down at PSA and PDT and pressure is now on envoy and xjt, specifically because of Skywest. For the good rules out there that a few regionals still have, such as a b fund (xjt, PDT, awac, & horizon still have a b fun), you have none. As you said, matching funds are low. Other of the good work rules that xjt specifically has, you have no OJI bank, poor LTD benefit, and non-existent A&R policy, etc, which are being used to whipsaw against xjt in their negotiations. As for scheduling work rules, from what I've heard, they are not the best either, including historical block, BHO, min days off, and your PBS. And what you do have is not even enforceable. See Sfo pilots involuntarily put on reserve for the month as an example.

In essence, other than the perceived "good" pay rates (and I'm not including BHO in that perception), almost everything in your work rules drags the other regionals down. Pay rates are just multipliers of your work rules.

And none of this to mention the anchor of your me-too clause on the xjt negotiations! Yes, Skywest does help bring down the industry in this respect. Most here don't realize it because they have been convinced otherwise by someone who has an agenda to convince them of that. I'm just trying to counteract that agenda with my pro-pilot profession agenda.

 

Smartest Regional post I've read in a while!!!

Baja.

 

Nevets, get out of the regionals. You have PIC, everywhere is hiring. Open up your seat for someone else if SkyWest has done you so wrong.

(I'm guessing it's like a bunch of bitter CA's at SkyWest who "want" to move on. Logbooks behind about 4 years, refuses to spend $59 on AirlineApps and no college degree.)

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This.....

No one should be excited about more outsourced flying...

 

Says the guy who just hopped regions to in order to capitalize on outsourced flying recently awarded?

 

We pay 38% healthcare costs? No its actually about 30%. After looking at the options and premiums at serval regionals, I prefer SkyWest healthcare choices even as degraded as it is today.

Decent holiday pay, no junior manning, 100% DH and cancelation pay, 18 and 8 pay scale, decent pay rates, performance rewards, (600 bucks this quarter), user time vs sick time, displacent pay, not being bumped out of domicile, etc. There are many aspects that are better than most. But I'm not trying to sugarcoat it. There are many weak areas that need to be fixed as were mentioned, and hopefully negotiations will improve some things. But SkyWest pay/benefits/work rules in sum arent bottom end, nor are they top end. Middle of the pack sure, just where our management has always been willing to keep it.