Flew with a NH that was just a few weeks off of IOE. Already six of his classmates have left for greener pastures and two were in one day (the day we were flying together).

We’ve got to be losing more than a pilot a day. Does anyone have any CREDIBLE intel on whether the Kompany’s grown concerned yet about this?

Also, I don’t see any reason why they can’t throw a big retention bonus at this problem and there isn’t much SWAPA could do about it.

 

Honestly they don’t care. Never have and never will. They don’t care if wifi works. They don’t care if the overhead bins are too small. They don’t care if power outlets are not installed. They don’t care if they lose bags. They don’t care if we arrive late. They don’t care if employees are ****ed off. Management does NOT care. They are beholden to the great shareholder of the sky, they have taken Maximizing Shareholder Value to a whole new level.

The real ****er is the customers are still flying us…if those morons would wake up and stop booking tickets things would change quickly around here. But nobody has ever gone broke underestimating the stupidity of the American public…..

 

A few months ago I thought this was a bit dramatized by the SWAPA, so I started checking the seniority list daily when logging into CWA. It’s at least 1-2 a day at this point coming from the bottom 5 years of the seniority list….not to mention 15-20 retirements monthly, which will be increasing also.

If the company is concerned they will never admit to it and give us any leverage. But hopefully they are taking a hard look at why this is happening.

 

We have 10,600 pilots. A lot of them at very high pay rates that cost a lot of money. The numbers we are losing every month is such a small percentage overall that the company doesn't care.

Skywest has been losing 250 pilots a month for years now. They still manage to keep the pipeline going and make money. Most of those pilots are cheaper options than the ones that left.

I think the company has run the numbers and its cheaper to have more turnover and higher training costs than it is to retain all of the pilots.

Not to mention the slowdown in Boeing delivering airplanes so maybe they see this as a way to keep the seniority list smaller while they don't need it to grow.

I don't think attrition is the negotiating leverage that everyone talking about it thinks it is. But that's just my opinion. I'm just a dumb pilot.

 

They know how many we are poaching from other carriers (including AA/DL/UA). If those numbers are even remotely close, then it's a wash in their eyes. We had 3 in my class alone.

 

Probably just the ones that were fired or failed out of training at AA/DL/UA.

 

Look, they’ve told us that we are paid market rates - just like a plumber. Well, plumbers are pretty darned expensive when you call them at midnight because the basement is flooding.

Only problem is, even industry leading market rates (and QOL, and retirement, and LTD) aren’t going to solve the recruitment puzzle here. This generation of pilots has something my generation never did. A choice.

And given the choice, who would pass up a comfy office in an Airbus (complete with tray table and warm meals served on linen)? Who would pass up a Dreamliner or A350 with overnights in London and Paris and Tokyo? Dozing for dollars in a crew rest cabin? All with widebody pay rates that (at least currently Lew) eclipse any 737 pay in the world. Who would CHOOSE to forego all of that for 30+ years slogging it out in an antiquated 737, carrying a food bag like a Sherpa mounting an expedition to the Andes? 3…4+ legs to an overnight in Midland?

Sorry guys, but this is the hiring environment we are in and this company is a stepping stone. We can’t blame the new guys for jumping ship, and if we are honest with ourselves there’s probably no CBA that will keep them here. So we can be jealous. We can try to follow them. Or we can get behind SWAPA, and give them the horsepower they need to negotiate the best midnight emergency plumber rates we can get, because the basement is flooding - and for most of us, we have to live in this house for the remainder of our careers.

 

The market at this time is indifferent to customer service. All the airlines are as full as they can possibly be and could in fact be even more full if they could provide crews and aircraft to support it. I haven't had a single flight that had more than a dozen seats unfilled in the last 2 yrs. That's true for redeyes, weekends, holidays and Tuesdays. It doesn't seem to matter as demand is off the charts.

You can literally strand people all over the country for three days during the holidays, and the next day people will log in and say, "hey look it's only $300 to go to CANCUN for the weekend."

 

The general population has adapted to buying a product and being financially finessed. How many products do you think the average consumer throws out per month because it wasn’t as advertised? At least they get their money back eventually with the airlines if the flight becomes not “as advertised”.

 

Calculated earlier today, 1.33 per day so far in May. We need AA to move, then UA behind them will put even more pressure along with a successful SAV.