Shared proclivities should bind us. I suggest we house our concerns onto another forum, a jointly-written email addressed to our leadership, whom then may parse and respond.

I look around and I see a lot of smart, talented, energized pilots. But, I don't see a lot of action. I would like better dissemination of information from our counsel, and I think such will be met with accord- they should want our support.

I think it is a first step to more money and maintaining a great "qol". Would anyone else be interested?

 

Count me in. I just forwarded aforementioned comments (minus the part about coworkers' wives) to JA. Also asked him for update other than the dreaded wearing of our ties and shoes proudly.


Sent from Airbus

 

He'll delegate someone to answer some bs comment that it's a great idea, "we're gonna run it by ALPA legal" and let you know , meantime don't forget to catch JAs podcast this week, exciting news about lanyards, pins and PACs coming up.

 

May I humbly say this... I am currently at a regional that transitioned from line bidding to Flica PBS years ago. Our PBS is the envy of the industry. We weren't for it initially, but we all love it after we gave it a chance. Please think about PBS as line bidding on a WEEKLY (not monthly) basis and it makes sense. No, it will not allow you to conflict out trips. It looks like some of you guys are bidding an entire hard line based on what happens the first week of the month. Junior guys like PBS because with a line bid, a senior guy takes 4 weeks of trips based on maybe one or two trips he cares about. With PBS, a junior guy might get trips he wouldn't have received. Its about the language the company puts into the PBS. We can get 28 days (or more) off in a row for a 7 day vacation block. We can credit as high, or higher than line bidding. My two cents is that PBS works. If you have questions, I would seek out ExpressJet MEC guys that deal with PBS. You might be surprised. The company sets a credit window. Say.. 70 to 90 hours. You pick trips each week to add up to that window. Don't want to fly a lot and get paid 72 hr guarantee? This month our min is 60 hours. So I can bid three 20 hour 4 day trips, and get paid 75 hours (our min is 75). Or I can bid more trips and if my seniority holds it, get more than 90. Are you a commuter that wants the third week of the month off and like weekday 4-days? Tell PBS you want 4-days starting at 11:00am on Mon or Tues on the 1st, 2nd, and 4th week, and Flica will clearly show all the trips on those weeks, and you can even put them in order of preference, EACH week. You can submit 3 different bid sheets (if it cannot complete you on the first sheet, it moves on to the next.) Not trying to open up a ball of wax. I'm just commenting from experience with a company that reluctantly transitioned from hard lines to PBS. IF mgt is asking this of Spirit pilots, and it seems like it is pilots against mgt, seek out the the guys I mentioned and it could very well go in Spirit pilots favor. All bidding systems are based on seniority, hard lines or PBS. (Just do NOT select a "globalization" option).

 

Concerning the lopsided pay scales that were proposed which are out of whack with the rest of the industry, I've been told from a rep that it's too expensive to bring the junior captains up to par. So basically the company is saying we can pay a minority of the captains industry average or slightly less only if we can pay a majority of our captains way below industry. If this is the thought process what's gonna happen at some point down the road when a majority of the captains are on the top side of the scale? Is it then gonna be too expensive and thus the top end will be brought down and the bottom end will come up? This is not a junior vs. senior rant by any means. I certainly think the senior pilots should be compensated better than the junior pilots to the extant that the industry sets. United, American, Southwest, Alaska, Southwest, JetBlue, and Virgian have a majority of their captains either topped out or if not topped out making a slightly less rate than top pay. So how can those companies afford to pay fairly across the board but spirit can not?

 

The answer is very simple. Spirit can pay their pilots industry leading. Management just chooses not to and complain that they can not afford to. It's called lying.

 

Annnnndd.....Another 20 spirit pilots just updated their airlineapps.

I can't believe how many guys I've spoken with over the past week who are seeking jumping ship. Even a mid seniority younger captain.

 

They can't afford to pay us the average while upper management is paid above average. I've been here for the 2003 Jacob Schorr "vote yes or I'll shut down the airline" campaign(ALPA folded), followed by the 2010 "if you don't vote yes, we are in no-man's land" / "this place will never IPO" / "give us a loaded .357" / "the pizza is only THIS big" campaign(ALPA folded). It's time to get leading pay, keep the perceived QOL benefits, etc.

I've said many times before, we are looking at C2020. Dig in and fix it now, or burn it down. Or.... wait 'til 2028.

 

What absolutely disgusts me and, I know I know I can't shut up about, is that our damn union is going to try to sell us on a ****e scale as if it us good for us.

Pathetic. Get these guys outta there. If there ever was a time to fix this it us now!

 

Not all upper management is above average in pay and the chosen few are not industry leading only above industry average. So spirit airlines can pay us industry leading. They can't do that and maintain 20% profit and be bringing a new aircraft on property every month. But neither can any other airline and that is why the other airlines are closer to single digit profits and are not growing as rapidly. So if maintaining industry average profit and growth can support industry leading pilot pay. Then pilots accepting industry average pay can be maintained with our industry leading growth and profitability. Anything less is a lie from management.