Are there any other details to share for those of us that are considering Sunny soley for a CVG base? With what is said so far, TDY and enticing those that are able to move are to fill the initial slots. What about those hired today or hopefully in the near future with the ability to hold CVG? Is the company able to set up a domicile that quickly, in terms of the infrastructure: crew room space, Chief Pilots, parking agreements, etc..? Does the group still consider CVG to be junior in terms of being able to hold as a new hire out of training?

Any other mediated details would be greatly appreciated. Its looking like great things continue to happen for your guys!


Best

RW

 

Tell em in the interview you wanna live in CVG and they might just hire you for the chief pilot position on the spot!

Jk but yes I think it will go jr. They’re aiming for early 2026

 

The version of the results published by the company contains a thorough review of the language and the reasons.

Very informative and worth a serious read.

It includes the arbitrator's notes and thought process.

 

Absolutely, I couldn't put the thing down. Strongly disagree with the twisted reason on TDY (i.e. the company needs it, so it's ok), but it's still interesting to see the thought process, and the how the findings of fact tie into the award.

"great things continue to happen" might be a bit of an overstatement. Not meaning to rain on the parade, but there were some small wins and some small losses in this arbitration. The long term outcome is very much up in the air. We got things similar to what Spirit and Frontier had in there last contracts, not exactly a benchmark that we would want to strive to. Our last contract was good for the blink of an eye but we have since been left in the dust by so many other airlines. Our reserve rules were mediocre at best, and the company has been clawing back ground there too. Since the honeymoon period of the current CBA ended, the company has been about 100% adversarial to the pilot group, and without the arbitrator, they would have happily screwed us over on every detail of the base opening. They have no desire to give us any gains or compromise. Incremental, win-win bargaining is non-existent. In spite of all that, it's a job, and for some it might be the right decision. If the CVG base is the right career move for a particular pilot, by all means, go for it and I wish you the best. Just know that you are jumping into the meat grinder. It could be a long time before we see an industry standard contract. I hope everything thinking about this can make informed decisions that are best for himself and his family.

Re: your question about holding CVG, they want to open it small (say a dozen crews) and grow it to 40 crews, so, yes, CVG should be quite easy to hold for some time. They're not in a position to sacrifice any MSP captains, so they need to grow into it by hiring. It's anyone's guess as to how fast or slow that goes.

 

So the company got the TDY provision it desperately wanted. What did we get for that of equal value? Nothing. I wouldn’t call that a great job by the MEC nor do I feel as optimistic about sec 6. This arbitration will benefit the company much more than it does us. The only saving grace is the arbitrator put some protections in there to keep the company from whipsawing bases open and closed.
On a side note, let’s start the clock on how soon the company does not follow the language and we are back in arbitration grieving those issues.

 

This hits about right.

Though it is less about whipsawing bases, whatever that is, and more about the Allegiant "variable basing" model which screws the junior until they earn enough seniority to hold a domicile. I don't see much protection in the award as it looks like the company got exactly that for three month stints. Add to that, the pain of the involuntary variable base climbs higher and higher up the seniority list as the MEC pushed for. Won't take long for the 'seniority means nothing' crowd to realize they are going to hurt from this.

 

My tuning into our all pilot call educated me about the success of the arbitration rather than any failure. Perhaps it’s simply the lens I view this through.
No fan of the displacements and short term pain the new domiciles create. Got displaced at OO.

New domiciles are coming whether this pilot group likes it or not. So, I’m on board for the long term growth. Furthermore, I’ll happily bid the majority of those clock flips goodbye.

As the last major airline with one domicile it’s time to grow up. Yeah, it sucks for my Minnie seniority. But it’s here now and I choose to see this as a maturing airline op managing growth and the success of the AZ op. Forgive me my positivity. Looking around I can see it could be so much worse.

If the plain language of the arbitrator’s 3mo max TDY creates problems down the road then the MEC will use the tools at its disposal to amend. Cross that bridge when we come to it.

 

There’s nothing wrong with positivity. I also agree more bases are needed for this place to succeed and that it could have ended up worse.
What I am pointing out is that we got nothing in return for the TDY provision. That’s not a win no matter how rosy the MEC tries to portray the outcome. This is not about bashing the MEC. I think they have good intentions, are smart, and want to make good gaines for this pilot group. But the company negotiators are smart too. There is a reason they filed for arbitration and stopped negotiating with the union. End result, we lost the first round of the contract fight. Even if nobody wants to talk about it out loud, I sincerely hope they internalize what happened here and regroup for a better strategy for the rest of the contract fight.

 

The TDY seems like it may be an acceptable option for someone who would otherwise be commuting to reserve in MSP. (At least until the much-needed improvements to reserve are made, then who knows?).

The lack of a quantity limit on TDY is concerning, and the vague element of what the 3 months duration means is also concerning.


From reading the TDY section, a couple questions:

1. Since involuntary TDY is forced a max of two bid months per calendar year per pilot, would this mean that the most junior involuntary TDY events would be in Jan/Feb?

2. Would this also imply that in calendar years that have a higher number of TDY events, Nov/Dec forced TDY would climb the list, maybe approaching mid-seniority pilots (with no way to control or revise your obligation)?

 

So who's idea in Management was it to send that fatigue email out? Truly disgusting and whoever is taking this stance should hand in their resignation or seriously reconsider their stance.

They did not fix anything with pairing construction. I have multiple trips/pairings over the past 2 months where we are getting into an outstation around 2PM then expected to report at 2-3am for a van. Attempting to obtain adequate rest in the middle of the afternoon under those conditions is extremely difficult, especially when the preceding days’ schedules are misaligned.

I hope the FSDO has a close eye on this issue and I would go as far to say it should be reported to them. The wording and tone clearly discourages people who are genuinely fatigued or sick from calling out. In my 16-year career as a pilot, I have never received an email of this nature.... deeply troubling.