1500 Cola. 1/2 of Guam.
Watch how senior LAX and SFO go.

 

id be fine with that.

 

I seriously doubt that this would move the needle much

 

My thoughts exactly. Wouldn’t even cover hotel rooms for six months if a commuter. Wouldn’t cover 3 months of your power bill if you moved in base. Going to have to be a lot more than that; like five digits more.

 

Next vacancy should be interesting. Perhaps more flying moves to the senior bases like DEN, IAH and ORD? Shouldn’t have issues filling captain slots there.

Probably November for the next bid?

 

Aldo,

It is a MONTHLY allowance

 

I understand - still not enough

 

My problem with that plan is it ignores the fact that the coastal pilots are already making more money than their class mates at similar mid continent bases. IE 1 yr on property and they can be on CA pay scale in EWR/SFO/LAX. Their classmates in IAH/ORD/DEN can’t. Same seniority pays more on the coast for those seeking pay due to the bases being junior. So the pay incentive is already there. That’s why IMHO it’s not about pay. It’s about the absolutely horrible life that commuting to reserve and junior lineholders have on the NB fleets. If they fix reserves and schedule building, I bet those slots get filled.

 

“Can’t” ??? Not sure I agree with that word choice, but I agree with your point pay incentive is there already. We as a pilot group need to invest energy in QoL improvements such as reserve and scheduling rules such as FSB pay, trip trading max reserves required relative to open trips, cost to company for reassignments, no global reserve for NB (no need for it on a NB fleet), etc… before paying people (carve out money) to “suck it up” and take upgrades to the coasts.

 

Really, you could make the COL argument about most of our bases. EWR, IAD, ORD are all very expensive. Even DEN is getting out of control. The reality is, we’ve got bases in some of the highest priced housing markets in the country. This is by design. UAL has long known that their operating costs for keeping hubs in the likes of ORD & SFO are way higher than DAL’s in ATL, MSP, etc. They reason they do it is because it gives them direct access to some very high $$$ business travelers that other airlines don’t have. So they keep their operating expenses higher to maximize their revenue stream.

I’ll say that again.

They spend more money than their competitors so they can make more money.

Fair enough. One of the increased expenses of operating in high cost markets is that you have to pay your employees commensurately. That means when your employees lose 15% to inflation, you can’t turn around & offer them 5% on DOS with modest increases over the next few years.

Management can (and should) shift flying to the central bases, but that can only go so far- especially when they’re trying to grow the airline by thousands of pilots. They need people in the coastal bases & that means paying them enough to be there.

If it’s between a big house in TX & a small house in CA, you can staff a base. If it’s between a big house in TX & commuting from LAS, you’ll continue to see unfilled vacancies.