Anyone else done the Kool-aid class? When the instructor said the company was at a crossroads I snorted. The COMPANY is not at a crossroads: they have a map, navigator, and destination in sight. The UNION and PILOT GROUP are at a crossroads, with an out of touch union leadership and rebelling membership.

And anyone who thinks pilot labor is the biggest cost to getting us to #1 has never been in a Delta Lounge. Do yourself a favor and check one out, even their small ones (like in Denver) put our clubs to shame.

How much money has United thrown away on the Busted Boom? How about the Heart Aerospace electric commuter vaporware airplane?


The money is there. FUPM.

 

What’s crazy about the TK people, exactly? Be a NBFO making 140 with dried-up premium, flying a 737 for 5-8 hours/day or 320 for 4-5 legs a day, or…work a 6 hour block at TK, making WBFO pay, getting 90 hours.

what’s crazy about a new LCA? Be a NBCA commuting to reserve, or…be an LCA and get positive space, hotels, and override pay.

both of these scenarios make absolute perfect sense (for the pilots doing the jobs)

 

My reaction to the PPD class was the same and I agree with what you say. Kirby wants the big expansion, and the expansion would be good for us as well. The issue is how bad Kirby wants it and what he’s willing to pay. We can, and we should insist on the right contract. We have the ability to walk away from the table if the divide between what we need and what the company will spend is too great. They can walk away also. The cost of pilot labor is increasing industry wide. If we raise our cost to X, the others will pattern bargain off of us and we won’t be the most expensive game in town, we’ll the new normal. If he wants instructors and LCA’s to stick around, if he wants vacancies to be filled, and if he wants to make his plan a reality, Tumi 2 just isn’t going to cut it. He’s doing his job, and he’s doing it well. Now all we need to do is get our union to do theirs.

 

Training is our leverage. The jobs PI and LCA positions will still be there after we get a contract. All I will say on that.

 

Because the more the gears move with fluidity, the less impetus the company (any) feels towards negotiating any thing more. Those jobs will always be needed, even after a new contract is negotiated.

 

This is a very sunny viewpoint of both scenarios. If you are junior, neither are that attractive QoL-wise for a number of reasons. Since you are considering the plunge into TK, hopefully you’ve spoken to some junior pilots at TK about their schedules.

 

This can’t be stated strongly enough. If we collectively look at TA2 with TA1 as the starting point, some of us will get hoodwinked into voting for a substandard upa. We MUST use our current upa as our staring point. TA1 was trash, and not a starting point for anything except recall conversations

 

I get your point. I’m just saying that those scenarios work for certain people (especially the TK if you live in Denver and don’t commute). If nothing else, they SEEM enticing at first glance. As far as the TK visit….It’s two days credit toward your monthly schedule, 9 hours of add pay, positive space with spouse/SO, and hotel provided. Why WOULDN’T any of us take the company up on that offer? That’s all I’ll say about that.