Quigley
 

Bryan Quigley “decides” to retire or perhaps was shown the door. Million dollar jobs are hard to find.

AMF

filler

I’m excited about Marc. Has done previous work for ALPA. Did a good job at TK during COVID.

Won’t claim to know either way but the timing is interesting. Turns out “overpromise & underdeliver” may not be the best strategy for longevity. Wonder if the BOD is getting frustrated w/ failures at the top & who else may be feeling the heat.

Or maybe he just is tired of everything and is ready to retire. It's probably been a stressful couple of years in that position with pandemic, hiring, negotiations, etc.
Marc sounds like a good replacement.

Marc is an awesome guy. Great choice IMHO.

Heard it was for a serious health issue.

Also new position isn’t the position that Bryan had. It’s a watered down version.

“I have made the decision to retire from United effective May 15…

There is, however, an important piece that remains to ensure our success - we need to achieve an industry-leading contract for our pilots. In order to provide expertise, leadership and continuity, I will transition to an advisory role where I am dedicated to support pilot negotiations.“

Essentially lays out that negotiations will continue beyond his May 15th retirement date.

Prove me wrong.

I would hope so what’s on the table now is unacceptable. AA looks like they may have a deal in the coming weeks. If they pattern up above DAL that’s good for us .

Not my story to tell…….but this ^^^^^^isnt the reason.

We don’t know what is really on the table, just a partial list of vague bullet points. Depending on the final language, the negotiating notes email points could be really good or really bad. Without knowing what we’re actually dealing with, we can’t determine if it is acceptable or not.

Either way if AA exceeds or at least truly matches DAL better for us.

Id agree, but we don’t know their final language either. People around here tend to get spun up over “what ifs” and rumors rather than wait and analyze actual factual data. I think that is what makes APC entertaining. It’s not a place for solving world problems, it’s the aviation themed Jerry Springer show.

What we do know for a fact is that reserve will remain below industry standard.

Depends on the language. Take FSB for example. If we still have it, but it’s voluntary with add pay, that would be a major improvement. Reserve assignment rules, transparency, more days off, higher guarantee…… it’s all about the language and until that’s known, we don’t know if it’s leading or lagging. Also, there are other more important sections to focus on than always coming back to reserve. Yes our reserve rules are bad and need fixed, but we need to focus on the bigger sections too. All anyone talks about here is reserve.

You'll know reserve is right when senior pilots bid it on purpose.

So you mean that reserve would actually be a “choice”?

Seniority scoffs at this upstart blasphemy.

10 AM show on day one, Jetblue is 1400. That alone makes it non-commutable for a large percentage of the pilot group. 30 percent of the pilot group is on reserve. Reserve is not a choice, it's a matter of bad luck. I spent 14 years on reserve and it was not by choice.

Now 10am is seen as improvement because we gave it away in TA1.

Clearly not as it appears he’ll remain involved in negotiations. Honestly pretty discouraging to hear him continue using platitudes like “industry leading” & “best & biggest” as if there’s anything other than their own selves standing in the way of that end. It’s basically just gaslighting at this point.

If that is the case then I will certainly include his heath in my prayers. I have worked for much worse VP of Flight Opps. I think Bryan did a pretty good job.

Maybe because the posts in answer to the "improve reserve crowd" invariably gets the cursory, "Yea, it's bad but there are other things more important" The fixes to reserve you mentioned are now Delta standard. Many act like that will use too much negotiating capital to get your aforementioned industry standard improvements and is too big of a hill to climb because it may come at "their expense". That leads them to continue to push "fix reserve", in an attempt to get buy in from the more senior guys. They want a unified front on "Fix reserve now dammit" before they can move on to your other bigger items.

Other than pay, which will be industry leading (even mgt knows that), what "other bigger items" are of concern to you? Believe me, you will get buy-in from the "fix reserve crowd". But, it won't be, "Do your stuff and then if any "negotiating pie" is left over sweep the crumbs towards fixing reserve" which the senior guys appear to tout..

No scope creep, tighten the language
Increased retirement contributions- B fund, 401(k), etc.
Increased LTD cap
Increased sick leave accrual, including better rapid accrual when depleted
Increased vacation credit
Increased training credit- training pays like a flight
Increased trip protections/more stringent reassignment rules
Significant add pay for trip extensions/ reassignments
Increased accountability rules on scheduling for staffing levels- make it easier to drop and trade trips
Tighter rules establishing the G-line
Overs protected on a per leg basis
Rates that exceed Delta
Me too clause
Improved trip rigs for long layovers, airport appreciation, etc.
Premium pay at 100% minimum
Instructors at TK paid what they can hold
Furlough protections

And yes, our reserve rules need significant improvements. I’m not going to get everything that I want, and those focused on reserve rules won’t either. It will be a compromise and we’ll have an opportunity to vote on the package in its entirety……….eventually.

The problem is that reserve rules received no improvement.

Agreed. A lot of guys lost their jobs because of it too(rightfully so). Hopefully the direction from the new MEC to the old /current NC chairman is more in touch this time around.

We still have posters that feel that improving things for the senior guys is more important than bringing reserve(the whole package) up to industry standard.

There are improvements agreed to, and open. Until it’s finalized, we can’t really judge it. The reserve first crowd isn’t going to get everything that they want, and the reserve last crowd won’t either.

From the last negotiations notes:

Agreed:
No involuntary assignment before 10 a.m. on Day 1 of a reserve block
Elimination of flexible day off (FDOs) for Global categories
Option to split holy days off (HDOs) into two shorter periods in Global categories
Voluntary Long Call Reserve lines where short call (SC) and field standby (FSB) is only through aggressive pick-up (APU)
Reserves maintain original scheduled release time when deviating
Increased restrictions on assigning Visiting Reserves
All unused Short Call assignments receive 1 hour of additional minimum pay guarantee (MPG)
Trip trades between reserves
Reserve day-for-day trades
Add Pay for reserve rolled days off
Add Pay for late build Short Calls
Improved release times if unused on last day of reserve
Add Pay for voluntary assignments that start prior to 10 a.m. on Day 1

Open Items:
Increase in number of reserve days off
Increase in the daily value of reserve guarantee
Pilot option to add an additional reserve day in high LPA months
Short Call caps
Elimination of FDOs for Basic categories
Elimination of involuntary FSB
Improved voluntary reserve options
Improved Long Call and Short Call callout times
Increased pay for voluntary FSB
Remove crew desk discretion from reserve assignment order
Incentives to avoid involuntarily rolling of reserve days off

10AM assignment is exactly what we have now, still earlier than both American and Delta and yet it's listed as an improvement.
Elimination of FDO's for global reserve virtually makes no difference. Global reserve is United invention, it should be abolished all together. No one else has it.

the open items are where it is at. The rest of the reserve “improvements” are nice but they don’t move the needle.

we may as well roll the dice and vote in a contract with these rules. Odds are that they still cannot fill the CA vacancies. Then the company needs to consider an LOA with improvements ….

Unfortunately, while the list of agreed items is long it's a mere Pfft!!! towards fixing reserve. It's the things in the "open items" that are the important items, and mostly fall into the Delta standard, that will actually make reserve better and in line with industry standard.

Pretty bad when the rallying cry of a major airline is, "Give me industry standard !!"

And that's why "reserve" is a hot topic on the forum.

JMHO

edit... TFAYD beat me to it

What time does JetBlue release reserves on their last day?

sounds like you shouldn’t bid reserve.. honestly I’m not too worried about reserve rules. They aren’t the best but I have had much worse in my career. I also avoid it. This is a company problem. If they don’t fix it, they will continue to have a hard time filling Captain slots. Worst case scenario people stop coming to Indoc classes because of it and they will have to do something about it. Until then, i’m just going to continue to avoid bidding for BES that would put me on reserve.

So, using that logic we don't need to worry about pay rates or scope or well.. ANYTHING. "They aren’t the best but I have had much worse in my career." ."This is a company problem. If they don’t fix it, they will continue to have a hard time filling Captain slots. Worst case scenario people stop coming to Indoc classes because of it and they will have to do something about it."

So, in essence we can just sit back because the company will fix all our issues to remain competitive for new hires and to fill captain positions?

This is why "reserve" keeps getting brought up on this forum

I spent 7 years on reserve in the right seat of an RJ. It wasn't by choice. You never know when the music stops.

NEWS FLASH!

We didn’t give ANYTHING away in TA1. It was voted down by 94%,we had a crooked MEC who left a legacy of Kirby centric toddlers who tried to pass off a ridiculously substandard pro management TA as an industry leading contract. Most of them got fired from ALPA. The message is loud and clear, NOTHING was given away in the failed TA1 that’s why we voted it down and fired the losers who tried to push it off on us.

In my 25.5 years with UAL I’ve spent a grand total of about 10 years on reserve. INCLUDING being shipped back to reserve during the lovely spring and summer of 2020 when I only had 23.5 years seniority with UAL. I also spent an additional sentence at TK to avoid reserve after getting mauled on the ISL while watching folks with 10 years less time on property enjoy holding a line on my desired seats.

So when I see a comment like yours regarding if you don’t want to be on reserve don’t bid it. I immediately assume you have been coddled in your career and haven’t yet experienced the realities of an airline industry induced B-slap. And your credibility with me drops to just below zero.

We need to fix reserve so it’s livable and commutable. Because you never know when the aviation gods are going to smite thee with yet another stint of commuting to reserve. Without solid meaningful reserve improvements, I’m a hard no vote.

Contrary to popular belief, reserve isn’t a choice for many. You might one day find yourself on reserve against your wishes one day as well….

I spent 8 years at regionals, all of which were commuting and for the most part, a 3 leg commute to reserve, but that was my choice to follow my wife’s career. Then spent 3 years at United commuting to global reserve. I understand that it sucks. However I don’t want to spend too much time and money negotiating for it. Some things in global reserve need to change, however the vast majority of guys on reserve right now choose to be there. Also if you live in base, there isn’t much to complain about besides the onslaught of FSB’s and short calls which seem to be getting taken care of. Sure sometimes reserve isn’t a choice, but despite what you say, everyone has the ability to move in base, just whether or not you choose to is up to you. My concern is guys are going to get an overall good contract in front of them but turn it down because first day call out is 10 am.. the horror.

If a person’s definition of industry leading is that every single line in our contract exceeds all other companies, they will be forever disappointed. Across all sections, some things will be better than the competition, some will fall short. It’s a package deal and there is no way to make 15,000+ people with individual priorities happy. All we can do is to wait for the final deal to come out and then vote accordingly.

We DON'T have that in our current contract. Go read it if you doubt me. We are 'protected' by the FAR and the FAAs current interpretation of what constitutes duty.

It’s obvious you haven’t spent time at a major during economic downturns with comments like these. Reserve isn’t always a choice, and many times you cant move within BES if there aren’t any vacancies or displacements. When UAL reserve rules are worse than every other Major and LCC, to include the likes of Spirit, Allegiant and Frontier, then there is problem. It’s about as obvious as a 10 pound tick on a 5 pound dog. The reserve rules MUST change and change now. I’m pretty sure your thinking is in the minority.