SKs Comments About Lack of Upgrades
 

On this morning’s earnings call:

Helane Becker “So lately, we've been seeing a lot of articles about pilots refusing to move from the right seat to the left seat and being short captains. And that's something that existed for the regionals. But I didn't -- I was surprised to see it exists for major airlines as well. And I'm just wondering if the new contract addresses that and how you think about having enough captains to fly what you're intending to do?

Scott Kirby

“The short answer is, yes, the new contract does address that. It is also -- it's interesting, it's the first time that I've ever known it to happen in the airline industry. And it's one of those interesting artifacts of so much growth at United. In the past, you spent 10, 12 years sometimes before you get your first shot at captain. If you didn't take it on the first shot, it might be another five or six before we came around again and so everyone took it. But now our pilots have enough confidence in the future, I think, as they should in that they can wait and let their seniority go up a little more, which helps the quality of life.

And so we have had not as many captains as we’d hope upgrading. It hasn't affected capacity yet. It is going to impact capacity in the fourth quarter. That's all in our numbers, by the way, already. But the good news is the contract, I think, fixes that. It depends. I'm not sure how long we do we get 100% back. I think it will be the second half of next year. The union leadership thinks it will be a lot faster than that. But somewhere in that timeframe, we'll get back to a full level of captains. That's a transitory issue that's already in our numbers, but we're on a good path.

And the one data point I have is our first captain -- our most recent captain gate closed last night, and it was meaningfully better, and they haven't even seen the new country yet. They just know that there is direct. It's already made a difference. And this is a unique issue that will be in the rearview mirror sometime next year.”

I'll be one of the many who jump on the upgrade when the TA drops. The AIP sounds great...let's hope the language is more of the same.

It’s also a product of our international footprint, a lot of people are willing to give up ~5k to do one leg a day and not 3 to DSM. It’s great we have choices and I think a lot of senior FOs are exercising that. Now if Premuim dries up then maybe senior NB FOs will reconsider but with the growth and increases in OE expect them to continue to bid LCP trips and double dip I think.

It's always a good racket to work the system and double dip until the music stops and you're back to min guarantee in the right seat, wishing you were making that left seat money.

If you budget for min guarantee, everything else is gravy. I have no problem making less than the guy in the left seat when I’m home with my kids. Got plenty of time to upgrade and make CA pay (with better seniority) when I’m paying for their college. Haha

What AIP did you read that sounds great? UALs AIP has even more convoluted reserve rules, rolled days off still a thing in both categories, no ability to pickup premium pay on reserve… no reductions in credit for company built lines, no ability to trip trade or drop trips for line holders… TA misses on Quality Of Life and the pay raise is mediocre for the period of time until the next amenable date, let alone how long it’s been since the contract has been amenable.

I agree, while at face value it seems like a better deal than we currently have (anything is better than what we currently have), it all comes down to implementation. The dedicated long call sounds great IF we get more than 2 LCR lines. There needs to be rules like 30-40% of reserves are dedicated LCR. Reserves need the ability to pick up trips on their days off and get those days off restored later in the month like at Delta. Senior reserves should be able to bypass trips like at American. And no more rolled into days off. I’ll stay an FO and enjoy my quality of life.

I second this. While a small step
forward, the new reserve rules still leave us far behind our peers.

I think if they allowed reserves to pick up over and above guarantee they’d have more people upgrading. It’s standard practice everywhere else. Wouldn’t hurt lineholder ability to pick up since it’s seniority driven and with buffers in place it can be done without affecting reserve.

I’ll have to disagree, after 24 years as an airline pilot our current contract is head and shoulders above anything I’ve ever worked under before.