SoCalGuy

FWIW.....Per Captain Mike Bowers (EWR-ACP B756) "Blastmail" - June 16, 2011

4. I Pad II: The I Pads are coming. They will be Yi-Fi only (no 3G), they are the new I Pad II's and will be used a the primary source of all of your manuals. They will also be a backup source for your Jepps. We will start seeing them in the August time frame, with the B-737 community getting them first. Around the October time frame you will see us transition to "Ship Sets" for our Jepps. I just went on a United B-767-300 and saw how they use their Ship Sets. Each pilot has his own bag on each side of the plane and there is also a NAV Kit in the back just like we do. So the only difference is that when you leave the plane, you leave the Jepps behind. You also will no longer have to update your paper Jepps. Once all of our EFB's are installed and certified we will do away with the Ship Sets and use the EFB as our primary source of Jepps and the I Pads will remain a source of manuals and the back up for the Jepps. You will be allowed to have your personal email on your I Pad and limited internet capability. Certain aviation applications will be pre-loaded. The I Pads will be electronically updated via Yi -Fi. This is a real positive development. In the next few months you will no longer be totting around the heavy bags. I think my arms are 2 inches longer now than from when I started here, just from lugging that bag around.

SpecialTracking

Yi-fi? What a addlepate. They can take their wi-fi ipad 2's and stick them in a nice dark place. After 11 years of bankruptcy wages, I want my contract now.

Peace be with you.

APC225

And also with you.

EWRflyr

Did someone not get their hug today?

Let's see:

No more Jepps - Saves the company money
No more manuals - Saves the company money
Fewer OJIs due to flight bags - Saves the company money

Big money savings for the company = more money available to our side of the table in our new contract. Sounds like a good thing to me.

syd111

How much money will be saved ewr?

tozairport

You get no credit for saving the company money BEFORE the contract is complete. Once those savings are realized, then the company has lost another incentive to get the contract done. Why we are helping the company with ANYTHING ay this point (integration training) is way beyond me. They are not making anything easy for me, I will not make anything easy for them. Only once they realize this is the prevailing sentiment will we get an industry leading contract. Like I said before, I will gladly carry an Ipad for them as long as it comes pre-loaded with contract 2011.

Monkeyfly

"Yi-Fi" only huh?
Good thing I still have my selluler phone.

SpecialTracking

Company savings? Since 2003 United has been saving $1.2 billion/year from the wallets of it's pilots. The money you save for the company funds such efforts as, kerp's, contract buyouts (golden parachutes), Aer Lingus and Madrid.
I'm tired of shiny gadgets and promises of we are going to rule the aviation world. The United I once knew has long since died. Only the pilots I fly with make this place palatable. My only goal is to have fun and give the passengers the safety they deserve.
I only work for a paycheck. A paycheck that is insulting at best. If you think that saving the company money will benefit your paycheck, you are free to think that. I however feel their goal is to pay us $1 more in salary than that for which we would walk away from this career. They are well beneath that mark for me personally.

EWRflyr

Look, I'm trying to see the positives here in any initiative that saves the company money because I'm beaten down along with everyone else and don't have much to be happy about these days. I'm working like crazy with minimum days off with no staffing, getting voicemails on my days off begging me to come in to cover flying that pops up, etc.

I don't like going to work and being negative ALL OF THE TIME or being surrounded by people who ARE angry and negative all of the time. I look at the unemployment numbers and am thankful I have a job and thankful that I wasn't one of our furloughed pilots. I try not to be a pessimist in everything in life.

So every little press release I see or announcement on any initiative that saves the company money I say, "Look they are piling up the savings knowing they are going to need to pay us for our contract!" Would you rather that be the case or "There's another $2 million going to Jeff when this is implemented" mentality? I prefer to think of every savings as the former and not the latter. I'd rather the pilots pocket the money than J. Lo. That's all I was trying to say...maybe in a tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic way.

Now what we can actually accomplish at the negotiating table remains to be seen.

tozairport

And this is why we fail.

I don't know you and I'm sure we would get along famously if we ever flew together, so please take this as a comment on an anonymous thread and not as a personal dig. That being said, why anyone would do anything to help this company, beaten down or not, is beyond me. Any dollar saved makes Jeff look better to the board and to the shareholders, and if he looks good then we won't get a contract. It's as simple as that. Our best tact at this point when the company asks for something is to give them a blank stare and folded arms. I'm flying lines with 90+ hours and minimum days off too. I'm beaten down too. But I will never be so beaten down to the point where I will capitulate to the company's whims. FUPM.