Arado 234

I don't want to start another East/West turf war here, but ... (sorry, I just couldn't resist ). Anyway, latest gossip is that there might be satellite bases this fall, AA style. I am not really familiar with the system of satellite bases, can some AA pilots please shed some light into this? If we do get satellite bases e.g. LAX could East and West crews fly together?

Sliceback

MIA also has FLL and PBI trips.
DCA has BWI and IAD.
LAX - ONT, SNA, SAN.
NYC - JFK, LGA, EWR.

Basic setup.

Cheddar

Is there still any DAL flying left, or is everything out of DFW now?

I'm probably really dating myself.

7576FO

There was (is) in our contract "Home basing" which was to include SFO, STL, SLC and TPA.
Technically SFO and STL are Home bases.

I called my rep and asked are they still planning on this? TPA (Tampa was next) he said "No, Parker doesn't like the idea or was reluctant to it."

The reasoning for unusual choices versus say MCO, is TPA is a one airplane base and thus you'd only need one type of reserve pilot there.

For comparison only, AA MIA FA's have a satellite ATL base. There is no admin in ATL at all, and if you are sick YOU must find your replacement. THey hate commuting so much they (FA's) are willing to be flexible.

Our SFO base is truly a Home base. We all hope it will be reopened. There is language in our contract that if sick calls result in more than 15% of reserves being called out to cover trips over the first year, then the base will be closed.
I'm winging the 15% without looking at our contract. I think that's what it was.
Does not apply to STL. Parker agreed to keep those 2 bases open.

LAX reserves will (are) covering SFO base.

I like the idea of Home basing, but looks like it will not happen in the near future.

FreighterGuyNow

No.

America West still uses Maestro for both pilots and Flight Attendants while Us Airways uses Catcrew.

When the FA's got a joint contract ( Feb 2013 ) there was a single bid to allow domicile changes but I'm pretty sure it was a limited number of slots allowed and none since.

Seems it is a big deal for IT to pull a crew member out of one and insert them into the other. Flew with a new FA on his first trip - employee number was 24. Guess they have to reuse them since Catcrew is maxed out.

Oh yea, it's all the East pilots fault - but we all knew that already.

audioflyer

Could someone please explain how the satellite bases work? I'm a complete newb. For example, could I live at BWI and work out of DCA?

I'm coming over from the military and am just starting to figure things out. Thanks for your patience.

DCA A321 FO

On the Airways side, back in the early 2000's we would drive to DCA or IAD, but for a trip out of BWI, the airline would limo us there. I don't think there is much originating stuff out of IAD or BWI anymore.

On the AA side I believe they covered all three back in the day.

You could easily live at BWI and work out of DCA.

CLazarus

AA Bubbas,

Semi quick questions for you. What is the difference between a satellite base and home base? I understand the SFO Home base is closing, any informed guesses as to why it failed? Roughly how many crews staffed it before closure was decided (I see on the Size of Each Hub thread it currently has 36 crews). Was it 737 only?

Reason I ask is allegedly UA mgmt approached our MEC a year ago and was interested in establishing either satellite or home bases. Our MEC rejected the idea outright because it would 'abrogate' seniority. I'm pretty skeptical of that explanation and our MEC has kept it awfully quiet so far as I can tell. Compared to your contract, there doesn't seem to be any provision for home/satellite bases in ours. I was just wondering what your experience with it was and whether it was popular with the crews while it lasted. Thanks much for any tidbits.

Marlin

The SFO crew base was closed a few years ago. Some/most believe it was a punitive reaction by management, due to a "radical" union rep from that base. Regardless of why, a small satellite base was established(737 only), with roughly 40 crews. The pilots were supposedly responsible for finding a replacement for themselves if they went sick, as there was/is no reserve coverage at the satellite base. Crew schedule mod apparently was instrumental in putting the kabosh on the whole thing, as they were tired of finding / shipping reserves from lax to cover flying in SFO.
The few guys that were based there obviously liked the system, but it is soon to be closed, forcing most to commute down to lax(which is tough), or wherever else they can hold , about anywhere, as SFO was/is very senior .

QuagmireGiggity

I think you're base would be DC and if you're seniority can hold it you can bid trips that start finish at the Satellite of BWI.

Home base is a four part bid status where the people in SFO are domiciled in SFO.

People domiciled in New York can bid EWR trips. They are not based in EWR they can bid for EWR monthly trips if they can hold it. Reserves in New York are required to cover any New York airport: JFK, EWR or LGA.

SFO is closing because they said the cancelation rate is too high. The contract also says in order to keep the Satellite going is must use no more than 5% of the main bases reserves. Not sure if it went over that.

FAs have a few Home bases where I suppose they volunteer enough to get all flying covered because they know if they don't their base may close. So it makes me wonder if the SFO pilots were not answering their phones or if there really just isn't enough there to get the coverage needed. There were only 32 pilots in SFO... All 737.