PotatoChip

The above is completely accurate and Birdstrikes, bless his heart, is wrong. Some of us patrol these boards to help inform others to stay away. I keep up on all old airlines I have worked for. Some good, some bad.
The pilot group is disbanded and self-serving. I personally voted NO to the 737 LOA but knew it would pass, despite being the industry bottom.
That's what you're getting.

Wheresthemoney

Oh ok.......

Birdstrikes

Everyone give PotatoChip a round of applause for providing a much needed service based on outdated experience. Well done..son. The BSA should give you a citation for doing a Good Turn Daily.

When you leave Nippon will you bless us all with your experience as a gaijin? How is that working out for ya by the way? Must be lonely.

PotatoChip

Lonely? With the 150 other westerners? With a Chicago domicile?
And you have something against Japanese people?

Birdstrikes

The Japanese are great. Are they still hiring direct entry captains? Maybe I'll come join you.....at least until the next downturn when they'll can all of the expats first.

Diesel8

Y'all seem to suffer from short term memory loss...

The CEO said in the phone conference call "If you can get get a better job then go get it" I mean, it's been less than six months since that happened and no one remembers it!

People at SAI have been kicked in the teeth for so long that they have to gum their food.

Strikes;
If it's so great why is there a 25% attrition rate company wide? Blah, Blah Blah - "you old whale guys screwing everything up". What do you have against the long term people @ Southern? Hate that people disagree with you? Why doesn't everyone kneel and yield to your greatness? Jeez, if you hate them so much why don't you just give them a line check and bust 'em out!

Those old whale guys have been working on trying to make this a better place for a long time. I assure you that if everyone could find more fertile fields they would have left. It's just that some people are trapped here by no fault of their own. So Strikes, why haven't you left?

It still s*cks on the 777, your just not having to face the adversity because your one of the special Check Airman with your "close & personal" relationship with management.

So what decade is the 5th 777 coming in? 2050, maybe? It's just right around the corner!

The way they are running the 737's makes Comair look good. Might as well be another separate scumbag airline.

The company has given up looking for new business. You want to know why? Because it's their intent is to shut it all down! H*ll, they'll just start another dirtbag carrier that they can run as a PFT operation, that way they don't even have to bother paying anyone.

There are no assets, it has no value. The only worth is the people's live's it will wreck. H*ll, it will probably give all of upper management a super collective woody knowing how many people they scr*wed over.

The 1224 wants to see Southern die, why? Because it drags down the entire industry. It's not even like the 1224 is representing top drawer airlines - save for a few. SAI is the scumiest of the scum.

Stay away unless your into drinking scum!

Birdstrikes

Whew! Take a big breath Diesel. The wording of my above post was directed at the guys that left SAI prior to flying the 777 or 737. They "patrol" these threads and try to post relevant advice based on their outdated experience. For the most part, other than suffering under the same old CBA, their previous experience does not apply to the current daily life of a Southern pilot.

I have nothing against 747 guys. I was a whale guy too and proud of it. Many of us work constantly to improve things whether they are little items or big. We're all on this shipwreck together.

Cheers,

robthree

Bird has a vested interest in high turnover.

He's comfortable. One of a handful of people who are comfortable at SAI, a very exclusive club that is not going to get any bigger, ever. But if the rest of us agitate too hard for change he may lose some of his comfort. We could burn the place down. That would be bad for him. He'd have to start over at the bottom at another carrier, or try to get a gig overseas.

New hires haven't had enough of the ****e sandwiches. They won't vote to burn it all down. They aren't fed up with broken promises and getting kicked in the balls all day, everyday. They don't threaten to upset his apple cart.

They might trade his home basing for a raise, if the MEC were to let that come up for a vote. (Which is pretty unlikely.)

And a a check airman, all that IOE is good for his bottom line, too.


On the other hand, I benefit only if the company can't find enough warm bodies to fill the seats. Not merely have difficulty finding people, but actually can't get the people. I believe conditions will never improve so long as they can maintain minimum staffing. Only a crisis will convince them that they have to do anything, even something symbolic like acknowledge the commuter clause applies to all flights, not just the last leg into CVG. Or building schedules that are not designed to make our lives as miserable as possible.

Contract negotiations begin shortly, despite the fast track language in the current contract, I'll be shocked if we get to vote on a contract that is as good as Atlas' in the next five years, if ever. I simply don't think the company will ever agree to any improvements. Getting the 777 on Florida West's certificate may take some effort, but it will happen before we get a good contract.


Point is, we all come to this discussion with different agendas and different points of view. I try to be honest in expressing mine, and respecting others differences. Bird has different values and priorities. And he refuses to show any respect to his colleagues on this board, past or present, who have different views than his. Remember that we are all selling something, except the guys who have left. They get no benefit from your decision to come here or stay away. They are here strictly as a public service.


There are a few people that SAI is a good fit for; for every Sadist, God made a Masochist. Even if you think this is a the right kind of job for you, I'd recommend Atlas or Connie as a better choice.

PotatoChip

Let's see, most of the guys I fly with have been at the company 10-15 years, a few over 20. During the last economic downturn in 2007-09 zero pilots were laid off. Not to mention that we outnumber the Japanese 4 to 1.

The last DEC was over 12 years ago.

You give me grief for giving "outdated advice", yet you continue to talk about my company which you know nothing about.

PotatoChip

Yeah, it's a completely different company now!! Same management, same low pay, same industry worst contract.... But what do I know?
Everyone, come work here. ONE GUY in this thread thinks it's a good place to hang your hat. The rest of us are fools.