'Mo info from "O"
01-14-2008, 06:44 PM
#1
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Joined APC: Jul 2007
Position: 767 Captain
Posts: 3,989
'Mo info from "O"
RGS day #1 visit from "O"
Nothing too mind-blowing but some may find it new or interesting (in no particular order):
Guess at how much we're over manned - ~200 pilots (said it's his number - not something he's seen in writing but considered it a pretty accurate estimate).
Quote: “I will not discuss the “f-word” since we are not going to go down that road.”
BLG reduction will most likely go down to the CBA limits of 68/85 and seemed to indicate that would probably be it. Any further reductions would need to be negotiated and seemed to be unlikely from the way he spoke (we’ll see I guess).
“O” is pursuing several initiatives w/ company to mitigate manning issues and deal w/ age 65 consequences:
- Early retirement packages
- Reducing carryover (can’t eliminate it completely but thought a reduction was doable).
- Possible low RLG “no work reserve lines” similar to what UAL did when they parked their 727/737-200 fleet. (i.e. Bid one of the lines for a reduced RLG and stay home with no responsibilities that month). I kind of laughed at this because a number he threw out was 30-35 hours of pay for one of these lines (just seemed like a # he guessed at). UAL had a 75 hour guarantee at the time and their “no work line” paid 60. Pretty big difference. Someone in the Guard with lots of days available or a good side business may think it’s an option.
Company is looking at 121 Flag ops pretty hard. One reason is the fuel savings due to no alternate required w/ good wx. Another was the 777 ultra-long range crew requirements (pre and post trip rest, crew complement, etc.) may require us to operate as a flag carrier. Referenced MEM-HKG and MEM-SZX as typical flights of 16+ hours. 777 will be crewed at about 20 crews per aircraft versus ~11 crews/jet on MD-11.
Hoping for more holes at FDAs to be filled on the re-bid but acknowledges they may not. Company will evaluate off the street hiring to fill holes once the bid results are known. May leave holes open for now and not jump right on hiring to fill them since max number of crews at FDAs are not needed immediately.
Minimal sympathy for b!tches about sodomizer and it’s effects. Praised the SIG and their efforts to ID and fix problem pairings. Said he’s been getting involved in “fixing” the really bad ones too when they are brought to his attention. Said that claims of increased fatigue calls and disrupted pairings are just not supported by the numbers he’s seeing.
Felt 757 instructor cadre involved in the whole pay debacle was getting unfair criticism. He thought they were just pursuing what they thought was fair under the contract and not looking for a “special deal”.
757 #1 still fragged for April 08 revenue service. 3 x 777 to arrive in mid 09 (?Aug) with the rest in 2010-11 (I think). Says launch customer for 777F is Air France and they ordered their jets without a cockpit door. Putting our version of the intrusion resistant door on it does not allow appropriate decompression equalization between the flight deck and the rest of the cargo deck. Boeing says a workable fix is wayyyy expensive and O basically said we don’t have a plan for right now. He wants the DC-10 gone or in conversion to MD-10 yesterday. I can’t remember when he said they really might be gone. 727s will be gone by 2014 (we’ll see).
Age 65 “talk” was saved until the end. I won’t really do justice to his entire viewpoint but I’ll try to give the basics. No one was expecting it to pass and be implemented with the speed it did and company/he was caught with their pants down. Said he agreed with the rationales behind cancelling the bid. One was not abrogating seniority (
……whatever). Another was that junior Captains who just got their bid awards cancelled probably would not have been able to hold onto their seats anyway (if the bid hadn’t been cancelled) due to impending excess bids still coming on the DC-10. So why award and train them if they were just going to be excessed off in a few months. Acknowledged we are probably looking at around 3 years of stagnation in your current seat absent a significant upswing in the company’s business.
That’s all I can remember for now. Anyone else that was there, please feel free to offer corrections/clarifications or additions.
Cheers,
The Messenger (JUST the messenger
)
Nothing too mind-blowing but some may find it new or interesting (in no particular order):
Guess at how much we're over manned - ~200 pilots (said it's his number - not something he's seen in writing but considered it a pretty accurate estimate).
Quote: “I will not discuss the “f-word” since we are not going to go down that road.”
BLG reduction will most likely go down to the CBA limits of 68/85 and seemed to indicate that would probably be it. Any further reductions would need to be negotiated and seemed to be unlikely from the way he spoke (we’ll see I guess).
“O” is pursuing several initiatives w/ company to mitigate manning issues and deal w/ age 65 consequences:
- Early retirement packages
- Reducing carryover (can’t eliminate it completely but thought a reduction was doable).
- Possible low RLG “no work reserve lines” similar to what UAL did when they parked their 727/737-200 fleet. (i.e. Bid one of the lines for a reduced RLG and stay home with no responsibilities that month). I kind of laughed at this because a number he threw out was 30-35 hours of pay for one of these lines (just seemed like a # he guessed at). UAL had a 75 hour guarantee at the time and their “no work line” paid 60. Pretty big difference. Someone in the Guard with lots of days available or a good side business may think it’s an option.
Company is looking at 121 Flag ops pretty hard. One reason is the fuel savings due to no alternate required w/ good wx. Another was the 777 ultra-long range crew requirements (pre and post trip rest, crew complement, etc.) may require us to operate as a flag carrier. Referenced MEM-HKG and MEM-SZX as typical flights of 16+ hours. 777 will be crewed at about 20 crews per aircraft versus ~11 crews/jet on MD-11.
Hoping for more holes at FDAs to be filled on the re-bid but acknowledges they may not. Company will evaluate off the street hiring to fill holes once the bid results are known. May leave holes open for now and not jump right on hiring to fill them since max number of crews at FDAs are not needed immediately.
Minimal sympathy for b!tches about sodomizer and it’s effects. Praised the SIG and their efforts to ID and fix problem pairings. Said he’s been getting involved in “fixing” the really bad ones too when they are brought to his attention. Said that claims of increased fatigue calls and disrupted pairings are just not supported by the numbers he’s seeing.
Felt 757 instructor cadre involved in the whole pay debacle was getting unfair criticism. He thought they were just pursuing what they thought was fair under the contract and not looking for a “special deal”.
757 #1 still fragged for April 08 revenue service. 3 x 777 to arrive in mid 09 (?Aug) with the rest in 2010-11 (I think). Says launch customer for 777F is Air France and they ordered their jets without a cockpit door. Putting our version of the intrusion resistant door on it does not allow appropriate decompression equalization between the flight deck and the rest of the cargo deck. Boeing says a workable fix is wayyyy expensive and O basically said we don’t have a plan for right now. He wants the DC-10 gone or in conversion to MD-10 yesterday. I can’t remember when he said they really might be gone. 727s will be gone by 2014 (we’ll see).
Age 65 “talk” was saved until the end. I won’t really do justice to his entire viewpoint but I’ll try to give the basics. No one was expecting it to pass and be implemented with the speed it did and company/he was caught with their pants down. Said he agreed with the rationales behind cancelling the bid. One was not abrogating seniority (
……whatever). Another was that junior Captains who just got their bid awards cancelled probably would not have been able to hold onto their seats anyway (if the bid hadn’t been cancelled) due to impending excess bids still coming on the DC-10. So why award and train them if they were just going to be excessed off in a few months. Acknowledged we are probably looking at around 3 years of stagnation in your current seat absent a significant upswing in the company’s business. That’s all I can remember for now. Anyone else that was there, please feel free to offer corrections/clarifications or additions.
Cheers,
The Messenger (JUST the messenger
)
01-14-2008, 06:51 PM
#3
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2007
Position: Gear Monkey
Posts: 3,199
[quote=Adlerdriver;299870]...- Possible low RLG “no work reserve lines” similar to what UAL did when they parked their 727/737-200 fleet. (i.e. Bid one of the lines for a reduced RLG and stay home with no responsibilities that month). I kind of laughed at this because a number he threw out was 30-35 hours of pay for one of these lines (just seemed like a # he guessed at). UAL had a 75 hour guarantee at the time and their “no work line” paid 60. Pretty big difference. Someone in the Guard with lots of days available or a good side business may think it’s an option.... [quote]
Very interesting....I definitely know guys that would take that deal!
Now, would that preclude folks from also going in and picking up trips in "Open Time" that month?
Can you imagine the screaming if someone is getting paid 30-35 hrs to NOT work all month and then jumps in and grabs "Open Time" on top of it.
Zowsa!!!
Very interesting....I definitely know guys that would take that deal!
Now, would that preclude folks from also going in and picking up trips in "Open Time" that month?
Can you imagine the screaming if someone is getting paid 30-35 hrs to NOT work all month and then jumps in and grabs "Open Time" on top of it.
Zowsa!!!
01-14-2008, 07:53 PM
#4
Gets Off
Joined APC: Jan 2007
Position: Nordskog Industries Field Technician
Posts: 688
Damn! Three more years of flying around the world chasing dangerous women.
Life could be worse.
01-14-2008, 10:30 PM
#5
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2006
Position: 11 Capt
Posts: 509
01-15-2008, 07:19 AM
#9
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Joined APC: Mar 2006
Position: Completely Apolitical Nonsensical Slogan that has nothing to do with politics in the slightest....
Posts: 160
Makes the whole doom and gloom thing from F.Alpa appear to be a red-herring... "Don't blame us for screwing you over, just think of the lawsuits... It's the times baby!! Nevermind that man behind the curtain!! I ran out of gas!! There were locusts!!!!"
Hmmmm..... Now back to watching Blue's Clues...
Hmmmm..... Now back to watching Blue's Clues...
01-15-2008, 10:34 AM
#10
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: May 2007
Position: Who knows...waiting for a bid
Posts: 379
Delta has the same program for the 777, where they bid the reduced line, but they are not allowed to pick up anything extra.I could do some sitting at home and getting paid(just like the Memphis folks bidding reserve have been doing for years).HJ
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