Bgood

I'm not sure if an extra $500 per pay period will hold enough for the extra BS that we deal with. Captains can get more than that in just open time.

Forrest Gump

Learned today that there's a permanent ground instructor who has no experience in the actual airplane (seemingly no simulator experience either) and no maintenance background working on the airplane...

mking84

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Haha you're so far off it's very entertaining! Thanks for trying though!!

tacocasa

My understanding of 'Seat Lock' is when the company awards you the seat for which you bid then you are expected to stay in that seat for a specified period of time. Didn't the 'seat locked' folks BID / request that SEAT??? It seems unfair to reward the guys who got what they requested and not also the folks who didn't. If they were displaced or somehow forced into a seat then maybe that would be different. What about the folks who could have BID 'the 8' and would have had they been offered an extra $1,000 per month? It seems duplicitous to change the compensation AFTER the BID. The only way this would be fair is allow everyone to rebid with full disclosure of what the compensation is beforehand. Changing the compensation after the fact essentially negates the validity of the bid.

I also don't understand the concept of ONLY rewarding the NEW HIRES with a bonus. This seems another short sighted solution which attracts 'gold-diggers' and punishes loyalty. RETENTION bonuses increases RETENTION. Do you want to retain quality people who are already trained and know the system or do you want to create a revolving door. (New Hire bonuses creates a revolving door (lateral moves) because someone else will always be able to offer a more attractive short term carrot. First it's 5k, then 10k,then 15k, etc.)

If you guys are gonna emulate someone then perhaps copy a place which resembles what you want to become. Do you want to be more like Endeavor or Piedmont? Maybe both or neither would be an improvement. Hang in there - there's a pilot shortage coming, lol.

Saucy Dingo

I mention Piedmont because they are doing exactly what we are, growing and replacing dashes with 145s. Except they are doing a much better job with recruiting. Plus Piedmont does offer both retention and new hire bonuses to their pilots. That's the minimum it takes to grow an airline these days.

You can upgrade instantly here at C5 and start at $53 an hour, but that would only attract people who have prior 121 time. Financially, C5 has very little to offer a 1500 hour CFI compared to other airlines. We offer no new hire bonuses for CFIs and no retention bonuses for current pilots. So we aren't getting the gold diggers OR retaining the loyal guys. Not exactly the best formula for doubling the seniority list.

Endeavor's bonus package is better overall than Piedmont because everyone is paid the same, or closer to it. But I would rather see those bonuses turned into pay rates. The first airline to do that would be swarmed.

Saucy Dingo

At C5, an extra $1,000 per month would mostly just make captain pay on the dash equal to 145 captain pay. I think Piedmont's way has some merit, because they found a way to make people WANT the dash 8, versus assigning it to people who don't want it and then enforcing a seat lock. Their way keeps people happy and provides better staffing to smoothly transition their fleets.

LostMedic

Well a net loss is not a good start to the spring summer. I have a feeling we are going to be double booked this year or something has to change. I am very interested to see how this shakes out.

elssaw

I may be missing something here but 'if u are assigned' then you are NOT seat locked. Right?

Saucy Dingo

Not quite. If you are assigned the dash, you are seat locked. However, you can upgrade into either airplane anytime. But once you upgrade, you are seat locked.

A dash FO cannot bid 145 FO (seat lock).
A dash FO CAN upgrade to 145 Captain.
A 145 Captain cannot bid dash Captain (seat lock).

elssaw

Not sure how it's worded for you, and I'm not trying to dispute this because you probably know more about this than most. But, is there any distinction between the definition of 'awarded' a seat through he bidding process versus 'assigned' a seat through the bidding process. Most CBA's consider 'awards' subject to seat lock and 'assignments' not.