FlyAbove

It’s taken them a couple years to just recently release Flexbid after people were not happy with old PBS. I’d assume it will be tweaked slightly but I wouldn’t suspect anything else new for a couple more years…

CFITlikely

A simple solution to help pilots that aren’t happy with Flexbid would be to offer a 7/7 at the normal day rate. However they refuse and continue to see high attrition with those under 3 years on property.

The major problem with their bidding system is that it is not seniority based, it’s what they call “seniority biased” which means that it takes your preferences into account based on seniority but ultimately does whatever is best for overall coverage. As it was explained to me, the system “scores less points” if it doesn’t give a more senior person what they want. What does it mean to “score less points” not much I guess haha.

Your best bet is to build some time at Flex and then bounce once the majors (or even LCC’s) call. At an airline with an actual PBS you’ll start off with no options but at least get more and more control over your schedule as time goes on.

Side note: the old “PBS” was not a pbs system and it was misleading to call it that in the first place.

Brooklyn99

It's an internal app that is just another tab inside a proprietary app used for other day to day stuff. Seniority "biased" is one way to put it. But more so, at the end of the day they are always going to try to get airplanes crewed; since they refuse to pay people to stay, it means short manpower that falls to those who remain. And no - those giving thumbs-down are not inherently junior (yours truly for example) and I'm sure the company will get feedback - they are usually good about that lately. But I certainly don't predict any significant changes any time soon either.

Forums can be toxic - so I'll reiterate - there's very good people here, good intentions-ish, good perks in some respects, and to me its been a very low-drama place to be, with approachable people in HQ. If non-121 is you thing, then full-send. But there are some shortcomings in the FlexBid system, length of rotations, and career compensation. I'll try to leave, but by no means bitter or ill-will'd about it. The decision is purely related to length of rotations and career earnings. Neither one of those will change significantly in this decade; At the end of the day Kenn has essentially said that he doesn't pay as much as the airlines do, but will work harder to avoid furloughs in downturns (not to be a kool aid drinker but I truly believe he'll try to follow through on that in good faith). That's not enough to make me stay, but it doesn't make it an awful place to work, so I don't want to send the wrong message.

AA717driver

That won’t help the Phenom understaffing. People will bid DRL to work out their own schedules.

Human behavior is pretty easy to figure out.

AA717driver

I guess they had a meeting a couple weeks ago with senior management on how to retain people and stop the flow to the airlines. You obviously can’t compete directly when it comes to compensation so, they will have to appeal to the QOL aspect. I’m not on line yet but I’m guessing I would have been happier in this environment WRT QOL than I was at AA.

I think too many younger people look at the “recruiting poster” version of life at the big airline and think they will live that life after a few years. I retired at about 35-40% on the seniority list (NB CA in a junior base) and my QOL wasn’t anything to brag about. At Flex, you’ll get a few years under your belt and never pay for a vacation. You’ll never sweat a commute (while living where YOU choose). At the airlines, about every 8-10 years, your career takes a hit because of some cataclysmic event that you can’t see coming. Flexjet tries mightily to avoid that from what I’ve seen. I was endlessly frustrated by the gross (sometimes, seemingly intentional) inefficiency I saw every day. If you are a problem solver, the airlines will crush your soul.

Staying out of the airlines will cost you a bunch of money. But, I guarantee your QOL at the airline will fall short of what you anticipate going in. It’s whatever you want out of life.

FlyingCougar

I appreciate the positive take on not following the major airline path. At times I feel crazy for being one of the few wanting to do something else.

Brooklyn99

I hear you - but I almost stopped reading at "I haven't been to the line yet." There's nothing more to be said.

With respect, in my mind - you might be the one looking at a recruiting poster, but for Flexjet.

rickair7777

Not crazy at all.

You just have to realistically evaluate what you're gaining vs. what you're giving up. And be honest with yourself... just because you don't like airline flying, commuting, or living in a big hub doesn't mean you should necessarily skew the available data to support the conclusion you may have already made.

Paid commutes are a big deal... if you can live in a nice smaller town, especially a home town with friends and family, that makes up for a lot.

But carefully consider all aspects... just because you dislike airline flying doesn't mean that you won't dislike other types of flying more.

Also consider things like LTD, legacy pilots are often guaranteed 50-60% income to retirement age if they medical out. So your financial future is very secure unless you show up drunk.

FlyingCougar

I am in my early 30s now and healthy. But you never know what could happen later in life or be waiting dormant. That is a very good point I will need to chew on some.

BetOnIt

It would appear that you are the one who is really drinking the kool-aid hardcore at Flexjet. If you think the airlines are inefficient then just wait until you get out there and actually experience the operation. My record is three straight empty legs because they cannot make up their mind on what they wanted to do. Leaving for the airlines was the best decision I have made, and not only because of the money. Actually having control of my schedule and where I fly to and what time I fly is a huge QOL gain that Flexjet cannot offer. I’m interested to see where your enthusiasm is after about a year or two.