Clear Right

You need to check your facts. You get 5% Match + 5% Guaranteed profit sharing. If the latest rumor is true, you will soon get an additional 3% added to those #'s for a grand total of 13% 401K contribution match annually. That is on Par with most major airlines and hands down beats much of corporate America. This is not bad at all.

More Bacon

Shouldn't profit sharing be in addition to the retirement package...not a part of it?

Diesel1030

http://www.alpa.org/portals/alpa/new...an-c-and-a.png

Keep smoking your peace pipe. I don't necessarily feel alpa is the end all be all but good for checking your facts.

I'll enjoy my $5.55 Profit sharing check after all our money made was spent on more dca/ LGA slots . Face it we are behind other carriers.

Diesel1030

Also I'll believe that 3% workaround when it's in my paycheck. How many years has that promise kept a union off property?



More Backon.. You are correct but folks here slurping the juice believe its one in the same and that we are on close to par with everyone else.

Clear Right

Please tell me that you know your current benefits. Let me speak to you very clearly...you get a guaranteed 5% Profit Sharing check even if the company does not make money. You also get an additional 5% 401K match for a total of 10% annually. If you dont understand this then please read your benefits package, not the ALPA newsletter that has no clue what your current benefits entail.

Rake222

I can only say read some history and ask around. Start with pilots of carriers that are either entirely gone, loosing ground in major sections of their CBA, lost retirements, cuts in benefits, increase costs of benefits, increase in productivity, cuts in pay (APA, ALPA, Teamsters, USAPA). A CBA is a guarantee of short term value (the few days pilots celebrate any improvements) and is no protection when a company eventually tells you it will not last. That is how it has been the past decade. This applies to most carriers except SWA, Alaska, FEDEX. The list of pilot groups that have lost the protections and benefits of their CBA is too long to list.

I wish this weren't the case.

lake alice

5% is guaranteed and deposited monthly into your 401K. The profit sharing 5% is deposited at the end of the year and dependent on board approval. Not guaranteed. Great loss of compound interest. There are rumors of the additional 3% but based on JetBlue track record this could take at least a year or two. We've also been told we'd get loss of license, better health insurance and industry standard LTD/STD.

JetBlue retirement will never be industry standard due to ERISA. The rumored 13% will never be deposited monthly, account for compound interest or be in a B fund. The additional 3% is rumored to be in the form of stock grants. Most of us were issued stock options at hiring which are still considered part of your compensation package but are completely worthless. With a stock price of roughly $5 most have options at $12-40.
JetBlue's retirement is second only to VX for the worst in the industry.

lake alice

For the record ever major airline pilot group with a CBA has better benefits and retirement than Jetblue. Also for the record even during bankruptcy the major carriers provided better benefits and retirement than a non bankrupt JetBlue. Again for record today these airlines still provide better benefits and retirement than JetBlue.

We have entirely too many pilots who continue to defend managements intention to provide us substandard benefits and retirement with a tired and ridiculous argument that JetBlue is growing, JetBlue is only 12 years old, management is working on it, JetBlue will take care of us, etc...
You get what you negotiate and that is exactly why JetBlue pilots are behind In so many areas.

Clear Right

The BOD has never turned down the 5% profit sharing. I agree the retirement could be industry standard, but I would prefer it to always be 401K, so the company can never touch it if things eventually went south. I would like to see a 13% 401K match similar to WN.

My opinion is JetBlue remains a cometitive airline due to keeping costs in line. Our pilots are the most productive in the industry. And you can get paid very well with premium pay and productivity. These costs include management by the way. Barger remains the lowest paid in the industry and the rest of management keeps compensation in line as well. You never see bonuses going to JetBlue management.

If you want this to be a Collective Bargaining Airline with industry leading pay and "Feather Bedding" work rules then we will suffer the same fate as all of the Legacy Airlines. Eventually costs will get out of control and we will suffer the cyclical bankruptcy or utter failure of the rest. Look at WN, Kelly has already warned his labor costs are too high to compete. My opinion is we should stay just above industry average and then have premium incentives for productivity. This will continue to allow growth and a competitive advantage for the company.

We have a good thing at JetBlue as long as the Pilots don't screw it up with the hopes that ALPA will get them some great contract. ALPA is a joke of an organization that does not deserve one penny. Stop living in the past, stop the mentality that you are "entitled" to more. How about being a productive positive employee that provides great customer service and is compensated fairly. The legacy Union mentality will be the downfall of JetBlue in the long run. JBPA is fine, but keep ALPA away.

lake alice

Industry leading? Heck I've been trying for ten years to get to industry standard. The "we've got a good thing going" crowd that keeps screwing it up. We have a good thing going as long as we dont ask or demand industry standard. Like I said every airline that is union seems to have these benefits but we, because we have a good thing going and don't want to screw it up, don't. This isn't an ALPA argument by the way. This is a compensated properly argument. Pathetic.