SpiraMirabilis

RAH is replacing them with 135s? That sure makes a lot of economical sense... NOT.

JetJock16

Probably more at-risk flying seeing that we are currently making more money off PR flying than the FFD.

Also keep in mind that SAPA is in intense (LOL!) negotiations with Mgmnt over a Q400 pay rate for us. Intense, I love it when they use that word. What a joke.

Fletch727

I could be mistaken, but I believe all but 1 or 2 -135's remain. However, there are what, 9(?) soon to be former UA 145's being drawn out of service. The 37-50 seat simply covers the usage of the 1 or 2 smaller airframes...

SpiraMirabilis

Pay rate shouldn't be less than CRJ700 rate, IMHO.

flyboyzz1

Last I had heard, they dropped the Q flying when SAPA "said no" to 5% more than EMB prices... Have they started talking about it again?

waflyboy

Have you forgotten about the cookies?!?!

waflyboy

I doubt it, and I'm not sure how I feel about it anyway. On one hand, it would be nice to see some expansion. On the other, I'm sure we'd be flying them for too little pay. Probably some kind of BHO system like the CRJ700.

EngineOut

How could it be a BHO anyway? A BHO only works with the CRJ fleet. We're all qualified on all variants of the airframe. We get a -200 base rate (vacation, etc.) and are paid for the hours that we are scheduled to fly on the others.

The only way a BHO makes any sense on the Q400 is if only the Brasillia pilots are dual qualified. How does that make any sense? Train all the upgrades on both airframes?

Looking at the operators of the Q400 now (Lynx, Horizon, Colgan), I think our current base CRJ 200 rate is fair for a 70-seat turboprop.

Anything less is unacceptable. Just my opinion. I know there are some "seat-pay" hardliners, but my personal opinion is that "seat-pay" is an irrational expectation in this climate.

JetJock16

UAL originally wanted 10 Q's out of DEN but Mgmnt said no to anything less than 23. Now UAL is back talking about putting Q's in both DEN & LAX. 40 total Q's have been mentioned by KB.

As for the pay, yes Mgmnt originally said Emb +5% which would make us the cheapest operator in the nation. SAPA came back and said we'd take no less than a mean average of Colgan and Horizons pay, which Mgmnt said that was too much. They are still in talks.

In my opinion Mgmnt is making it look like they are negotiating with SAPA and when it's all done we'll get a pay rate around our CR2 rates (which is what ASA gets for their ATR's -5%). This way SAPA & Mgmnt can continue to keep the SAPA/union illusion alive by making this look like a big SAPA victory. Either way, anything less than CR7 pay is too little. I think the pay should reflect the # of seats and not whether it's a TP or a TF.

On a side note; it's sad that if Mgmnt & SAPA came to our pilot group and said that if we voted yes for Q pay at EMB rates plus 5% we'd get 40 new airframes; they'd get a 65% approval vote. Most would say let's get them on property and then we'll get paid and the others just care about the movement (Upgrades, transitions, etc).

It will be a dark day if we start operating Q's for those rates.

FlyinPiker

Wow...really? Luckily I know a few guys higher up on the list over there that think different.

You guys are one of the few companies out there that seems to still be a class act and pay decent wages. It's time to stop looking at the other guys playbooks, grow a pair and not be afraid to take the lead.

The only reason your payscales are what they are is because of the blood/sweat of hard fought contract's such as Comair's and Air Wisconsin (pre 9/11-concessions of course). The old "we'll have want they are having plus 1% if you want to keep us non-union".

Those days are gone and while the trailblazers have had to take cuts you guys are lucky enough to still be sitting there with untouched payrates.

No one's around to piggyback off of anymore.

You guys have been kicking some serious a.ss for the last 10 years from where I've been sitting.

I don't think you should be comparing rates with any other company's than your own. You guys deserve it.

I'm not familiar with how your payrates work but I hope you meant the base rate on the CRJ700/900 verses the 200.

70pax, crew of 4, mountainous terrian/crap wx...200 payscale? No way. They want these planes more than you do. Don't buy into the bullsh*t that a $2-$3/hr difference will keep these planes on/off the property.

Rant over...good luck!