vtx531

And commuter policy? Sorta goes along with my other thread. Thanks...

Doogi

Unfortunetly, we don't have any real RES rules to speak of yet. There are generally three types of RES and all three are 12 hour shifts.

1. Morning RES, either 4-4 or 5-5
2. Afternoon RES, either 10-10 or 11-11
3. Continuous Duty Overnight RES (standups), either 7-7 or 8-8

Each 12 hour shift will only pay 2 hours of credit. If you get activated you'll get block or better of course. Please keep in mind, since we don't have a contract yet all pilots on RES can have their RES times switched around from one day to the next. Ex: morning RES changed to afternoon RES or vica versa. Being on RES at CJC right now is definitely NO FUN!

vtx531

Do they at least clump the reserve days together? Can they give you a single reserve day?

Doogi

The majority of our RES schedules are 5 days on and 2 days off. RES lines guarantee 10 days off a month. Some RES lines do have an occasional 11-12 days off. Callout time is a minimum of 60 minutes. Although some of our bases do have a 90 minute callout time due to there location (IAH, IAD, EWR). If called, you have to call back or respond online within 5 minutes otherwise you'll get a missed trip.

Kellwolf

11-12 day off reserve lines? Screw it. I'm going to Colgan. You guys don't even HAVE a contract and it's looking better over there.

whtever

I'm not sure there are strong enough words to caution any Mesaba pilot or brand new hire from coming to Colgan. You will not find anyone that is truely happy to be here or defend any of the company policies. Having said that, you will find a great pilot group, one that has been slowly becoming more unified. The constant less-than-poor treatment from management may just bring us that much more together...

As for reserve:
Reserve at Colgan is abuse, and for that matter so is line flying. There are no reserve lines above ten days off. Usually 5/2 and they can put random reserve of a day or two in a schedule. If for some reason (beginning/end of month) you get more than 6 days straight, they will normally take away a middle day of reserve, keeping you in base and allowing for extension at the end of your duty. Once activated, if only for a turn, you remain on duty until your original 12hr duty is over, you are not released. Extensions from hard lines, as well as RES is normal and constant, the fatigue calls have substantially increased as pilots are consistently pushed until safety is an issue. Plan on getting numerous calls during your rest, changing your schedule or trying to notify activation. Either poorly trained or inexperienced SOC staff is all the more reason to watch your back and make sure what's going on is safe and legal.

Commuter Clause: Must have two flights arriving in base within reasonable time for your show time. These flights must have had open seats and you are expected to prove it. You are also expected to pick up your trip when you are able to commute. Commuter clause can only be used twice a year. Overall it's a decent policy, but as with everything at Colgan, it can be changed or molded to benefit the company.

Take this advice for what it is. Colgan is a horrible place to work and would be a total shock coming from any airline with a contract or a company concerned at all with employee qol. Although there has been a lot of effort on the union front and pilots side to change this: The posts are true, the attitude is what you've heard, morale couldn't be any lower. Make your choices carefully. Pm me if you need any more info or have any questions!

FlyJSH

"Either poorly trained or inexperienced SOC staff is all the more reason to watch your back and make sure what's going on is safe and legal."

ABSOLUTELY! They are so mentally challenged, many times they assign Hot Reserve to someone, forget about it, then activate a Home Reservist to cover.


And as for morale, the only way things could get worse is if they hired my ex-wife.

Kellwolf

We HAD a decent commuter policy at 9E for a bit. Before, it was 2 in a rolling 12 month period that you could "call in honest" for. You need 2 flights to get you there before your show time, wing tip flights not allowed, and you had to call scheduling after you missed your first one to give them a heads up. The new policy switched the oversight from base management to a committee that would review commutes, and the 2 in a rolling 12 month pretty much went to unlimited. The change in pass benefits meant a LOT of guys suddenly weren't making it to work.

Fast forward to July, the company can't handle the number of absences since they swore we were understaffed, and they kill the new policy and return to the draconian 2 in a 12 month policy. The beatings will continue until morale improves. Lesson learned: get your commuter policy and your attendance policy in writing in the contract....

Red Forman

You call that decent? What happens if you call commuter more than twice in a year? We have unlimited and I know of a flight attendant who commutes out of ATL that had to use it 9 times last month. They were all legit and nothing ever came of it.