Captain Wilson

Nothing new about that, began when RR was forced out as COO.

Cruz5350

Thanks for the reply Disillusioned I was just wondering what your stance was since you've been a long time poster on here.

disillusioned

Question for you Cruz. Since you have had experience at other regionals, is SW as bad as some think? I realize that even with all the crap we put up with that we are still better off than some, and maybe that is what is the driving force is behind us getting all the new hires?

I know that most out there are just trying to build hours and experience at a regional until they can move on. And maybe all this is just to give incentive to those that are comfortable to move on. They say that regionals should never be a career destination but I fought that wisdom for as long as I could. Until ALL regionals are on the same page and not whipsawing each other, I'm afraid not much will change.

Apokleros

For sure. I came here with the expectation that I may not move on, even though other regionals allege to be able to offer a faster upgrade. A lot of new hires are mistakenly assuming that they will move on to Delta or United after two years after being hired at a regional just because of Joe Bob who supposedly did as a low time FO and didn't upgrade, but that is seldom the rule, more so the exception, and why not go to a regional like SkyWest which will most likely weather the coming storm fairly well as compared to regionals like Envoy or Republic which are already feeling the gust front?

Cruz5350

There is no comparing SkyWest to my time at Silver just two different airlines, as far as my short time at Horizon it was about the same with a slight edge to Horizon because of how much better the compensation was. Looking at what's going on now at Horizon I think SkyWest is the better option. Having a Union doesn't make everything perfect but it does give the pilot group a little more leverage to fight for and enforce contract issues. The whole IAH closing issues you brought up would be handled vastly different if we had a union. SGU can escape all this by passing just enough along to keep us from unionizing and we buy off on it. The biggest complaint you'll get from people at SkyWest for more than say 5 years or so is I don't want a percent of my pay going to a union to waste on nothing. Usually these guys I hear that from are senior and have never had to deal with issues where a union could help them. We can debate unions all day for their positive and negatives cause both sides aren't necessarily wrong, but I'd prefer one for the just in case moment I need it. YMMV

daOldMan

There has been a push in the past for unionized majors to only hire regional pilots that came from unionized shops. Personally, I would support this. If you want to work for a major that is part of a union, you should work for a regional that supports a union.

The greatest threat to unionized pilots in non-unionized pilots.

disillusioned

That's what I find so funny/frustrating. If any SW pilot would take a look at what has been taken away from us by SGU with a simple pen stroke, they would realize how much they were getting for that small percentage. Block vs credit, relocation incentives, pay rates for new planes, ect... As it stands now, SGU can just do whatever they want and change our QOL overnight. Servers getting bogged down with everyone trying to improve their schedule the night of the 24th? Just write a script that denies any requests due to lack of reserves. Agree to reserve improvements in a pay package that may cost some money to implement? Just change management and say that it was the old guy that agreed to that and you are not going to do it anymore. Get on the wrong side of your CP and he spends tons of money and resources to get you fired? It's okay as long as you have the money to take the company to court, you will get your job back plus back pay/lawyers fees. If you were part of a union, you wouldn't be paying the lawyers out of pocket. By trying to save 1.5-2%, SW pilots are losing way more than that each year. I bet you could pay your union fees for the year with one fatigue call that is denied.

I wonder how much something like this would hurt SW recruiting efforts? I think you would have to have some type of grandfather policy to those that are currently at a regional without a union. I know it would have made a difference for me in which place I went to work for if that was the case. Didn't United do something like this with the ALPA seminars not to long ago? Something like this would be way more beneficial than a flow IMO. That and ALL regionals agreeing to not undercut each other.

Is offline

Unions have proven to be useless at the regional level. One gets a good contract and another undercuts their price, and they're in bankruptcy. If alpa national had any support for the regionals they would have recommended no pay cuts for aircraft.

Any company that gets real gains in the regional market is doomed to die. The flying will be transferred overnight.

KSCessnaDriver

Maybe in the past, but with the lack of pilots going to regionals today, the idea that a major can just shift anything more than a single digit number of airplanes overnight simply can't happen. No one could be well staffed enough to take more airplanes at that level immediately. That's one of the things that's allowing the crappy regionals to keep breathing, nobody can replace them.

JB22

Not true. The majors can replace them. And they have started to. Have you seen how many aircraft United alone is getting in the next three years solely to replace regional flying? And delta has already started replacing regional routes. It's happening and you had better hope you get your time and move on before the hammer falls. Cause every regional will see the results over the next few years.