GoCats67

I personally hope that the entire pool that United has is completely dry. Not because I don't want those folks to come here, but because I want all the majors to see that they are going to have to "compete" for the best applicants. While I don't think that time is here quite yet, the more difficult it is for the legacy airlines to get folks the better off all legacy airline pilots are. We are already seeing this at the regionals, do you think signing bonuses are out of the goodness of their hearts???

With the recent rumors that have now been confirmed by ALPA (that I imagine will be confirmed tomorrow by Flt Ops in the weekly update) that UA is going to move up the resumption of classes to next month and then be aggressive in hiring, we will all be in a great situation. With every legacy hiring and apparently hiring in big numbers, current strong applicants will have choices, and regional/LCC airlines will be absolutely scrambling to figure out how to find replacements for all those leaving. If the regionals were struggling this summer imagine how bad it will be by next summer! This will pressure the UA/DL/AA into bringing even more flying inhouse, and hopefully pressure the LCCs into paying a competitive wage to their pilots.

For those of us already at the legacies, we will see a continued increase in flying and a continued pressure on wages in the correct direction.

Not saying this is going to last forever, but sure looks like it is time to make some hay while the sun is shining (put some away, then by the boat)

Grumble

Beware what you wish for. Airlines will seek every fix that doesn't involve spending money before they start throwing money at pilots. How many foreign accents have you heard from the regionals and B6 on the radio lately?

GoCats67

And so I should wish that we all stop hiring????

I recognize that airline managements around the world are going to be dragged kicking and screaming into the reality that they themselves created over the last 15 years, but for now the legacies will keep hiring from the LCCs and regionals and there aren't enough folks (regardless of accent) to fill those slots in the short term!

I will keep supporting ALPA to make sure that my concerns as they relate to safety standards, cabotage, and foreign ownership regulations are represented to the elected (and not elected) officials in the government.

horrido27

Even 'if' the pool were to be dry (which I don't believe for a second), it would probably take less than a month to fill it back up again.
Keep in mind, United doesn't even need to rob their regional carriers to fill the pool, there are tons of military (Active, Guard & Reserve) waiting in the wings, along with guys (and gals) who are flying overseas..
Then you have all the National carriers (JetBlue, Spirit, Allegiant, Hawaiian) plus the AMCI cargo companies... all before you start to rob the RJ's (again)!

At the end of the day, we will never have a shortage of potential newhires.
The 'company' is pretty good at figuring out staffing. It's always cheaper to senior man and TDY when needed, and they also know how to offer COLA for those BES's when needed.
And.. that's actually a good thing. Means more profits which translates to higher PS check along with the possibility of investing and paying off debt.

These 'new' used Airbuses (which we hopefully will hear about next Thurs) probably came out of left field. Who could have seen the actual demise of AirBerlin, or Monarch?

Good Luck to everyone getting the Hogan in the next few weeks and months, and Congrats to all the New Hires~

Always
Motch

Lurchi

Ha ha MoP I have enjoyed this forum and found it very informative, but in general people On this site are a bit touchy and tend to trash any airline that they don’t fly for. I have never intentionally spit on anyone or anything. United was the first to offer a CJO and I was very excited to fly for them (I even bought a United jacket) but after many months it has yet to turn into a firm training date. Delta was the first to offer a firm training date. I chose seniority over brand name and feel extremely fortunate I had the choice. They are both great companies and I would have been very happy at either. Best of luck to you and all your fellow pilots at United. I have a beautiful blue, slightly used, United jacket and a book titled “Life as a WB pilot” I’m selling if you are interested.....unfortunately it doesn’t look like I will have much use for either.

rp2pilot

You just never know in this industry if you've made the right choice till the day you retire. When I was a new hire, plumbing the DC10, I had a captain tell me, 'When I was applying to the Airlines, Pan Am was my first choice, Eastern was my second choice, and TWA was my third choice. Lucky for me I got my fourth choice. " Best of luck to you, I probably would have made the same choice as you under the same circumstances.

aeroknut

I remember the last time I was in the pool at United. April 2001.

"Congratulations...U R HIRED!. You R 150 and we're doing 60/mo." The next month I was 120(?) and they were doing 30/mo. Hmm, the math doesn't quite seem to work out. Then, "We're shutting down training, have a nice life." Not even the curtesy of a call/email to any of us actually "hired" when they resumed training some 12 years later.

Bird in the hand, no regrets....imho anyway.

rightside02

Congrats on getting the offer from both , many would kill to have that chance/choice .