Alaska Air?

USN88

USN88

Well-Known Member
For anyone over there, or who was hired there recently, I had a few questions:

What are your thoughts thus far?

Moral on the line?

Aircraft deliveries/growth schedule?

Do people really think Alaska will merge with someone else?

Is the seniority list pretty young like JetBlue, or is it more seasoned? Retirements?

Thanks for any info!
 
I've been here at Alaska Airlines for almost 11 months now. I definitely can say that I've had GREAT time here thus far. We've got a great pilot group and every trip ive flown has been enjoyable for the most part. Morale seems to be pretty good here. We are consistently making record profits and the competition with Delta has actually been a big positive for us thus far.

With that said we certainly aren't blind to the industry what other airline's are making flying the same equipment. Right now we have a 13.5% direct 401k contribution from the company and while that's good, industry standard for legacy airlines is around 15%. When it comes to pay rates hopefully in our next contract we'll have rates resembling those of American & Delta. Scope?? Don't even feel like typing that much....

We're scheduled to receive 8 to 10 new planes a year for the next few years, all being 900ERs. We're also keeping around 15 700s that i think they were planning to get rid of. The MAX shows up in 2017 and the 400 will be gone by then (thank god). Speaking of the 400 we got rid of a few early which is why hiring has slowed just a bit. Plus they are trying to drain the hiring pool beore guys split for other airlines. Alaska is still planning on hiring 150 to 200 next year and the app window should open here in fall.

Mergers? ...who knows. Alaska is strongly committed to staying independent but they have said if it came to a merger or aquisition they would want to be the aquiring company. Thats all i got...im trying to enjoy my cognac and coke!
 
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alaskadrifter said:
Most Alaskan pilots would sell their souls to fly for AS, or a kidney or something.
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Thing is, if you cut out the guys who only have 8 billion hours in a sled or a van, and the guys who have violations, multiple DUIs, or so much bush stench that even a brain dead HR screener can tell that they're not going to mesh with the Way Things Are Done at a modern 121 carrier, the eligible talent pool gets pretty small.
 
For anyone over there, or who was hired there recently, I had a few questions:
What are your thoughts thus far?
Absolutely love it here. Have flown for quite a few companies including several with large aircraft and this place really has their act together.
Moral on the line?
Line morale is GREAT from what I see. I obviously never fly with them but some captains say their are some senior FOs that are still very jaded from the Kasher award and act poorly because of it. All the captains I fly with are great and I understand we have only a few that have complaints which isn't a bad percentage really.
Aircraft deliveries/growth schedule?
What he said ^^^^ is all accurate. We do have 3-5 -700s that will be converted to straight freighters for use in the State of Alaska. The -400s going away will change the direction of the airline to some extent in the State of Alaska. Too much to say about that to type it all out but both good and bad. Won't affect pilots too much other than trip variety.
Do people really think Alaska will merge with someone else?
You'll hear all sorts of stuff around here. 50/50 from line pilots probably. Honestly I have a lot of faith in our management but I'm not sure what they'll do long term. Our CEO was quoted a couple years ago as saying that he wants Alaska to stay Alaska as long as it makes the best sense for the company and shareholders. Take that how you want it. Great line and training culture here, it would get messed up with a merger but a decent merger could be fine.
Is the seniority list pretty young like JetBlue, or is it more seasoned? Retirements?
The list is not like jetblue, lots of older folks here. What turns people away sometimes is that the retirement numbers aren't near as big as the big 3 but the percentages are close which is all that matters, so you would move up quickly here when the retirements hit full force.
Thanks for any info!
Absolutely no problem, happy to answer any more questions you have or even talk sometime if you want. Do you have an interview or just looking?
 
Thanks again!

Here's another one... what's the vacation like? Accrual? I know Alaska bids hard lines, do you have trip dropping if any part of it touches your vacation block?
 
Here's another question,. What are the realistic requirement for being hired? How many 121 hours and can it be SIC or is PIC required as well??
Junior base?
 
Last I was told.... around 5k total time with 1k turbine PIC was "competitive." The published minimum is 3k total, no PIC.

Of course the other things that an applicant can do to stand out from the crowd are very important to Alaska. Training department work, Chief Pilot's office, pilot recruitment work, community service, etc...

Disclaimer: I don't work for Alaska, but I have a lot of former co-workers who do. These are the trends I've identified.
 
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STS-41B said:
Here's another question,. What are the realistic requirement for being hired? How many 121 hours and can it be SIC or is PIC required as well??
Junior base?
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Almost everyone I knew hired there had ties to the area. One guy, a check airman at my commuter, was from the area, had an Alaskan fishing boat (think Deadliest Catch), knew the SEA CP on a first name basis, etc. and it still took him 3-4 years to get a call.
 
USN88 said:
Thanks again!

Here's another one... what's the vacation like? Accrual? I know Alaska bids hard lines, do you have trip dropping if any part of it touches your vacation block?
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Yes, it will drop the trip but if it drops your credit for the month below 75hrs I believe you'll have to pick something up to get to that 75hr minimum. Totally lacking in that department when compared to "the widget" and other legacies. Also I believe our vacation pay is something like 3.5hrs a day.
 
STS-41B said:
Here's another question,. What are the realistic requirement for being hired? How many 121 hours and can it be SIC or is PIC required as well??
Junior base?
Click to expand...

My class had a mixture of everything. Out of 10 people, 3 had no turbine PIC at all. I belive the mins are 3000 turbine but PIC will definitely help but isn't an absolute must. As for the bases there are guys pretty much getting whatever they want, it seems like there is vacancies in every base after each new bid. Ive spent a grand total of 2 weeks on reserve here...1st 5 months on line I was LAX based, now SEA. I know for a fact that a lot of lines go junior in LAX..and there's some very junior peeps (including me) in SEA getting lines too
 
SmoothLanderJ said:
My class had a mixture of everything. Out of 10 people, 3 had no turbine PIC at all. I belive the mins are 3000 turbine but PIC will definitely help but isn't an absolute must. As for the bases there are guys pretty much getting whatever they want, it seems like there is vacancies in every base after each new bid. Ive spent a grand total of 2 weeks on reserve here...1st 5 months on line I was LAX based, now SEA. I know for a fact that a lot of lines go junior in LAX..and there's some very junior peeps (including me) in SEA getting lines too
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Thanks! So a year at a regional, even if only SIC time, would definitely look pretty decent .
I don't know all their bases but Seattle or Anchorage would be awesome.
 
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