Alaska opens new SAN pilot base

Let me go ahead and sound like an idiot for a minute here. And you guys who have been in the industry a lot longer than me can explain to me what I'm (likely) wrong about. But here goes.....

1. New hires below you don't make QOL any better if you aren't on forced reserve, and the company isn't expanding its flying.

2. People senior to you retiring or leaving improve QOL much more, even if the company isn't expanding.

I get the argument to force the company to hire enough to support current flying. But I'm not convinced that we aren't already there. It just sucks when you are on reserve, and things happen without the reserve coverage we used to have. And more new hires in an overstaffed scenario really don't do anything else other than make reserve suck less maybe.

Again, totally open to counterpoints here. I'm not exactly a genius when it comes to this operation or others.
 
///AMG said:
Let me go ahead and sound like an idiot for a minute here. And you guys who have been in the industry a lot longer than me can explain to me what I'm (likely) wrong about. But here goes.....

1. New hires below you don't make QOL any better if you aren't on forced reserve, and the company isn't expanding its flying.

2. People senior to you retiring or leaving improve QOL much more, even if the company isn't expanding.

I get the argument to force the company to hire enough to support current flying. But I'm not convinced that we aren't already there. It just sucks when you are on reserve, and things happen without the reserve coverage we used to have. And more new hires in an overstaffed scenario really don't do anything else other than make reserve suck less maybe.

Again, totally open to counterpoints here. I'm not exactly a genius when it comes to this operation or others.
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You're missing #3... Captains flying less means they need more captains, which pulls up FOs to making more money AND achieves your number #2 for junior FOs. If CC wasn't picking up all this flying on his days off, they would (in theory) need more captains, so you could upgrade and make more money too.

The argument isn't to force the company to hire to cover the current operation, but rather to get the company to hire more pilots so your squadron buddies (or whomever) can get a job too and so that everybody on the list already is relatively more senior.
 
///AMG said:
1. New hires below you don't make QOL any better if you aren't on forced reserve, and the company isn't expanding its flying.
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Potentially yes, they will improve your QOL. Assuming a constant amount of flying and that hiring is outpacing attrition, adding more pilots will help improve your QOL. Even if you aren't on forced reserve, having more pilots to spread the flying to will do one of two things, either reserve staffing goes up thereby increasing the ability of pilots to drop trips or average line values decrease leading to more days off. Potentially a pay cut in the latter situation, but as someone that values time at home more than money earned beyond min guarantee, a net positive. Even if you are on forced reserve it would increase the reserve pool and potentially decrease the likelyhood of being called out to work.

///AMG said:
2. People senior to you retiring or leaving improve QOL much more, even if the company isn't expanding.
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Again, assuming constant flying and hiring matching attrition, yes. You'd be able to bid for more preferred schedules, etc. so QOL would improve. In such a stagnant case your only hope of improvement is essentially dead man's boots. Until someone up the chain departs, you're stuck. If hiring doesn't keep pace you're stuck in a situation where in your seniority goes up but (again using a constant level of flying) you actually work more and crappier schedules (see regional CAs during the post COVID mainline hiring booms).

Lots of ifs and assumptions though. And it gets messy once you start adding bases and fleets into the mix. SouthernJets can hire all they want but if all the pilots in the world are sent to Mecca for a base it won't improve my lot one bit except to maybe reduce the number of trips I get that involve four leg days in and out of ATL. Similarly, if all the retirements are in DTW 73NA my schedules won't improve a lick spit.

Or, what @BobDDuck said.

I personally do all I can to force the company to need more captains by bidding minimum, not working on my days off, and dropping the occasional trip because I need an extra few days in those month's where 19 days off aren't enough.
 
I think I understand what you guys are saying, but in an operation that basically has the same X amount of line holders most months (give or take a few), other than the bidding whims of folks senior to me, my bid award is pretty much the same QOL every month. In spite of hiring hundreds behind me. I think I understand the argument that needing more CAs is the more important metric, but I am not sure if that addresses anything more than having more days off right? I mean that is what I deem QOL, but spreading the same amount (CA or FO) amongst more people in one category, just results in less assigned flying and less unassigned flying in OT. So for me, that's great. For the other half, it is not so great......those who want to get 85 hr bid awards again, for example. Am I off base?
 
edit: I guess I'm also just commenting on someone who remains in the same category. I do see what you mean about more upgrades, which would bring up more FO QOL. But again, I don't know that this logically equates to more hiring if the flying isn't expanding. More demand for CA is great for existing FO's if nothing else changes, and creates upward movement. But downstream, new hiring doesn't really move a needle anywhere other than maybe reserves, or like you said, reserve coverage to allow more drops/schedule changes. Which of course isn't nothing. But the simple act of adding more CA positions in a non-changing flying schedule effectively drives ALV down, which isn't everyone's bag. I can see how schedule flexibility due to more reserve coverage and more pilots would however be enhanced. Maybe that is more ideal?
 
///AMG said:
Let me go ahead and sound like an idiot for a minute here. And you guys who have been in the industry a lot longer than me can explain to me what I'm (likely) wrong about. But here goes.....

1. New hires below you don't make QOL any better if you aren't on forced reserve, and the company isn't expanding its flying.

2. People senior to you retiring or leaving improve QOL much more, even if the company isn't expanding.

I get the argument to force the company to hire enough to support current flying. But I'm not convinced that we aren't already there. It just sucks when you are on reserve, and things happen without the reserve coverage we used to have. And more new hires in an overstaffed scenario really don't do anything else other than make reserve suck less maybe.

Again, totally open to counterpoints here. I'm not exactly a genius when it comes to this operation or others.
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It’s amazing the dichotomy of SEA. Beefy has it bad (apparently). Yet you have a SEA CA who wrote on the internal forum that he isn’t getting enough credit so why can’t we furlough so his credit can go up?
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
It’s amazing the dichotomy of SEA. Beefy has it bad (apparently). Yet you have a SEA CA who wrote on the internal forum that he isn’t getting enough credit so why can’t we furlough so his credit can go up?
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haha that dude was wild. Wasn't that his first ever post too? he made so many best friends.....which is fun because real human names are not hidden

I would submit however, that contractually, reserve pilots are second class citizens here. Even the 2022 contract upheld that precedent, maybe aside from the aggressive pickup LOA (or was it MOU?). Which also caught all kinds of flak from angry line holder CAs. And the 84 hr SCR bump-up, which once again, made a bunch of the old timers pissed, since it started to pull reserves up from their second class status quo, So there very much can be such a dichotomy, especially in a busy base that tends to abuse its reserves (unlike some other bases).
 
The problem is QOL is a nebulous and largely undefinable term. What I consider a high QOL schedule can look totally different than the pilot right next to me in seniority.. Ask 100 pilots what the ideal QOL is and how to achieve it and you'll get 100 answers. There is not now, nor will there ever be, any one thing that every pilot at a company will agree is a universal improvement to QOL. Pilots gripe about pay raises for crying out loud. Best you can do is hope the company and union can work out a way to staff in such a way to cover flying while giving the most options for schedule personalization. Just know that no matter how ideal a contract or situation will be, a pilot will complain.
 
Karnage said:
The problem is QOL is a nebulous and largely undefinable term. What I consider a high QOL schedule can look totally different than the pilot right next to me in seniority.. Ask 100 pilots what the ideal QOL is and how to achieve it and you'll get 100 answers. There is not now, nor will there ever be, any one thing that every pilot at a company will agree is a universal improvement to QOL. Pilots gripe about pay raises for crying out loud. Best you can do is hope the company and union can work out a way to staff in such a way to cover flying while giving the most options for schedule personalization. Just know that no matter how ideal a contract or situation will be, a pilot will complain.
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100% agree. My perfect QOL is like a 40-50 hr line. Our VRBO and IL options have been fantastic in that sense. And even my regular award is pretty close, in months where those aren't options. But 50% of pilots are angry about ALV being too low, and how there is nothing in OT to pick up. I can say that there is plenty in OT to pick up. It is just all crap that some folks would consider beneath them, and would spend the entire trip explaining how they accidentally got the trip or whatever. But to your point about flexibility, I also agree. It isn't just wonderful that my normal definition of good QOL is often met. The other half have valid concerns as well. And if I'm being completely selfish and not caring about any of them, it still behooves me to have that flexibility in the event that I want to work more/QOL in a given month changes.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
It’s amazing the dichotomy of SEA. Beefy has it bad (apparently). Yet you have a SEA CA who wrote on the internal forum that he isn’t getting enough credit so why can’t we furlough so his credit can go up?
Click to expand...
You’re talking about a post from the spring of 2024 when ALVs were at 70 due to the MAX shutdown and grounding. Making a comparison to the current staffing model: reserve staffing slashed from 12% to 8% (?) and 2.0 premium being offered in January, for the first time since I can remember.
 
IMG_2726.png


2.0 for January. Since I was at the gate in JNU and could use my phone again when the txt came through.
 
///AMG said:
haha that dude was wild. Wasn't that his first ever post too? he made so many best friends.....which is fun because real human names are not hidden

I would submit however, that contractually, reserve pilots are second class citizens here. Even the 2022 contract upheld that precedent, maybe aside from the aggressive pickup LOA (or was it MOU?). Which also caught all kinds of flak from angry line holder CAs. And the 84 hr SCR bump-up, which once again, made a bunch of the old timers pissed, since it started to pull reserves up from their second class status quo, So there very much can be such a dichotomy, especially in a busy base that tends to abuse its reserves (unlike some other bases).
Click to expand...
I don’t know, I’ve been purposely bidding “2nd class citizen” for the better part of 3 years now and it’s been pretty stellar for the most part. Granted I just don’t except fatiguing assignments which doesn’t seem to be the norm here.😕
 
BEEF SUPREME said:
You’re talking about a post from the spring of 2024 when ALVs were at 70 due to the MAX shutdown and grounding. Making a comparison to the current staffing model: reserve staffing slashed from 12% to 8% (?) and 2.0 premium being offered in January, for the first time since I can remember.
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What base has ever had 8% reserve coverage? 12% has been the low end that I’ve seen since PBS was implemented.
 
BEEF SUPREME said:
I’m wrong then about the specific percentage. But we can agree at least that the coverage percentage has been decreasing?
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It’s been hovering between 12-14% for well over a year now with maybe a spike above in the summer. The problem is it’s been working so I wouldn’t expect much of a change until it no longer works. All it will take is a a little glitch in the matrix and everything comes crashing down. So far it hasn’t bit them too badly.
 
BobDDuck said:
You are contractually limited to no less than 10% system wide I believe. CBA 24.C.2.

Which I agree is an absolutely ridiculous number for a "real" airline.
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I looked at the scheduling committee email for February and it just mentions “historically low” reserve coverage. There is a ton of data in the scheduling committee monthly update with graphs so one can see trends.

It would be really nice to see that for reserve coverage as well.
 
BEEF SUPREME said:
I looked at the scheduling committee email for February and it just mentions “historically low” reserve coverage. There is a ton of data in the scheduling committee monthly update with graphs so one can see trends.

It would be really nice to see that for reserve coverage as well.
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Email CB. I'm sure she can put the data together if you ask if she's allowed to release it. Or ask Tony to get it for you.
 
Flew with a guy who was complaining about the scheduling chair being some ”young chick.”


I asked him if he thought about volunteering for that position or anything on the scheduling team for his base?




After the flight, I had one writeup for suspected cricket in the flight deck due to cricket chirping. :)
 
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