Allegiant Pilot Attrition

You'll earn more as a legacy F/O than you would as a CA there, have better benefits, long term advancement, etc. There is no way they can compete with those carriers at any level at this point in time. The one thing they have going for them are their domiciles and day trips (I suppose, personally I'm not a fan of them but many are). Not sure how much reserves work if you can have a nice QOL and bid reserve or not.

I knew someone there and was considering pulling the trigger but coming from a decent RJ operator making low six figures or about what their new CA's make I just couldn't do it. My guess is their target audience is F/Os and if I were one with a long upgrade potential I'd hit them up hard. It's probably more about them not hiring rather than being unable to hire enough. Heck, go to ERAU and park outside and any CFI with 1,500 TT will be in class immediately, and they'll be stuck there for a couple years before they can apply to the better majors.
 
What base(s) are new hires going to? Who do they have jumpseat agreements with?
 
What base(s) are new hires going to? Who do they have jumpseat agreements with?

Everywhere, FL is generally most jr system wide but there's been a good amount of attrition lately. The company is gearing up for March, one our busiest months. BLI seems to be the hardest base to get right now.

Were in CASS, current interline agreements (off the top of my head): United, Airways (not sure how this will be affected by the merger), JBlue, Southwest, Lufthansa, are the ones that immediately come to mind.
 
Lot of guys came for the upgrade too, most jr 80 CA just went to 5/14 in the last bid. No, not a typo...
Has roughly the entire bottom half of the seniority list been hired since May? I can't imagine they're hiring people without the time to upgrade.
 
Has roughly the entire bottom half of the seniority list been hired since May? I can't imagine they're hiring people without the time to upgrade.
A lot of new hires are folks from ATI, Evergreen, Ryan, etc... many folks have time in type as well. Upgrade is just going very junior due to uncertainty and people wanting a contract before choosing to upgrade.
 
Sure! Perhaps act like a normal airline and you won't have to worry about talent jumping ship, regardless of how many consecutive quarters they've made a profit. At some point, if they end up treating their talent bad enough, the talent will go somewhere else even if in years prior that same talent just thought it was hot cookies to only have to do day lines. And yeah, make it gateway basing and they also might be able to manage to staff their airline. As I said earlier, it would appear this problem will need to be solved by creative thinking when it comes to staffing middle-tier airlines. The top tier companies offer substantially more when it comes to QOL/Pay/Benefits than the mid-tier operations.

But hey, with 45 quarters of consecutive profits - I understand why it is so difficult for AAY to compensate talent appropriately, no - really, I do.

I'm sure AAY will figure it out.

A person cannot think of AAY as a "normal airline." As mentioned previously, we are a travel company. Four day trips are not part of the business plan. For many of us the lack of four day trips is the main attraction. I have no desire to do over nights. AAY gives us the opportunity to live a "normal" life and still get to fly for a living. For example, next month I am home, as in at my apartment, before 11 AM on 11 of 15 trips. A top tier company cannot offer that. You are absolutely correct that a mid tier company cannot match a top tier company as far as pay and benefits but I will be completely happy making 120K with the feeling of working part time. This job (AAY) is not for everyone and may not be for the "normal" airline pilot who enjoys living out of a roller board and missing family, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc.

Attrition is high for a few reasons but mainly for no contract and a horrible scheduling system called merlot. Our hope is that upper management is getting sick of the garbage too and a new scheduling system is on the way. As far as the contract goes...who know when that will happen. There are more problems with the company than I listed above and things will have to change as we grow rapidly but not the business plan.

I am also more than happy to answer any questions folks may have.

-Jay
 
How is reserve? Long or short call? Commutable?

I imagine it depends on the base. I have been called everyday of a 10 day reserve period and I have been left alone for the same amount of time. Last month I was called twice and released from my reserve period six hours early for no reason other than I was no longer needed. The reserve is generally short call, I THINK we have something about long call in the work rules but it is virtually nonexistent. In order to have a good QOL I would recommend living in or near base. Commuting here, whether for reserve or line holder, would be tough and expensive.
 
Attrition is high for a few reasons but mainly for no contract and a horrible scheduling system called merlot. Our hope is that upper management is getting sick of the garbage too and a new scheduling system is on the way. As far as the contract goes...who know when that will happen. There are more problems with the company than I listed above and things will have to change as we grow rapidly but not the business plan.
paul-giamatti-sideways.jpg
 
I would like to point out that once we voted ALPA onto the property at WestAir ( yes, AirTran dude I voted yes for that in my youth ), the management unilaterally changed many things for the worse then sold the company to Mesa about 4 years later. Within a few more years it ceased to exist.

That management was comprised of the same people that started and run Allegiant. History just has this funny way of repeating itself.

I'm not hoping for anyone's demise, but one needs to be realistic. Hope for the best, but plan for the worst. These guys have a history.


TP
 
I would love to help them solve their attrition problem if they'd answer my emails about attending NetworkJC down the street from them.

AMMARITE?

Sounds familiar to another not-to-be-named-airline, eh??? :bang:
 
Back
Top