jynxyjoe
Queso King
So look, maybe another current Endeavor guy needs to comment here but twice today I've had guys come up to me saying "hey I can't wait to get on with Endeavor." Both were in MSP, both were employees at the airport that were non crewmember jobs. I said good luck to both trying to not say what I was thinking (it's the hallways of MSP, who needs my ranting ass when the guys are just trying to be nice). It occured to me, that it's time for anyone looking into Endeavor honestly have an honest writeup from a current Employee.
As I'm sure any lurker of any web board knows, Endeavor has some big announcement coming up soon that is a "unique solution" to solve our hiring crisis. I don't know what the annoucement is, but if Delta is saying it they probably know what they are talking about. Just remember, it may alienate the current workforce, and this place won't survive until Decemember if the #'s leaving goto 90 a month
Attrition - We are losing 45-49 pilots a month. Last year 2 FO's left for every captain and Endeavor says they are going to reverse the trend. So far it's pretty even, 10 more captains going than FO's. In June, when the flow stops, FO's will outnumber CA's leaving if this trend continues. We are accelerating -200 parking this month and staying on that schedule going forward. Supposedly this will all be fixed, when Delta announces the new plan going forward.
Fleet plan - 81 -900's are the plan. We are wholly owned and that means we are the shock absorber. Obviously there is some plan, but no matter what HR tells you, we are set to go down to 81 -900's. Supposedly Anderson has said in a shareholders meeting that the 30 -900's that are options will goto Endeavor. I don't have any first hand knowledge of that call, but historically ASA gets first crack at every airplane as long as they trade 2:1 on their -200s (my understanding). They've always grabbed a slice of the airplanes, and that has been after Delta ripped -900's from Freedom, to give to Comair, then to Pinnacle, then to Mesaba, and finally ASA got 10 and Mesaba ended up with 5. Delta promised the -900's to Comair and they split between ASA and Mesaba. I'm not saying Delta is bad people, but at any airline, fleet plans change with the wind.
Pay- If GoJets were to go away (and Republic stops flying for Delta as planned) we will be the least paid regional. Yes, we have soft pay, but that only does so much. You're not getting off LGA/JFK reserve here unless we fill every class for a few months. Reserve isn't cheap in NYC, that's why it's going to be the junior base for a long time.
Moral - There could be airlines with lower moral, but it's hard to imagine. Every time I think this place couldn't get worse it does, but lately it has been better. I think when this next big announcement comes out with some deal for the new hires, moral will go lower. Hopefully Delta has something else in mind that won't cause more strife. Crew vans, Crew rooms, classes, simland, company picnics, they are all toxic atmospheres and the minority of us do the best we can with it. Try talking about the guy's kids, that seems to move the conversation to more sunshine and rainbows.
Treatment - Delta picks about one thing to fix a month (as long as it isn't pay). Right now they are trying to reinvent how Cheif Pilots work here, so that our greivance filings go down. The hope is our old MEC, Tom, can replace our current crop of CP's with guys who are here to help the pilot fix their pay and work rule violations immediately. I'm not going to lie, this is a tall order and one that would need a ton of support from management. Another 22 months and this place won't have much left to fix (assuming they have 100% success rate).
We are treated better than 2 years ago, mostly because our current management group act like professional adults. Pay is still a point of contention, but they have made clear that they'll kill us dead before they pay us another dime. I don't know why, I don't care why anymore, they think we are worth very little and nothing to date has changed their minds.
SSP - Delta was taking a high percentage of our guys, then the floor dropped out for months now. There was a lot of pushback and I don't think management has heard the end of it from the pilots or the union but the numbers have recently come up with the same process even without the free interview help sessions (they had to move the dates and they stopped interviewing this month apparently for the SSP). If you took a survey here you'll find people think the SSP is a joke, except that may be turning around a little bit since our pass rate is back above 25% per class. The average is still below 50% and going down. Last I heard we hit a year high of 45% passing.
I may have more on this later, the crew room and even my cockpit has guys from class saying Barry finally admitted pilots weren't getting a fair shake but Delta is fixing it. No SSP for April apparently.
The Future - I don't have a crystal ball. This place is a gamble.
Pro's - Attrition, Delta management, no more Chpt11 or 13 for a few more years.
Con's - Wrong kind of Attrition, Pay, airline is shrinking, airline could be shut down, SSP is only for captains and you'll never upgrade unless Delta fixes our attrition. Did I mention NY base is junior?
I could go on for days about the con's. We are a risky bet going forward and I would never advise anyone to get hired on at a shrinking airline that can't put 10 guys in a class. Yes hiring is bad everywhere, but when we get 3 guys in a class and Eagle and ASA get 15 you have to understand that there is bad and then there is BAD. ASA/Skywest has a talented management team just like we do, EXCEPT ASA/Skywest are committed to their pilots. At Endeavor, our guys are from Delta and they can shut us down tomorrow and go back to Delta as hero's who shut down their 3rd airline in a row without a serious disruption.
I'm not telling you to go here. I would only recommend this place to someone I honestly hated. This place may make sense for you and that's fine. I'm not here to judge but if you have questions I'll answer them as honestly as I can. Once it goes to PM though, I'll be as bitter as I please and the above is me being polite.
As I'm sure any lurker of any web board knows, Endeavor has some big announcement coming up soon that is a "unique solution" to solve our hiring crisis. I don't know what the annoucement is, but if Delta is saying it they probably know what they are talking about. Just remember, it may alienate the current workforce, and this place won't survive until Decemember if the #'s leaving goto 90 a month
Attrition - We are losing 45-49 pilots a month. Last year 2 FO's left for every captain and Endeavor says they are going to reverse the trend. So far it's pretty even, 10 more captains going than FO's. In June, when the flow stops, FO's will outnumber CA's leaving if this trend continues. We are accelerating -200 parking this month and staying on that schedule going forward. Supposedly this will all be fixed, when Delta announces the new plan going forward.
Fleet plan - 81 -900's are the plan. We are wholly owned and that means we are the shock absorber. Obviously there is some plan, but no matter what HR tells you, we are set to go down to 81 -900's. Supposedly Anderson has said in a shareholders meeting that the 30 -900's that are options will goto Endeavor. I don't have any first hand knowledge of that call, but historically ASA gets first crack at every airplane as long as they trade 2:1 on their -200s (my understanding). They've always grabbed a slice of the airplanes, and that has been after Delta ripped -900's from Freedom, to give to Comair, then to Pinnacle, then to Mesaba, and finally ASA got 10 and Mesaba ended up with 5. Delta promised the -900's to Comair and they split between ASA and Mesaba. I'm not saying Delta is bad people, but at any airline, fleet plans change with the wind.
Pay- If GoJets were to go away (and Republic stops flying for Delta as planned) we will be the least paid regional. Yes, we have soft pay, but that only does so much. You're not getting off LGA/JFK reserve here unless we fill every class for a few months. Reserve isn't cheap in NYC, that's why it's going to be the junior base for a long time.
Moral - There could be airlines with lower moral, but it's hard to imagine. Every time I think this place couldn't get worse it does, but lately it has been better. I think when this next big announcement comes out with some deal for the new hires, moral will go lower. Hopefully Delta has something else in mind that won't cause more strife. Crew vans, Crew rooms, classes, simland, company picnics, they are all toxic atmospheres and the minority of us do the best we can with it. Try talking about the guy's kids, that seems to move the conversation to more sunshine and rainbows.
Treatment - Delta picks about one thing to fix a month (as long as it isn't pay). Right now they are trying to reinvent how Cheif Pilots work here, so that our greivance filings go down. The hope is our old MEC, Tom, can replace our current crop of CP's with guys who are here to help the pilot fix their pay and work rule violations immediately. I'm not going to lie, this is a tall order and one that would need a ton of support from management. Another 22 months and this place won't have much left to fix (assuming they have 100% success rate).
We are treated better than 2 years ago, mostly because our current management group act like professional adults. Pay is still a point of contention, but they have made clear that they'll kill us dead before they pay us another dime. I don't know why, I don't care why anymore, they think we are worth very little and nothing to date has changed their minds.
SSP - Delta was taking a high percentage of our guys, then the floor dropped out for months now. There was a lot of pushback and I don't think management has heard the end of it from the pilots or the union but the numbers have recently come up with the same process even without the free interview help sessions (they had to move the dates and they stopped interviewing this month apparently for the SSP). If you took a survey here you'll find people think the SSP is a joke, except that may be turning around a little bit since our pass rate is back above 25% per class. The average is still below 50% and going down. Last I heard we hit a year high of 45% passing.
I may have more on this later, the crew room and even my cockpit has guys from class saying Barry finally admitted pilots weren't getting a fair shake but Delta is fixing it. No SSP for April apparently.
The Future - I don't have a crystal ball. This place is a gamble.
Pro's - Attrition, Delta management, no more Chpt11 or 13 for a few more years.
Con's - Wrong kind of Attrition, Pay, airline is shrinking, airline could be shut down, SSP is only for captains and you'll never upgrade unless Delta fixes our attrition. Did I mention NY base is junior?
I could go on for days about the con's. We are a risky bet going forward and I would never advise anyone to get hired on at a shrinking airline that can't put 10 guys in a class. Yes hiring is bad everywhere, but when we get 3 guys in a class and Eagle and ASA get 15 you have to understand that there is bad and then there is BAD. ASA/Skywest has a talented management team just like we do, EXCEPT ASA/Skywest are committed to their pilots. At Endeavor, our guys are from Delta and they can shut us down tomorrow and go back to Delta as hero's who shut down their 3rd airline in a row without a serious disruption.
I'm not telling you to go here. I would only recommend this place to someone I honestly hated. This place may make sense for you and that's fine. I'm not here to judge but if you have questions I'll answer them as honestly as I can. Once it goes to PM though, I'll be as bitter as I please and the above is me being polite.
