PSA 33 Downgrade, 49 FO Furloughs

[Avalon781ML]

See, here's my problem with the internet... People get behind a keyboard and say the darnedest things. And then they realize maybe it wasn't the brightest thing to say and they frantically search for the ctrl-z (or what ever it is in mac world) key.

You say ####, be a man and deal with it. Maybe google even already made an index of the page anyways.

/rant

And yes, it so happens that out of ALL the FOs I've flown with now, there was ONE who was from a class NEAR Paul's (not his class though) that was a bit of an idiot. But even with him being an idiot I STILL wouldn't wish a furlough on him. And that's coming from somebody who may actually have to fly with him, not somebody who just got in a pissing match with him.

EDIT TO ADD: Ok, maybe that came across as a little harsh... But, I've been dealing with a guy on the in house web board that routinely posts crap that is inflammatory, libelous and often times downright personally insulting, and then when the heat gets too hot he goes back and deletes everything he said and pretends it never happened. Then a few weeks later he starts up again. And god forbid somebody say ANYTHING bad about him. You do that and he starts calling for Article VIII proceedings.

It's become something of a pet peeve of mine.

No bro.... I think he is referring to me... we won't go into details. The world revolves and karma will come back to haunt those wishing ill on others. I know CaptainChris very well... and if you are reading this Chris.... grow a pair and face the world and its consequences like everyone else does.

OK enough negativity...... time to make a mojito!:nana2:

 

[skyhawk123]

Anybody knows what is going to do the Union (ALPA) to help us? by the way this is my 24th day as a furloughed pilot.....

at this point I will fly for anything!!! I am actually thinking to change careers any ideas??.... :banghead:

 

[TheOneMarine]

Anybody knows what is going to do the Union (ALPA) to help us? by the way this is my 24th day as a furloughed pilot.....

at this point I will fly for anything!!! I am actually thinking to change careers any ideas??.... :banghead:

The Union tried to help us, the selfish, disgusting pilot group rejected it.

 

[SoCalAprch]

Paul, good luck to you man.

Oh oh oh....got ya. I didn't wanna fight anyway.


They are idiots. I've come to the conclusion in such a short time frame that they're ALL idiots. We have 75 FO's in PHL, July we have something like 68 lines. Next month we have 75 lines for FO's and not a single person on Reserve. Of course we don't complain about getting a line, but we all bid with the expectation flying was getting reduced and we'd all be reserve.

I'm gonna start my own business. I've learned so many things about how NOT to run a business from my time in the airlines that I think I'd be pretty successful at my own business.

Performance Boat Works. Marine service and repair performed on location. I can smell the green bills.....

I will agree that crew sked and planning are for the most part morons but you must also account for the 85 CHQ FOs that are going to be displaced onto the RW and S5 certs on the 170 (myself included probably) starting in September. 17 will be going to PHL. So even though it may seem like we are still understaffed when those 17 or so 135s leave in September things are going to be different. But no open/over time till everyones back flying.

 

[BobDDuck]

Anybody knows what is going to do the Union (ALPA) to help

First off, are you an ALPA member? There was a few guys in that first group that was furloughed that didn't ever sign up with ALPA. Secondly, if you are an ALPA member you should have gotten a letter with ways the Association can help you. If you didn't drop me a PM and we'll try to figure out why you didn't get it. Thirdly, the MEC did actually make an attempt to help you out by proposing an assessment to cover your COBRA payments (if you were going to use COBRA) but regrettably only 30 something percent of the pilot group bothered to vote and of that 30% about 60+% didn't want to help out.

 

[skyhawk123]

well we were 27 now close to 80 at this pace by the end of the year what 200?... what are we going to do ??? ....

one more thing when we got furlough the oil price was close to 140 now is 124 ... it is kind of weird the keep furloughing people.... why only psa ? how about mainline and piedmont??? even Airwisky....

 

[skyhawk123]

hold on I am not trying to argue what ALPA have done for us so far... I am talking about the future.... I am not going to blame or point anybody about what happened the last few weeks but now more than ever we should get together talk and make decisions... now we dont need to pick a fight with anyone just get together even managment and try to help everybody who is on the street right now....

and yes I AM ALPA member thankyou

 

[meyers9163]

hold on I am not trying to argue what ALPA have done for us so far... I am talking about the future.... I am not going to blame or point anybody about what happened the last few weeks but now more than ever we should get together talk and make decisions... now we dont need to pick a fight with anyone just get together even managment and try to help everybody who is on the street right now....

and yes I AM ALPA member thankyou

Yeah.... the fact is the union did not even get notified about this prior to it happening. When did the union find out about the latest rounds of furloughs? Yup you guessed it the same e mail that our lovely assistant to the president sent out and signed her name to. Oh yeah that's right not even the president himself had the balls to send the email out directly. With saying that right now MS is out of town. Jesse is acting as MEC chair but I'm sure he's had discussion with MS already. Give it time and see what they can find out. Honestly they did not even have the chance to ask the company to offer leaves to keep these furloughs at a minimum. The company just reacted like they did last time after mainline announced a loss and cuts......

As for PDT. They have yet to announce ANY cuts. AWAC is another story. They have roughly 80-90 out on the street as of Sep 1st as well. RAH roughly 176. So everyone is getting hit. However we now have roughly 15% of our group on the street as of Sep 1st. So who knows. Lets just hope those others dont get cut more and the cuts are done with us being the last. I dont want to see anyone else out of jobs. Who knows when recalls will happen. I dont see me getting called back until maybe the 1st of the year. Right now I'm looking into options. But we shall see what happens..... Best of luck bro and keep a positive attitude.

 

[wheelsup]

Close to 70 at AWAC, pending resignations, we'll know soon enough. The furloughs were reduced with LOA's. Also >50% of those are downgrades including myself. AWAC is getting hit too.

AWAC had 1000 pilots on property 5 years ago, now it'll be down in the low 600's. What a shame.

 

[CaptainChris87]

No bro.... I think he is referring to me... we won't go into details. The world revolves and karma will come back to haunt those wishing ill on others. I know CaptainChris very well... and if you are reading this Chris.... grow a pair and face the world and its consequences like everyone else does.

OK enough negativity...... time to make a mojito!:nana2:

Dude if you are who I think you are, in no way is it you man. I got NOTHING against you at all positive if any. Im sorry to hear whats going on, but dont wish negativity on me as I said its not you im talking about. If you wanna know FB me or PM me.

As always Best to all of you.

 

[deadstick]

hold on I am not trying to argue what ALPA have done for us so far... I am talking about the future.... I am not going to blame or point anybody about what happened the last few weeks but now more than ever we should get together talk and make decisions... now we dont need to pick a fight with anyone just get together even managment and try to help everybody who is on the street right now....

and yes I AM ALPA member thankyou

ALPA isn't asked for input on business decisions unless the contract requires it.

When they furloughed at the beginning of 3Q, a second round was to be expected. The fall/winter reduction is a constant and not connected to the price of crude. They announced in one of the SOTA Q&A's that the most control they have over Express operations/reductions was at PSA and Piedmont. All this has been hashed out several times over the last few months -- just check other PSA threads on this and other boards.

The Duck is right that the MEC tried to pass a stand-up deal for the first 27, but that didn't work out. The disappointing part was the lack of participation. Just looking at the money, if it had passed the remaining pilots now would be assessed almost 3x that original amount. Now big picture: the contract is coming up and the management team just witnessed a lack of solidarity and cohesion in the pilot group (not to mention the apathy from the low turn out). That just weakened the MEC's negotiating position. Short-term expense vs long-term gain? Who knows how this would have worked out?

What to do now? Fly the heck outta your travel bennies. Use your 90 days to cover the country trying to find another job. If you go long flight for a job interview, relax and use the first class upgrade. There are CFI jobs out there. Don't have a CFI? Check out WIA. It works for types. I would not stay in TYS or DAY expecting a call anytime soon.

Funny thing is that a friend of mine said he received an email two days ago that announced PSA's plans to start new hire classes by the end of the year. The next day...49 more letters go out.

Best of luck all.

 

[BobDDuck]

Andy, when you get back (and hopefully it's sooner then later) you really need to join the (sort of) dark side and help with Comms for the Union. That write up was excellent.

Next time I have an overnight down where you're at now, first rounds on me.

 

[derg]

Im sorry that was an insensitive post on my part so I edited it. But it was a long story though, the dude was harassing me and picked on me. but nonethelss bad post.., can you please edit yours so theres no reccord of my unedited post in your quote!

-Best as always,

Chris

No worries, I'll consider that a freebie!

 

[IrishSheepdog]

All I am going to say is, whatever you do, don't rock the boat. Keep a positive attitude, ride it out, and let the chips fall as they may. This is a very small industry, and you don't want to "go out with a bang" then come back six months later hoping nobody remembers you walking around saluting with your middle finger.

None of us are immune to this. I'm fully aware I could downgrade to FO. If I do, I'll just appreciate the great schedule and ride it out. But don't be the guy who pisses everyone off as you walk out the door... You don't want anyone to lock it when you come back.

These are tough times. Try to stay positive, and when things turn around you'll be at the forefront of the upswing. The pilots at the majors aren't getting younger, even if they retire at 65 now.

 

[derg]

Good words man.

 

[skyhawk123]

this is a rough time not only for PSA but for everybody, on september 1st, a total of 76 PSA pilots will be on the street how many more we need to realize that we need to get together and make our voice heard by everybody ... we dont have to pick a fight with anyone (including management) just keep a GOOD ATTITUDE be POSITIVE and make an effort to help each other.... today 76 of us tomorrow could be you...

 

[Phuz]

this is a rough time not only for PSA but for everybody, on september 1st, a total of 76 PSA pilots will be on the street how many more we need to realize that we need to get together and make our voice heard by everybody ... we dont have to pick a fight with anyone (including management) just keep a GOOD ATTITUDE be POSITIVE and make an effort to help each other.... today 76 of us tomorrow could be you...

You're new to this whole thing man, take a minute to sit back and listen to the old-timers.

 

[derg]

Um, oh, nevermind.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I was scheduled to be furloughed by USAir on March 1, 2002. They called me on March 1 and assigned me a 2 day trip returning March 2nd. I said, "has my furlough been cancelled?" She said no, but they are junior assigning and they can do that.

I told her that I couldn't accept the trip without Chief Pilot approval. So a few minutes later the chief called. I explained that since I was on reserve I was paid by monthly guarantee. Since I was flying into a new month -- even if for just one day before furlough -- I could only accept the trip if I get my monthly guarantee.

He laughed and ultimately we settled on 2 weeks of guarantee for flying 1 day into furlough.

 

[Airdale]

I was scheduled to be furloughed by USAir on March 1, 2002. They called me on March 1 and assigned me a 2 day trip returning March 2nd. I said, "has my furlough been cancelled?" She said no, but they are junior assigning and they can do that.

I told her that I couldn't accept the trip without Chief Pilot approval. So a few minutes later the chief called. I explained that since I was on reserve I was paid by monthly guarantee. Since I was flying into a new month -- even if for just one day before furlough -- I could only accept the trip if I get my monthly guarantee.

He laughed and ultimately we settled on 2 weeks of guarantee for flying 1 day into furlough.

Haha. Good for you. I can totally see that happening here at RAH. They called for overtime yesterday and I practically laughed in their face. They can't drop a trip or reserve day because "lack of reserve coverage" and they want to me fly OT. Get real. I hope nobody is picking up OT.

Once again these airlines carry their business on the backs of the under compensation pilots.