Tough Decision

davetheflyer

davetheflyer

New Member
Independence Air is recalling. I have to decide whether to elect to be bypassed or be eligible for the recall by June 30.

If I stay at ASA, I'll be losing money at $19 per hour until February. Between now and February, I'd make about $9,000 more at Independence.

I'll be upgrading to the CRJ 700 at ASA next month. After my anniversary in Feb, I'll make $38 per hour at ASA versus about $35 at Indy. That would work out to about $3500 more at ASA. I'll probably be on reserve for a long time in either case, but Indy has much better work rules.

Both companies are experiencing uncertainty. Independence faces possible bankruptcy and failure, aircraft repossessions, and closure. ASA faces bankruptcy through Delta, sale to Skywest, contract disuputes and a possible strike. Upgrade time is an unknown quantity at both companies, but probably will be better at ASA.

If I elect to bypass, they'll recall junior people first. If they can't fill a class, they can make the recall mandatory. I have about 500 people senior to me on furlough so even if I don't bypass, there is no guarantee of actually being recalled.

My instinct is to take Indy's money and run since I don't have a lot of time invested at ASA, but if Indy fails I will have passed up a golden opportunity for what will probably be a fairly quick upgrade (2-3 years).

I'm interested in everyone's thoughts.

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Id stay @ ASA. Delay the recall as long as possible to keep both options open, but if forced just stay and move on with your life.
 
I would take what you have and stay with ASA. If there is uncertainty at both, you might as well stay with the "certainty" of the job you have now. If you were to jump ship to Indy and they had problems, would ASA be willing to take you back? Granted I am not flying for a living now, but at least right now, you know what you have with ASA and you cannot say that for Indy. That has to be worth something.

my $.002 worth !
 
the way I see things, ASA is a better bet than Indy. As much as I'd love to see Independance Air stay afloat, I see it failing long before Delta tanks out and has to cash out ASA. Senority is obviously junior at both company's for you since you got furloughed at Indy. ASA is also continuing to hire as I understand it. That means people below you and less of a chance of loosing your job again. Even if things do go badly for ASA they've got start puting people on the street it seems like it would take them longer to get to you than at Indy.

That is unless you really think FlyI can stay afloat. If you really believe in the company, put your chips there. I don't honestly know enough about them and I thought they were still bleeding to tell you the truth, but I have not kept very up to date on their situation there.
 
Indy is not recalling because of growth. They are recalling to replace senior guys who are jumping ship. That doesn't say much for the condition of the company.

It would really boil down to a money decision. I'm going deeper and debt every month until February at ASA. Even at the higher pay rate it would take me three years to catch up on pay if I stay at ASA.

Basically, I really need the extra money that a return to Independence would bring. My thinking is that if I go back and lose my job there again, it will be easy to find a regional airline to start at the bottom with, only then I'll hopefully be out of debt and have a nest egg. If I elect to be eligible for recall, that will be my reasoning.

Thanks for the input.
 
You do have a tough call but remember "one in the hand is better than two in the bush" so to speak. IMO it all depends on whether you can hang on financially until Feb. I know that ASA is not furloughing and are hiring which is good and you have already been furloughed by Indy and there future to me is more uncertain than ASA.
 
Well, considering that you are 3 or 4 numbers ahead of me, leave, go, get out of the way!!!
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I don't know man, that's a tough decision. I know ASA is more commutable for you. If you had to get a crashpad in DC that would cut into the $9000 difference a bit. Also do you want to uproot he wife and the kids?

When do you start class for the 700. I know "swiss guy" starts in the beginning of the month on the 11th I think, but he's going out to SLC. Big Dan is also going in. Hopefully they will start assigning seatlocked new hires to the 700 to help you guys out seniority wise. Can you get a part time gig on the side? One of the guys from our class has a warehouse gig that lets him come and go.
 
Stay at ASA! They have issues (aren't you all still in contract negotiations?), but look at Indy. Failing fast it seems. Of course, everyone said that of US Airways. But I don't see their business plan lasting.

Tough decision, but think long-term here. You've said that long-term ASA is the better option, but you are worried about these next 7 months or so. Why not get a part-time job in those 7 months, bite the bullet, and hang on tight to something that would conceivably pay off better?

Some are saying that Indy might not make it to see 2006. You'd be starting at the bottom again with another regional, at $20 an hour.

I don't think any of us can predict what will happen 6 weeks from now, let alone 6 months or 6 years from now. But that said, it does seem ASA is better off here.
 
Dave if you are going to stay with ASA here in ATL and you decide to get a pt job you should check with places like Home Depot. I worked there part time while working fulll time at Delta and they are very flexible with hours and you dont have to dress up for work. They paid be pretty good to work in the electrical section and I knew almost nothing about hardcore electrical stuff....just a thought
 
I'm actually living in TN now and commuting to ATL. We are looking for a place in ATL. The part time job might look better once we move, although it would be tough since ASA's reserve has only ten days off per month and six of those can be moved at the company's discretion.

I decided to send in a bypass letter. I still hope to go back to Indy, but I'll wait a while and see what happens there. If they make it through the winter, things will probably look a lot better next year.

I finally decided that staying at ASA was the best solution since I still would have both options available to me.
 
Dave, I think you made the right choice. It's tough to go into debt, but it is temporary, while accepting a recall at Independence is a more permanent decision. The specific direction of ASA's future may be unsure, but I doubt it's in any danger of liquidation. Indy is another matter. I wish Independence the best, but don't have high hopes for their long-term success. Again, I think you made the right choice.
 
It was the conservative choice anyway.

I agree that ASA isn't in danger of liquidation, any upheaval could be tough for those of us on the bottom of the list. The Skywest rumors are still rampant and a DAL bankruptcy could screw us as bad as UAL's did to ACA.

Failing the success of Independence, I kind of hope that they will be acquired by another carrier that would grow and recall us. That's a tricky hope though, because most of the potential suitors that I might hope for would be non-ALPA (JB, SW, Airtran) and the acquiree pilots often get shafted when there is a merger with mismatched unions.

I'll wait and see what happens. Anyhoo, wouldn't want to miss my CRJ 700 class next week.
 
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