Which Legacy/Major do you want to work at and why...

Choose one...

  • American

    Votes: 29 11.8%

  • Delta

    Votes: 59 24.0%

  • FedEx

    Votes: 32 13.0%

  • Southwest

    Votes: 33 13.4%

  • United

    Votes: 58 23.6%

  • UPS

    Votes: 7 2.8%

  • Alaska

    Votes: 10 4.1%

  • Hawaiian

    Votes: 7 2.8%

  • JetBlue

    Votes: 11 4.5%
  • Total voters
    246
Maximillian_Jenius said:
Are you guys worried about all these JV's, at all? Is there a plan in place to severely limit the number of JV's? And bring more widebody flying back home under the house colors?
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Definitely worried about JV. I was very happy to see delta pilots turn down the last contract. I think it would have been a huge blow to their international division. JV is the new RJ scope.
 
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jetBlue for me.

I remember being in high school and one day found an article about jetBlue, at this time they were about 3 years old and expanding. Reading about the company and what not really prompted becoming a Pilot. And When I first rode on jetBlue in May 2005 I was hooked on them, and choose them often when I have to travel.

The company culture is fantastic, everyone I have met has been nothing short of awesome. My wife and I flew jetBlue for our honeymoon, the Crewmember at the ticket counter figured out it was our honeymoon and made her way to the airplane to make a special announcement that we were newlyweds, sure made us feel special! And just last friday on JFK-ROC, First Officer John took some time to answer some of my questions about the company and just be a genuinely nice guy.

The people and the culture is why I want to make a career out of jetBlue. The bases work out quite nicely for a commute for me, and the wife's job could move her to Boston which would make life easy there. I get excited to fly jetBlue as a passenger, flying for them would be like winning the lottery for me.
 
My 2 cents about majors... Wanted to work for Alaska my whole life. Got hired, best day ever. After working there a year, I learned more about it and made the decision to move to United. Best decision I've ever made. Even throwing commuting in the mix. The point of this is that you need to do your research VERY well on what is good and bad about a major. The couple friends I had at Alaska LOVED it, but when I found out about things like no scope and how the company was dealing with it, it was not important to them. Having a few friends at an airline can be very helpful as far as networking and working towards your goals but be aware that many pilots are happy at different places for different reasons and have different ideas of what is important to them. Figure out what's important for you and pursue it full speed ahead. Don't make excuses, don't put yourself in a position that it's hard to move on from, and don't have an ego about things like job fairs when you aren't at your career goal airline yet.
 
Dan208B said:
DID. 737, 757/767, and 777. All closed down last year.
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Dang, serious? I had no idea. I'd taken plenty of UA commuters from SEA-SFO but almost all of them said that SEA was too senior for them to hold what they wanted (aircraft and/or schedules). But I did not know the entire base closed! So this was a massive displacement out of SEA for everyone? Where did they all go? Is it basically wherever their seniority could hold, even if there wasn't a vacancy spot open in that new base/plane? And displace out the ones affected by this (eg, a secondary displacement)? How did it shake out?
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Dang, serious? I had no idea. I'd taken plenty of UA commuters from SEA-SFO but almost all of them said that SEA was too senior for them to hold what they wanted (aircraft and/or schedules). But I did not know the entire base closed! So this was a massive displacement out of SEA for everyone? Where did they all go? Is it basically wherever their seniority could hold, even if there wasn't a vacancy spot open in that new base/plane? And displace out the ones affected by this (eg, a secondary displacement)? How did it shake out?
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Long story short the 737 closed a few years ago, and the 757/767 about a year and a half ago and then finally the 777. Each was small so it wasn't hugely impactful to the whole system. Many FOs went to CA spots elsewhere because of their seniority. Lots went to SFO and LAX, and a few to other bases. I'm pretty new but the way I understand it you can go anywhere your seniority can hold but they won't bump anyone else.
 
Dan208B said:
My 2 cents about majors... Wanted to work for Alaska my whole life. Got hired, best day ever. After working there a year, I learned more about it and made the decision to move to United. Best decision I've ever made. Even throwing commuting in the mix. The point of this is that you need to do your research VERY well on what is good and bad about a major. The couple friends I had at Alaska LOVED it, but when I found out about things like no scope and how the company was dealing with it, it was not important to them. Having a few friends at an airline can be very helpful as far as networking and working towards your goals but be aware that many pilots are happy at different places for different reasons and have different ideas of what is important to them. Figure out what's important for you and pursue it full speed ahead. Don't make excuses, don't put yourself in a position that it's hard to move on from, and don't have an ego about things like job fairs when you aren't at your career goal airline yet.
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This is my biggest concern with Alaska. I don't think they would farm out Boeing or Airbuses, but what about C-Series or Mitsubishi's new jet? I know that Alaska doesn't hire as many pilots as other majors, so I would hate to see them hire even less.
 
alaskadrifter said:
This is my biggest concern with Alaska. I don't think they would farm out Boeing or Airbuses, but what about C-Series or Mitsubishi's new jet? I know that Alaska doesn't hire as many pilots as other majors, so I would hate to see them hire even less.
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Well... ALPA will tell you don't worry about it. But they have no backing to that statement. I flew with a few local union guys that said it's actually a HUGE concern. Alaska management has told ALPA they will follow industry standard on who flies what airplanes. But I would bet money if a E190 or C series/Mitsubishi showed up that Horizon and Skywest would be bidding on that flying. 2 other concerns.... Without question, the E175s will completely replace most of the State of Alaska 737 flying. I don't think the ANC base will go away because there are plenty of nonstops to far away places and perhaps a long-term market if oil prices come up for some north slope flying in -800s. But besides that I think you will not see 737s in any State of Alaska station besides ANC, FAI, and JNU - perhaps even seasonally with JNU, just a nonstop to SEA. 2nd concern, with NO scope at all, there are issues besides just bigger jets. The big 3 legacies (and Hawaiian actually has great scope) have limits on how many airplanes can be operated in their regionals based on various metrics like mainline vs regional seats. Alaska has nothing like that, so to me the job security is very poor. AND all of this is not even considering the merger. That adds a whole new list of concerns.
 
Dan208B said:
Well... ALPA will tell you don't worry about it. But they have no backing to that statement. I flew with a few local union guys that said it's actually a HUGE concern. Alaska management has told ALPA they will follow industry standard on who flies what airplanes. But I would bet money if a E190 or C series/Mitsubishi showed up that Horizon and Skywest would be bidding on that flying. 2 other concerns.... Without question, the E175s will completely replace most of the State of Alaska 737 flying. I don't think the ANC base will go away because there are plenty of nonstops to far away places and perhaps a long-term market if oil prices come up for some north slope flying in -800s. But besides that I think you will not see 737s in any State of Alaska station besides ANC, FAI, and JNU - perhaps even seasonally with JNU, just a nonstop to SEA. 2nd concern, with NO scope at all, there are issues besides just bigger jets. The big 3 legacies (and Hawaiian actually has great scope) have limits on how many airplanes can be operated in their regionals based on various metrics like mainline vs regional seats. Alaska has nothing like that, so to me the job security is very poor. AND all of this is not even considering the merger. That adds a whole new list of concerns.
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Which is why one of the most important items for the JCBA should be scope protections. Limit both seats and lbs weight for RJs, and cap the amount of aircraft that can be operated by the regionals. Like how Delta allows only 125 50 sweaters. We need something like that at the new Alaska. Or, like you said, kiss goodbye to a LOT of shorter-medium range routes currently flown by 320/737s. And no offense, but the biggest ignorance seems to be directly proportional to the distance from home to airport base, with the locals being completely oblivious. With the amount of pilots who live in base at SEA and ANC, there's a reason why Alaska's current scope protection is the way it is --- most just don't care and didn't care.
 
Dan208B said:
The big 3 legacies (and Hawaiian actually has great scope) have limits on how many airplanes can be operated in their regionals based on various metrics like mainline vs regional seats. Alaska has nothing like that, so to me the job security is very poor. AND all of this is not even considering the merger. That adds a whole new list of concerns.
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Also of large concern is the fact that Alaska has no language compelling the joining of seniority lists or operations in the event of a merger. Granted, just about every other unionized carrier out there has that requirement so it will happen anyways, but that is why there was a bit of a fear for a while that VX would continue to be operated as a separate entity and whipsawed against Alaska.
 
Cptnchia said:
The formula is based on number of seats, not miles.
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SEA-UK is a whole lot longer than JFK-UK. Does that mean you lose block hours out of the deal?

EDIT: Nevermind... looks like Delta is starting PDX-London.
 
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BobDDuck said:
SEA-UK is a whole lot longer than JFK-UK. Does that mean you lose block hours out of the deal?

EDIT: Nevermind... looks like Delta is starting PDX-London.
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Delta loses the SEA-LHR and JFK-MAN flights, while gaining one flight each on DTW/ATL-LHR as well as PDX-LHR (4x weekly).
 
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