xaarman

It happens. We’ve had guys float six months earning reserve guarantee. Either the CKA forgets to turn in their qualification paperwork, or they go non-current as a Reserve dude… so they never search legal for trips but also are never actively removed from a sequence. it’s a good deal when you get it. And unlike the military, you are not expected to do the companies job to notify them when they’ve screwed up.

Congratulations, one more pass over and you get paroled early… just in time for the major boom in hiring. Timing is everything, availability is key and you hit the jackpot. The airlines are surprisingly full of passed over Captains (me) laughing all the way to the bank. Let me know if you have any questions on the process. It seems scary, but it’s truly the best thing to ever happen to you.

I am late to the party (closed about 2 months ago) but just got back to these boards. Big props to Jon for helping us buy a house in the middle of a huge winter storm, requiring day by day adjustments on the property tax numbers with a terrible (seller agent chosen) title company. Biggest compliment also came from our Realtor who said she had never heard of Trident Home Loans before and was initially suspicious of an out of state, unknown broker... but even then she was singing praises of how responsive and helpful Jon (and the THL staff) was, especially during the last week before closing where all the shenanigans happened.

Y’all shouldn’t care about any of this. You are the other 50%. The key is availability. I bet all 6 destination jobs will be hiring by the end of the year.

We have also seen a lot of pent up demand. Everyone has been working for a year+ and has a ton of saved up vacation to use. Problem is they have nowhere to go, if they can even go at all. All airlines think business travel will be back, and all gave a similar example - the second someone loses a multi million dollar deal due to Zoom issues, the company will spend a grand to send the salesman in person. edit: AA earnings call said pilot hiring might resume in the "not to distant future" ... whatever that means

It's mostly right wing pundits latching onto single liners without context. He's had a life long challenge with speech and its effects: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/01/joe-biden-stutter-profile/602401/ https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/accessibility/471707-how-joe-bidens-gaffes-have-affected-his-campaign-and If one doesn't want to vote for Biden, fine... but don't parrot talking points that have nothing to do with policy or positions.

I can't wait for the regret sales to start. Rogue Fitness 260lb set (more than I'd ever need), retails for $595, listed for $1200. https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/spo/d/washington-rogue-fitness-new-bumper/7141548830.html

Been looking at a Rogue Fitness home gym. They seem to demand a premium, but the only company that has the customer service and regular stock (until COVID hit.) Hoping there will be tons of regret sales as things start opening up. Wife wants a Peloton as well.

Maybe one airline can exist with passengers at current levels. Travel numbers are coming up extremely slowly, but hey, it's progress! https://www.tsa.gov/coronavirus/passenger-throughput Currently at 9% of last year!

I'm gonna go a different route - I was a clean cut and don't miss the Guard/Reserve either. Still have the Post 9/11 GI Bill and Law school if everything else fails and/or I lose my medical. Totally signing up for our 55 hours/mo of paid leave for six months if offered though. Donno bout you all, but I can easily live on 10k/month (401k incl) for free.

Not a day goes by where I wish I stayed in. Job security included. Live below your means, keep your wife amount to under 2 definitely less than 3, save appropriately, and enjoy the ride. Always hope for the best but plan for the worst. Still better than Active Duty.

So what’s the deal with the feds emergency rate cut this morning? How long until the trickle down reaches VA loan applicants?

What everyone else said. We're hiring everyone right now and will be for a while. If not, UAL, DAL, or SWA will hire you. You won't be at the front of the wave, but short of some game-changing economic event, if you want to fly for the airlines, there will be options. All are better than Active Duty. In full disclosure, I did get called out on Reserve, so that will be 7 days worked this month. UGH. PS: Personal opinion, the MCAS issues set automation/single pilot ops back an additional 10 years. PPS: Pick the place where you can drive to work

So there's the public part of an airline, and then there's flying for an airline. For example, SWA is a great company, but the flying does not appeal to me anymore. I'd been happy to get hired there coming out of the military (it was one of my top 3) but now that I'm here, I'm happy I'm not in a 737 flying domestic (incl Mexico and Hawaii) for the next 30 years. This is an example of the latter, nothing in this article affects my daily life. Sure we made less than UAL/DAL, but that's for the MBAs to figure out. And surprisingly, we still made 2.9 BILLION dollars this year. When our summer operation turned into a mess, the 737 MAX was grounded, and our stock price hit a new low, we pay a billion dollars in interest on our debt... we still made 2.9 billion. Now, you don't see Labor coming to the defense of management. We're in negotiations. Headlines are probably going to get worse before they get better. Especially with our past. But AA, the world's biggest airline, isn't going anywhere anytime soon. There's always someone at Hickam who wishes they were at Minot. My friends Miami IOE sequence has layovers in St Kitts and Medellin. Another friend exclusively bids Aruba layovers. What he said, bolded for emphasis. I also wouldn't mind seeing Alan Mullaly. But I do think AA is going to get worse before it gets better. PS: I'm posting this from my couch while on Reserve 🤷‍♂️

What negative things have you heard? It's Caribbean island hopping.

I was worried about going on a tangent and not answering the question, but after everything I posted, I still do enjoy working here. It is worlds better than Active Duty. I have more time than I know what to do with. And you (not you personally) can either get really spun up about the drama, or you can completely ignore when the door shuts and you drive home. That's the best part about this job. The new pilots are motivated and excited for change. The old pilots are retiring in droves. We have 676 pilots retiring in 2020 and that doesn't include anyone who goes early. It only goes up from there. I would have nowhere near the seniority gain at UAL/DAL - I can spend 20 years as a WB CA here at AA. If you live local, our reserve system is the best in the business. Miami flying is the best in the system. Finally, I firmly believe this airline will look completely different in 5 years, much more in 10, 20 or 30 years. Send me a PM if you want, I'm happy to help with any questions you may have along the way.

It's complicated. It's important to know the background of AA. It's a four headed beast of Legacy AA, TWA, America West, and US Airways. Everyone has been screwed over in some form. US Airways and America West merged in the early 2000s. The Nicalau Award, infamous in aviation and airline history, was extremely controversial. It said that the two pilot lists will be blended in the same relative seniority, so if you were 30% on the old list, you'd be 30% on the new list. However, US Airways was a very old airline, and AWA was a very young airline. Therefore, you'd have pilots who had been on property 5 years, being put over pilots who have been on property 20 years. As you've heard, seniority is everything. The unions refused to ratify the arbitration decision, and instead concentrated their hate and distrust between each other. This lasted for almost 10 years. With no ability to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement, neither union could move forward and it got nasty as each one blamed the other for their woes. For the line pilots, it mainly meant frozen pay rates and work rules for a decade. Management played off this and rode the cheap labor for years, as the airlines operated as two separate companies under one paint job. TWA was on the brink of complete liquidation. Not a normal bankruptcy where you renegotiate debt, but at the point where the metal was going to be scrapped to satisfy the debts. Instead, AA bought them, but the pilots list was simply stapled to the bottom of the AA seniority list. One guy I talked to lost 12 years of seniority overnight. So they were pissed. Legacy AA had something called the B Scale. In order to get a new contract, a contract was signed where for the first 5 (?) years, you were paid less than the A scale guys. No difference in equipment operated or work rules, but you'll get paid less so the pilots already on property could get paid more. "You'll be senior someday" mentality. Then came all the bankruptcies, frozen A funds (pensions pilots were banking on) and pay cuts. The moral of the story? EVERYONE on property got screwed over in some form. Some pilots cannot get over the past. So why do Pilots hate Doug Parker? Is it deserved? Yes and no. Keep in mind, he was CEO of America West and rode the CEO wave to the top of AA. Some pilots here are so bitter, they want the world to burn. They have been on the wrong side of the airline industry for 30-40 years. They've lost houses, their domiciles closed, been through multiple divorces, owe(d) child support and alimony, did not have the military, and have always had an awful relationship with management. There are no saving this pilot group, you can never make them happy. Then we have our contract. The 2013 contract was written to include programs that didn't exist yet. Long story short is they turned off some stuff that was made obsolete in the contract, the replacement sucked, the pilot group wanted it back, the company said OK but we can't program all the stuff in the new contract. Pilot group said we don't care, and thus everything was put on hold to re-activate programs that had been de-integrated and shut down. A scheduling mistake in 2017 solidified the non-implementation, as the pilot group got HUGE work rule changes in agreement for dropping all grievances against the non implementation of the contract. BUT management has implemented items that help them, but none that help the pilot group. So, now we're in my personal opinion. Should DP be fired? From a leadership point of view, he's lost most, if not every work group. Ed Bastian and DAL have figured out labor relations. Oscar Munoz has figured out how to do it at UAL. AA seems behind the times, sticking with labor and negotiating tactics that the worst of the industry invented. They preach a "new American" but hired the same company negotiator that has been at the center point of all the awful combative labor relations (Jerry Glass.) So you have a bitter pilot group, and a management philosophy of more of the same. So the CEO talks a good talk, but actions are pointing towards another long, nasty "same ol same ol" company culture. Nobody believes we're going to overtake UAL or DAL with Doug in charge. Motivation isn't low, it's more like do your job and go home. There's no real reason to go the extra mile, or go above and beyond. And it seems like management is OK with that. So again, should DP be fired? Probably, but only if we can guarantee his replacement is better. And then the new guy needs to clean house of the middle management that still operates like it's in the early 90s. Overall, I do like it here. They've treated me well. I live in base, bid reserve, and worked 5 days this month, for 76 hours of pay. I've been on property for 2 years and can hold Captain later this year. But I do union work in Contract Compliance and new hire mentor, so I see a lot of the management-first solutions often, especially in Crew Scheduling.

Any idea on how much the effects of the federal rate cut are having? What’s the change in the average VA loan?

Anyone get Mattis's new book? Thoughts? edit: saw it was asked above, great minds think alike!

Have the flight doc prescribe 800mg Ibuprofen. (sarcasm intended)

What if he said Pro Pilot pay should be $300k/year? He can't make that happen, but apparently it would make a lot of folks feel better. As I slowly disconnect from my past life, I still chime in here because I like Base Ops. But it will be the same complaining as when I was a junior Captain, to senior Captain, and now a few years post separation... and people are still complaining about the same stuff. The time is ripe to get out. But as I said above, don't stay with the girl hoping she'll come around in the next 1-4 years... it ain't happening.

Honestly, if you’re still in beyond your initial commitment, that’s on you. By the Major point, you know the rules and requirements of the game. Dont stay with a girl hoping she’ll change. Nothing different here either.

I've posted this before and I'll post it here again. It's satire, but it's true: https://www.duffelblog.com/2015/04/jcs-dont-care-youre-resigning/ The system is what the system is. Fighting it is like getting mad at the ocean for having waves. FWIW, I worked one, two leg overnight sitting reserve at my house so far this month. And I make about what a Lt Col makes in my second year at a legacy with the (currently) worst contract.

I see a note in there about zero funding fee if awarded a Purple Heart - any idea on what future guidance will be on funding fees and normal a VA disability rating? Specifically 40%?

That’s the great thing about the airlines.... one persons trash is another persons treasure. Some people love redeyes for commuting, some people (me) avoid them at all costs. To answer your question, I haven’t set an alarm clock in months because I prefer late morning to afternoon shows.