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Originally Posted by toddnorrish  Have an opportunity to interview with Pinnacle. Looking for any feedback, pros/cons from any and all, in particular any Pinnacle drivers. |
I'd go for the interview experience, but if you get other offers, it might not be a bad idea to seriously consider them. Pinnacle is a VERY shaky place right now. With the looming strike, stalled negotiations, a request for arbitration from ALPA and a lawsuit against ALPA from management, things are gonna get ugly for a while here. Work rules aren't the best out there, and pay is hideous for the first couple of years. The days of upgrading as soon as you have the time might be coming to a close as well. A few months ago, I could hold MEM if I bid CA. On the last bid, I would have missed MEM by 200 seniority numbers, but I could hold DTW or even ATL. The ATL flying is getting slowly built up, and they actually have a few overnights now instead of all day trips.
Management has been violating the existing contract left and right, and they seem willing to drag everyone through the mud instead of settling on a new contract. To be honest, I don't have much faith in our management team at all. They'd rather pay more money in penalties to NWA for cancelling flights than sign a deal with the pilots. From the negotiating committee rep I talked to, the lost revenue from the 15 planes sent to Mesaba was more than what they would have paid over the life of the contract to make up the difference b/w what the pilots want and what the wanted. Translation: they would rather lose money by losing airplanes than give in to the pilots. To me, that's just poor business sense and should send shareholders running away. Now, most (myself included) would tell you that those planes were going to Mesaba the whole time, but then the company loses the argument that we lost those planes b/c the union wouldn't deal.
Morale here is pretty low. People are pondering quitting b/c they find themselves getting angry with family members and spouses b/c of lingering effects of how they are treated at work. I've always been a "leave work at work" kind of person, so I've been able to dodge that so far.
That being said, this place has the potential to be a REALLY good regional. We've got (IMO) one of the best pilot groups around, the flying is challenging and has a good variety, the aircraft are (for the most part) pretty well maintained, and once we get a contract done, I think this will be one of the regionals to beat. The question is, can we survive to that point? Add in the potential Delta/NWA merger, and there's even more haze on the horizon. For example, we're starting ATL-MEM with the -900 next month. Now, in our agreement with NWA, it says we CANNOT do flying for another carrier into a NWA hub. Yet, NWA hasn't made a peep about us flying ATL-MEM under the Delta banner. That says to me they're hoping a deal with Delta goes through.