America West FlightFund (Discontinued Program) - First Class being added to AWest Express CRJ's




AZ Travels the World
Oct 3, 02, 2:24 pm
I was surprised and pleased to learn this week that two rows of first class are being added to many of America West Express CRJ planes, effective within the next week or so.

I booked a first class trip to Milan via London on British Airways using Flight Fund miles and due to the connections at London/Heathrow (where BA will soon begin flying from Phoenix, rather than Gatwick), the non-stop flight PHX to LHR would not work, so I'm flying to San Diego to catch the BA non-stop from there to LHR. To connect from Phoenix, I'm a CRJ plane, booked in first class. I thought it was a mistake, so I called the Flight Fund Platinum line and a very knowledgable agent told me that first class seats are being added on a number of routes, including SAN, LAX and others. The configuration will be two rows, one seat on one side of the aisle and two seats on the other.

Also, for what it's worth, I don't know about others, but I have consitently had wonderful experiences with the Flight Fund international department. Over the past 3-4 years I've now booked 11 or 12 first class BA tickets, including one trip with five of my family members on the same itinerary -- ALL in first class, and each time I either got exactly what I requested, or something very close to it. The service is always cheerful, prompt (call backs within 24 hours of request with an itinerary), helpful and flexible. In my experience, this is the best department at the airline. I understand that, by far, most of the requests to this department are for Hawaii travel, and that's been the hardest tickets to come by given the lack of flexibility with AWA's historical partners to Hawaii, (hopefully this will change with the new Hawaiian Air alliance) but in terms of the options on British Airways via Flight Fund, it's consistently the best experiences I've had with any airline or hotel program (and I've had MORE than my share with many of them). Now I just wish they'd get a partner like Singapore or Cathay for Asia travel!


FlyinMike
Oct 3, 02, 3:34 pm
I don't suppose PHX-FAT was on the list of routes...

Those RJ's are cramped!

AZ Travels the World
Oct 3, 02, 5:06 pm
Yes, it is actually. He mentioned Fresno, Sacramento, Eugene and a couple others I don't remember. He told me they were markets where they were either A) downgrading aircraft from 737/A320 to CRJ (such as LAX, SAN) due to over capacity; or the "long hauls" -- at least for that aircraft.

He told me implementation was starting this week on some routes.

It looks like you'll have something to look forward to!


FlyinMike
Oct 4, 02, 10:38 am
Unfortunately, I just called AWA to ask them, and she said the they are still going to use the 50 seater for the foreseeable future - at least 'till they get more of the larger RJ's on line.

Looks like I'm stuck with a tiny seat and a warm Budweiser on the way home today, and for the next few weeks! The good side - I only have to come out here for another month!

iwareboy
Oct 5, 02, 4:43 am
As far as I know, the CRJ's with first class are only the 70 seats, not the 50 seats. The 70 seaters are already in PHX, but they're grounded because Mesa refuses to pay more than Mc Donald’s wages to the pilots, so the pilots refuse to fly them. It's rather pathetic what a Mesa pilot gets paid, and the fact that many of them have less then 400 hours of overall flying time is just scary.

http://www.flightcareers.com/hiring.htm




[This message has been edited by iwareboy (edited 10-05-2002).]

shadow
Oct 6, 02, 1:03 am
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">It's rather pathetic what a Mesa pilot gets paid...</font>

Everyone should read Michael Moore's new book Stupid White Men. He talks about a conversation he had with an American Eagle pilot. The wind-up was he decided not to fly an airline that pays the pilots on the same scale as the local Taco Bell pays...

Tanic
Oct 6, 02, 1:35 am
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by iwareboy:
It's rather pathetic what a Mesa pilot gets paid, and the fact that many of them have less then 400 hours of overall flying time is just scary. </font>

It's about to get worse when Ornstein launches Freedom Air.

exAC
Oct 6, 02, 8:59 pm
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by iwareboy:
It's rather pathetic what a Mesa pilot gets paid, and the fact that many of them have less then 400 hours of overall flying time is just scary.
</font>

Could you post what the Mesa wage scale is so that we can decide how pathetic it might be??? I also suspect that the few that have less than 400 hours are given jobs as FO's on the Beech 1900 along side a Captain that has a few more hours than 400!!!

iwareboy
Oct 6, 02, 9:45 pm
All in dollars per hour (average 70-85 hours per month)

1. 0 - 19 Seat Turboprop Equipment

YEAR/ CAPTAIN/ FIRST OFFICER
0-1 Years 26.53 15.69
1-2 Years 27.87 17.65
2-3 Years 29.17 18.82
3-4 Years 30.57 19.98
4-5 Years 31.88
5-6 years 33.18
6-7 Years & Thereafter 34.02


2. 20 - 40 Seat Turboprop Equipment

Effective December 2, 1996:
YEAR/ CAPTAIN/ FIRST OFFICER
0-1 Years 32.68 15.69
1-2 Years 34.17 17.65
2-3 Years 35.57 18.82
3-4 Years 37.18 19.98
4-5 Years 38.77
5-6 Years 40.41
6-7 Years 41.64
7-8 Years 42.88
8-9 Years 44.09
9-10 Years 45.34
10-11 Years 46.51
11-12 Years 47.34
12-13 Years & Thereafter 48.06


3. 50 - 59 Seat Jet Equipment

Effective December 2, 1996:
YEAR/ CAPTAIN/ FIRST OFFICER
0-1 Years 46.49 16.83
1-2 Years 47.89 24.77
2-3 Years 49.33 26.88
3-4 Years 50.80 28.22
4-5 Years 52.33 28.94
5-6 Years 53.89 29.42
6-7 Years 55.11 29.79
7-8 Years 56.76 30.29
8-9 Years 58.47
9-10 Years 60.22
10-11 Years 62.03
11-12 Years 63.88
12-13 Years 65.81
13 - 14 Years & Thereafter 67.78

A. 1. When a pilot is away from his permanent domicile in connection with normal flight assignments, he shall receive a per hour expense allowance, calculated as beginning when he is required to report for duty or when he actually reports for duty, whichever is later, and ending at block-in plus fifteen (15) minutes at his permanent domicile. The hourly rate will be prorated for fractions of an hour.

2. The per hour expense allowance as described in Paragraph A.1. above shall be $1.00 per hour


http://www.mesaalpa.org/contract-ending-2001/sect3.htm

-Sean



[This message has been edited by iwareboy (edited 10-06-2002).]



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