Furlough Update

Well, there's been a little bit of news on the furlough front, so I figured it was about time I gave the update on that, since this is a pilot's wife blog and all, even though my focus has shifted in much of what I blog about.  You pilot wife readers might be getting tired of looking at pictures of food and running related paraphernalia, so I apologize if you're looking for more aviation related content- sorry!.  Likewise, I apologize to my Healthy Living Blogger friends if aviation news bores you! 

But, the blog is about my life, and this is potentially life changing news for Greg and I, so I thought I should give an update on what's happening.

The news is that:

Continental announced that they are recalling all of the 147 furloughed pilots last week!  Sounds major right?

According to my hubby, Continental is in the process of having one of their system bids, which is when the pilots all choose (bid) what plane they want to fly and where they want to be based.  Likewise, the company comes out with their projected staffing needs and says how many planes they will have and how many spots open in different bases, etc...  Then everything is resorted based on the needs and seniority and eventually the pilots are all told whether they will be flying at all, where they are based, what plane they will be flying, and whether they are Captain or First Officer.  Right now, it's still getting sorted, but they came out with a preliminary "glimpse" the other day where the pilots could see, based on what pilot bids they have already received, what plane they would be in and where they would likely be based.  As of yesterday, my hubby was slated for First Officer in the 737 in Houston.  He was pretty psyched to hear that, as he pretty much hated Newark as a base and was thinking he might end up in a completely different plane this go around if he got called back.  As I said, this is just a preliminary look based on what information they have so far, so this may change once the final bids are in.  

The other thing is that the news is somewhat anti-climactic because the company can say they have recalled the pilots, but not give them a class date as to when they start actually working again.  This actually happened once already, when a couple months ago they said 15 pilots were recalled, and those 15 pilots have yet to receive a class date or fly for Continental again.  So, until Greg actually receives a class date or starts flying at CAL, I'm hesitant to jump for joy.  I'm in that jaded "I'll believe it when I see it" mentality.  Right now they are projecting classes for the furloughs to begin in November through January.  

Also, the merger with United is still in progress, so if the merger is finalized before Greg returns to work, we foresee that potentially affecting things.  He has a better chance at having a job with Continental/United if he's back flying before the merger happens.  

So that's the current news on that.  Until we know for sure, Greg's going to keep doing flying at his current job and things will pretty much stay business as usual.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming ;)