Originally Posted by
pilotjono
Okay, thank you!
Do you yourself fly for an airline in South America or how did you hear about this situation with JetSmart?
Until recently I used to; and the info stems from personal experience, friends and colleagues who are still working there. But I have never been associated with JetSmart...
Here is what I got:
This company is well known by the local pilot associations and unions for its intention to prostitute the pilot work environment and market: JetSmart will do everything cheaper and have it at the cost of their employees, literally...
Additionally, in order to attract pilots, many promises are made in the past and later on are not kept, be it fast upgrades, minimum flight hours per month or days off.
In general, managers in operations are internally considered untrustworthy and a few even straight out liars, but since they were only filling their quotas to put warm bodies in planes, internally it is considered ethical...
Last week company management rejected all requested union agreement points, even the items required by law, just to show they can, demonstrating their anti-union attitude. New hires are told NOT to join the union as they are on probation and beyond that time as “their career in the company would most likely suffer”...
It is also a known fact that most pilots in JetSmart are Expats and therefore bonded to the company, to say the condition to live in this country depends on the grace of the managers... If you are lucky like me and single, you might have choices, but some of the colleagues uprooted their family to come here and are now stuck...
living expenses are high in Santiago, and even higher in the new base they intent to open in Antofagasta.
Now new Expat recruits will be required to accept ANF as base, which is not a great place to live. High crime rates, Colombian mafias, drugs and prostitution are the norm in this high income mining town.
There are no bonuses, no overtime pay; if you are not connected you won’t have a chance for days off or even upgrading...If you are a noob (no Jet time), you are trying to get your SIC type on the A320, or looking for a fast upgrade to Captain, I’d say you could try your luck; but even the fast track FO’s are by now getting annoyed: Avianca Peru is going to release 30-40 Pilots and JetSmart is already scrambling to sell them US$8000 in pocket per month (bunch of lies, too!)... so their upgrades will be postponed indefinitely...
Now, if you are desperate and out of work, sure; but if you can go somewhere else, I’d recommend not looking at this place! You’ll be happier and actually have a career in other companies like Sky... which is where most of the pilots in JetSmart want to go anyways..
Hope this helps; I left this place a while ago and made it into a professional airline...