The Status of Bargaining

As we made clear in our previous updates, the parties remain at an impasse in negotiations. As a result, the Union has requested a status meeting with the National Mediation Board (NMB) and a proffer of arbitration. Consistent with its normal procedures, the NMB requested a response from management, which is due on May 13th, 2025.We will provide you with an update and additional information as it becomes available from the NMB.

Based on the way the Railway Labor Act (RLA) works, the next CBA will likely be the one you work under for more than five years after it is ratified. A fair, enforceable contract is non-negotiable. Your continued insistence on a contract that does not sacrifice your working conditions to achieve market-based pay, or vice-versa, remains the key to achieving this goal.

Flying Our Fair Share – IBT Opposition to Viva JV

It should come as no surprise that the IBT has written in opposition to the Viva Joint Venture since our U.S.-based aircrews have no guarantee of any portion of the block hours of this agreement, and management has made it clear that they are seeking no changes to our current scope language. In Allegiant’s response to the IBT’s filing, they lament the fact that they have been waiting “58% longer” for approval than the last Joint Venture application. See their language below:

In perhaps management’s most ironic and tone-deaf public statement to date, they cry foul to the government and bewail about the length of time their unapproved application has been pending while negotiations for a fair pilot contract have raged on without substantive progress for over 4 years. Our peers have all managed to fly internationally with U.S. based pilots on their own metal. On the other hand, Allegiant management seems desperate to give international flying opportunities to foreign carriers – with no guarantee of a fair share of the flying and work rules that would allow them to slash 20% of the pilot force. No.

This Union will continue to oppose any flying venture that disproportionately rewards foreign or other carriers. Scope matters and your Negotiating Committee will continue to fight for your rightful share of any flying sold under the Allegiant banner. Allegiant flights = Allegiant pilots. When the Company agrees to industry standard unstacking rules, we can turn our attention to resolving the Viva JV in a manner that protects our job security and career opportunities.

The Truth About Unstacking Language

Unstacking, in its simplest form, is forced work and ignoring pilot preferences. While management’s Ministry of Truth will be busy over the coming weeks building an educational series to “tell you how unstacking works,” their efforts would be better served elsewhere. Virtually the entire industry already agrees—and their rules follow the same format and are nearly identical. Avoid management “truths” and read the language for yourself:

As you can see, the language and format is virtually identical. Major airlines have aligned on the necessary protections surrounding forced work and PBS – except Allegiant. Management has decided to completely reinvent industry-standard language, common behavior from them during these negotiations, which management uses to stall progress intentionally. A standout in Allegiant’s proposed language is how management uses the numbers 50% and 70% deceptively to appear like they are using industry standard provisions, except that the provision functions in the exact opposite way.

Unlike the rest of the industry which places hard limits on who cannot be unstacked (70% in normal months, 50% in holiday months), the Allegiant language says who can be unstacked. At least 70% of the pilots can have their preferences ignored every month, and in some cases beyond 80% thanks to a rounding clause does not present anywhere else in the industry. Every airline offers explicit and reasonable limits to protect seniority, Allegiant does not. Why?

Their proposal on unstacking allows the company to manipulate inputs to achieve far greater levels of forced flying, potentially your entire schedule, all while claiming “operational necessity.” False. As we have said before, high unstacking is not a requirement of the “peak flying” model, nor the “day trip” model, nor does unstacking have any linear correlation to percent working (i.e. you don’t need 80% unstacking to achieve 80% working, despite management’s repeated claims).

Beyond just the ‘unstacking’ percentage, we do not have any of the work rules surrounding unstacking to constrain it to any reasonable limits. Minimum staffing models, reserve restrictions, trip pairing and line construction provisions, trip mix protection by system and domicile, footprint rules, and reassignment protections are non-existent in their proposal. The very rules designed to protect your quality of life and keep forced work at bay are the very rules that management has continued to reject. To quote one manager, “if you don’t like your days off being Tuesday and Wednesday, then this airline isn’t for you.” To quote one company negotiator, “Your schedule will be predictable, your days off will be Tuesday and Wednesday.” Rubbish.

We reject the idea of perpetual forced work and a limited (and shrinking) inventory of days off selections. We reject the idea that only the top 20% of pilots get their preferences awarded. We reject the idea that your only days off will be Tuesday and Wednesday for the rest of your career. The rest of the industry has moved on from 1980s-style work rules and chosen to preserve seniority rights and preferences, limit forced work, ensure schedule fairness, and protect quality of life. Unilateral authority to destroy your quality of life in perpetuity is not acceptable.

Near Industry-Leading Productivity – Industry-Worst Work Rules

Based on feedback from our last message, our pilots continue to appreciate discussions centered around unimpeachable data and empirical evidence. For years, management has tried to convince you that your efforts are inferior to those of your peers—and that you should be willing to accept less as a result. The tried-and-true lines of “we’re different,” “our airplanes sit more,” or “those guys just fly more” don’t hold any weight. Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for management), data doesn’t care about feelings and rumors — and neither does the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). Consider the following DOT data from 2023:

Figure: 2023 DOT BHPP/PPA Data

Despite the so-called “low-utilization” model, Allegiant pilots flew virtually the same or greater block hours per pilot than the majority of the industry. You achieved that output with the leanest staffing cushion in the industry (9 pilots per aircraft) with the weakest work rules and low pay as a reward. In fact, only Southwest has a higher BHPP with statistical relevance, and proof positive that incentivizing productivity works better than trying to achieve it through brute force and destroying your seniority rights.

As powerful as our BHPP is, other data points help to capture the actual effort our pilots exert to deliver industry-leading financial and operational performance. You should not be surprised to learn that Allegiant pilots are among the leaders in departures per pilot among major airlines, second only to Southwest.

According to DOT data, in 2023, Allegiant pilots averaged 15% more departures per pilot than the third-place airline, and had 34% more than Alaska, 61% more than United, and 31% more departures per pilot than JetBlue. Consider the following compiled from data provided by the DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics (visit the source here):

Example: Departure Per Pilot 2023
*pilot counts exclude instructors and trainees

Four years of near-record high productivity with well below industry work rules have provided a basis for funding everything except for a fair pilot contract, including the financially disastrous Sunseeker resort, financed family fun centers, golf courses, software companies, go-kart tracks, and executive bonuses.

While you operate more departures than your peers, often in less-than-ideal and challenging conditions, management believes it is obligatory that you capitulate now and accept worse-than-Spirit work rules (re-read “Mailer 2.0” if there is doubt). 4-leg days, non-towered airports, Larry Limos, outstation maintenance “adventures,” involuntary TDYs, base closures, and the like. The idea that you should capitulate to quality-of-life concessions in exchange for another decade of continuous abuse and degradation of your seniority rights is absurd. Management extracts above industry productivity from its pilots; the bill has come due.

The data continues to show that the “low pilot utilization myth” is false. The idea that the Allegiant pilot “does less and flies less” is not reality—the data proves it. The Allegiant pilot has done more, with less, and for longer than any other major airline pilot.

Management: we do not want your truth brochures, your flight crew appreciation socks, nor another shaving kit. The only “gift” that we want to see is a fair, enforceable contract.

Gallagher’s “Legacy” Dog Whistle

As Gallagher reminded us in the infamous “another f—ing airline” letter, the phrase “legacy work rules” is management’s favorite dog whistle. Management’s way of refuting fair, reasonable, market-based contract provisions is to falsely claim that such provisions would kill the company. The “legacy” moniker is an attempt to convince you that it is your Negotiating Committee that is being unreasonable by holding the line for a market-based contract without completely unnecessary concessions in scheduling, your seniority rights, and your quality of life.

“They want legacy” is a scare tactic to convince you that basic quality-of-life protections are an irresponsible and unreasonable ask by your Union, while funding failing hotels, sponsoring family race-car teams, and other pet projects is perfectly affordable. The truth is that work rules don’t bankrupt airlines, but bad management certainly does. No matter how “cheap” a contract is, the same executives who mismanage our company will still demand concessions until pilots say enough is enough (reference: current negotiations).

If trip rigs sink airlines, the rest of the industry hasn’t noticed. Industry-leading productivity deserves industry-standard protections. Legacy is simply management’s trigger word to convince you that you are worth less and should settle. No.

In Closing 

The parties are at an impasse. We fully expect management to intensify their attempts to undermine the Union’s credibility and create division within our ranks. They do so to delay providing you with the contract you deserve. Managers will attempt to create controversies where none should exist (e.g., disparaging the Union for adding a committee member while their 13+ member negotiating team flies to bargaining sessions on private jets). You would be wise to ignore it. Division has no benefit for our pilot group.

Now is not the time for weakness—it won’t get you a contract quicker. It is more critical than ever for every pilot to stand tall, reject concessions, and demand that management deliver the contract you deserve. Beyond that, you must remain engaged. It’s easy not to care when you don’t think that something affects you until your base closes, or you’re forced into unproductive overnight trips to Bellville, IL, or Stewart, NY, or you’re the one furloughed or unstacked.

Even if you think you won’t be affected, you will be at some point. We must all demand that management deliver a fair and enforceable contract. Thank you for your support.

In Unity,

Captain Joshua Allen
Negotiating Committee Chairman

Captain Jay Killen
Pilot Negotiator

Captain Brad Keller
Pilot Negotiator

Captain J.R. Lynch
Chief of Staff

Captain Jim Cole
Recording Analyst

Copyright (C) 2025 Allegiant Pilots Association, Teamsters Local Union 2118. All rights reserved.

You are receiving this email as a member of APA Teamsters Local 2118.

Happy Easter to All Who Celebrate

We hope that our fellow pilots and your families had a great Easter weekend. We know this holiday comes at a frustrating time for many as our work for a fair contract and successful, cooperative future at Allegiant continues. Even still, we hope you were able to step back this past weekend and spend meaningful time with loved ones. Regardless of the noise, we should all remember to appreciate the quiet moments—they’re what we’re ultimately fighting to protect. We should all take time as often as we possibly can to remember what truly matters.

Different Year, Same Story

Management has a long history of attempting to undermine staffing and negotiations over scheduling. Using a data driven approach or empirical evidence has never been satisfactory to management when the numbers don’t support the Company’s demands, making it very difficult to reach an agreement on fair terms. If the Union provided any such evidence, Allegiant would try to discredit the results claiming that then current staffing is “not indicative” of the staffing levels of the future (read: they want less).

Consider the following Union update from our second round of mediation over PBS in 2019:

Your ExCo recently requested bid data so that we could compare [the PBS solution] to CBI results. In an effort to achieve full transparency, we would like to show the mediator empirical data in the form of bid results that show that the company is absolutely capable of solving our bids without unstacking and with equivalent coverage. True to form however, the company has denied our absolutely reasonable request stating “Allegiant has explained to the Union in the past, the airline is overstaffed and plans to reduce its pilot headcount over time through attrition. As such, scheduling information from Allegiant’s present operations is not indicative of what stacking and unstacking limitations may ultimately be viable once Allegiant’s pilot headcount is appropriately adjusted.” 

After our last update, some pilots questioned whether Allegiant management had the willingness or operational capacity to significantly reduce headcount. While they may be coy about their intentions today, the Allegiant management of old was upfront about their intention to slash staffing to the minimum levels. They realized that through the natural efficiency of PBS and high levels of unstacking (ignoring your preferences), they could schedule pilots at their leisure and reduce headcount to levels significantly below any other major airline.

Consider the following Union update from PBS mediation in 2018:

“When we asked why, the company said over and over that while [the PBS solution] was able to give them a good result, they didn’t know what the solution would look like when they “corrected” the pilot headcount after the fleet transition. When we asked what that meant, the company explained that we currently have 9.6 pilots per aircraft in the fleet. They will be “correcting” the number after the fleet transition to 7.1 pilots per aircraft. How does the company think they can do this? Because they have realized how efficient a real PBS solution can be in comparison to the home-built excel spreadsheet they are currently using.”

Even during our mediation in 2018, management wanted a 26% headcount reduction from already industry low staffing levels. For reference, even at our current, post-Bloch staffing level, we estimate Allegiant is over 20% less than comparable carriers. When you examine the numbers more closely on a block hour basis, Allegiant extracts 30+% greater block hour productivity per pilot in peak periods than the next nearest comparator on a relative basis based on publicly available data.

Example: Approximate Pilot Count Per Aircraft

The Allegiant pilot always does more with less. In fact, it took almost 20 years for our pilots to secure even the most basic seniority protections, thanks in large part to Richard Bloch’s landmark arbitration decision. We have no intention of “forcing” the company to arbitrarily increase headcount. Our interest is in protecting what we have and what our pilots have fought for and rightfully earned through years of mediation, arbitration, and litigation.
There is no interest in contract provisions that give management the ability to significantly reduce headcount, completely devalue your hard earned seniority rights or your quality of life. Short of bankruptcy, no labor union has or would agree to such extreme concessions to fund their future contract. Our pilots expect nothing less.

“Buying” Your Own Pay Raise

After nearly four years of mediation, litigation, and arbitration, Arbitrator Richard Bloch delivered a landmark ruling in 2020 that finally ended years of scheduling contract violations and restored our seniority rights as guaranteed by the agreement that we negotiated. Unwilling to adhere to the clear, unambiguous language in our contract and the binding arbitration ruling, management resisted and filed suit in federal court to overturn the Bloch award. In 2022, their appeal was denied, and the threat of scheduling without regard for seniority or preferences was permanently put to bed – or so we thought.

It has been made clear that the Allegiant pilots are expected to fund their own pay raises through concessionary scheduling “efficiencies”. These include a reversal of the Bloch award under CBI as well as the ability to ignore preferences for the majority of our pilots after PBS is implemented. The Allegiant pilots have made it clear that this is unacceptable.

Retention Bonus Concerns

Several pilots have expressed concern about the company’s intention or requirement to pay the retention bonus upon ratification of a contract or in the event of a strike. The Negotiating Committee will not use the retention bonus agreement as a negotiating device under any circumstance. As per the original agreement, pilots should expect that the entire retention bonus shall be paid within sixty (60) days of contract ratification.

If we strike, do I lose my retention bonus?

A legal strike has no effect on the retention bonus agreement. The Union will not entertain the elimination or reduction of the retention bonus agreement as a part of any return-to-work agreement negotiated with the company. The eligibility for bonus payment requirements are set forth in Paragraph 1.a. and 1.b of the Interim Agreement: a) you remain actively employed with the Company through the ratification date of the Parties’ amended CBA; or b) you retire from the Company’s employ due to reaching the FAA mandatory retirement age prior to the ratification date of the Parties’ amended CBA. A strike does not divest a pilot who satisfies the above criteria of their right to payment of their retention bonus. Management cannot suggest, infer, or explicitly state that they will refuse to honor the terms of your retention bonus payment in the event of a legal strike.

If you have been a part of any such discussion with management, report it immediately to negotiations@apa2118.org.

General Bargaining Updates

Last week, we formally submitted a request for a proffer of arbitration and status meeting request from the National Mediation Board (NMB). In response, the NMB requested that Allegiant provide their comments no later than 29 April 2025. Allegiant requested a 2-week extension from the board so that they can “adequately respond to the Union’s assertions and provide the Board with the full context of the parties’ bargaining.” The request was granted and the deadline for management to provide their comments regarding our proffer was extended to May 13, 2025.

The Negotiating Committee had a virtual meeting with the mediator on Friday, April 18th, 2025. The parties are scheduled to meet for a joint mediation next week on Thursday, April 24th, 2025. We will keep you updated regarding any further developments.

Protect and Enforce – Understanding Contract Language

The goal of your Negotiating Committee is simple, enforceable contract language. Our pilots frequently assume contract provisions are clear—until weak or ambiguous wording is used against them. If it’s not enforceable, it is exploitable. Consider the Company’s proposed unstacking language:

Example: Excerpt from company email to pilots on December 18th

In December, the management publicly shared details of its above-quoted unstacking proposal in PBS. They characterized their proposal as having “50/70% unstacking limits” and strongly suggested that these limits were confined to “peak vs. non-peak” respectively. The truth is that this language had no requirement to prove necessity for 70%, no limit on frequency, and no mechanism for the union to review or challenge that justification. There isn’t a fixed limit or peak vs. non-peak provision. This language is wide open and easily exploited to the detriment of your seniority and quality of life. You may have already noticed the following:

“Unable to Provide a Result” Clause = Full Management Discretion

The statement “if the CBI/Solver is not able to provide a result” is ambiguous enough to be interpreted broadly and without limitation. “Solver Failure” immediately triggers higher unstacking, even if such a failure is the result of solver manipulation (as was past practice), artificial constraints, poor company planning, and/or unrealistic scheduling/staffing assumptions.

Normalizing 70% and the “Single Trip” Clause

If the “solver fails” on just one single day across a bid period, 70% unstacking is triggered. Even if there are just two “uncovered trip” on any given day, a virtual certainty if any open time is allowed to exist, then the company can ignore the preferences of 70% of line holders. For reference, 12 of our 22 bases had at least 2 uncovered trips on any given day in March 2025. Even the most minor staffing inefficiency or intentional over-scheduling triggers the limit to 70%. In short, there is no 50% limit, nor any “peak vs. non-peak” limitations in this language. It is at least 70% in virtually all cases.

70% – A Soft Limit

Another unique “feature” of this language is the so-called “unstacking limit”. By definition, a limit is not to be exceeded. The language appears to clearly express a hard limit, then in the very next clause builds in a way to bypass it. The language states:

“…up to, but not beyond, 70% of the regular line holders…”

Then the “funny math”:

“…70% unstacking limit will be calculated as follows…multiplied by 0.7…rounded up…”

If you need extra math to calculate an already mathematically defined limit, it is simply a loophole disguised as a rule.
Over 3,000 scheduling grievances and countless arbitrations, mediations, and lawsuits under the current CBA. Enough is enough. We deserve a fair contract with simple, enforceable language. We do not deserve yet another grievance making machine that sets more major airline records for arbitrations and litigation. We appreciate your support in getting it right and holding the company accountable to their end of the negotiating bargain.

Committee Changes

We welcome Captain Brad Keller to the Negotiating Committee. Captain Keller is a Line Check Airman, serves as a Steward and SPC Representative for Local 2118, and is the current chairman of the G4 Pilot Assistance Fund, LLC. Captain Keller is a former United States Marine, and has been in the airline industry since 2007. Allegiant is his 5th Airline and this will be his 4th contract. We look forward to his line oriented insight and operational experience as we intensify our efforts to reach a fair agreement at the earliest possible opportunity. Although management has informed the Union that they intend to reject his addition to the committee, the Union intends to challenge this decision.

In Closing

We are especially grateful for the many messages of support and encouragement we received over the last several days. Your Negotiating Committee is a team of your peers and we remain committed to delivering a fair contract that we can all be proud of. We continue to work tirelessly toward that goal, and we appreciate your engagement, your questions, your trust, and your support. Thank you for continuing to hold management accountable for the contract they promised you.

We look forward to delivering an agreement worthy of your vote in the very near future.

In Unity,

Captain Joshua Allen
Negotiating Committee Chairman

Captain Jay Killen
Pilot Negotiator

Captain Brad Keller
Pilot Negotiator

Captain J.R. Lynch
Chief of Staff

Captain Jim Cole
Recording Analyst

Copyright (C) 2025 Allegiant Pilots Association, Teamsters Local Union 2118. All rights reserved.

You are receiving this email as a member of APA Teamsters Local 2118.