Airmanship and a current tetanus shot.
At least DC9 pilots don't have to worry about MALARIA as, apparently, DL 767 pilots do:
By
MATT KEMPNER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/28/08
After more than 22 years flying for Delta Air Lines, Bill Starnes knows exactly where he stands compared with his more than 7,000 colleagues: No. 236.
For airline pilots, where they sit on the seniority ladder determines whether they fly high or suck wind working every holiday, missing the biggest paydays, sitting on call and worrying about furloughs.
"It means everything," said Starnes, 53, who lives in Peachtree City and captains a 767 only on some of the sweetest routes: to Hawaii, Paris, Rome and other European destinations.
Delta's merger hopes with Northwest Airlines appear to depend in part on solving stalled talks between the separate pilot union locals for the two airlines. The pilot groups are supposed to be devising a plan for blending their seniority lists.
"Your whole life is tied to seniority," Starnes said. "That's why people become so defensive about it."
Seniority generally comes down to how many pilots there are and how many were hired after you. The system works like golden handcuffs between pilots and an airline. If pilots leave for another U.S. carrier, they face landing at the bottom of the pecking order with their new employer.
"Seniority is the key to pick your base [airport], your airplane, determine when you get vacation, pick your trips," Starnes said.
With enough seniority, first officers and captains get dibs on flying bigger planes and longer routes that set them up for higher pay.
Starnes figures that if he had a rank of No. 1,000 instead of 236th, he'd be making about 10 percent less money. He also could be bouncing around on domestic routes
or taking less attractive international flights to destinations where he says he'd worry about security and malaria.
In his first year as captain of a 737, Starnes remembers what his low seniority ranking got him: flights away from home on birthdays, his anniversary and every holiday other than Halloween. Over his career, low seniority meant 10-hour layovers in Detroit with just enough time for sleep and 31 hours in a Buffalo hotel during a snowstorm.
But seniority also can determine whether pilots get to keep their jobs. And that's a particular concern to those who are most junior and therefore most vulnerable to the industry's volatility.
"First and foremost it means job protection," said Jeff Bendoski, a 40-year-old first officer for Delta who lives in Burlington, Vt.
After nearly nine years with Delta, he's only about a third of the way up the seniority list. That's better than where he was after
9/11, when Bendoski said he was about six slots away from being furloughed.
"I was hanging on by my fingernails," he said.
Compared to that, having dibs on choice vacation times and routes is "way on the back burner."
Bendoski is waiting to see what deal, if any, the Delta and Northwest pilot groups can work out.
"I'm concerned. Nobody wants to get shafted," he said.
But he reasons that grumbling over the final outcome might not be a bad sign: "You know the definition of a fair seniority list integration? Both sides are angry."
