Retiring NWA Captain Sums It Up

[Truckdriver]

Well I can not feel sorry for this person. I just got furloughed from a major airline after being there for a few years. I took a 30k pay cut! I now pay 400 a month for insurance for my wife and no more 401k no more pass privelages and no more 13 days off a month. I am now flying 35 year old lears that are not well maintained and now on the pager 24-7. I have 3 hard days off a month and no vacation for a year. So boo F#$@% who.

Sounds like you should go to Sears. You might pay less for insurance, have a better 401K, and have more than 3 days off per month.

 

[Colonel Savage]

n89l,

You've missed the point. The article is about YOU.

It's about all of us; we'll all be there one day...

 

[Fubijaakr]

Adios Skipper - glad I will not have to listen to your whining, when your generation voted to outsource nearly half your airline's flying while bumping the retirement age to 65. Those two moves cost the rest of the profession at least a decade on getting their 4th stripe..

"Look! A dead horse...let's go beat it!"

 

[nonstop]

For the record, NWA pilots were one of the few groups against age 65 until the end.

 

[Tejas-Jet]

Didn't I read this a few years ago????

 

[SWA tech]

Good for him and god bless

 

[dispatchguy]

I'm baffled trying to think of another industry that has so brutally passed on the increased costs of doing business to their employees rather than their customers. Even my garbage man is charging a surcharge for fuel to me rather than rape his employees.

That says it all - bravo zulu captain!

 

[Flopgut]

"Look! A dead horse...let's go beat it!"

If there ever was a dead horse that needed a routine beating, 65 is it.

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

Many professions in this country are endiring brutal changes... One of the problems is we seem to value Gordon Gekko more than Doctor Smith and Teacher Jones...

For some reason this guy thinks he is special... I'd hate to think that the one time he felt compelled to say anything was this out going letter.....

Consider if he had been an activist instead of a passivist....

 

[relief tube]

good post. This job ain't horrible but it ain't what we signed up for.

$200 airfare and way too many cutthroat-competitive airlines started it. Which led to cash strapped legacies farming out to those 20 regional jets at LGA that he talked about.

Good for him getting out before he's 65. The extra money ain't worth ******************** if you get 5 less years of retirement before you die.

 

[Superpilot92]

If there ever was a dead horse that needed a routine beating, 65 is it.

agreed !

 

[Flopgut]

Here is an interesting fact: Our fellow RLA covered workgroup, railroad workers, had an unpleasant reduction in retirement monies forced on them in the 80's. It had the effect of raising their retirement age. Age 60 (with 30 years) was the normal retirement age. The changed rule still allowed for leaving at 60, but with a reduced amount of money. Rail union leaders never gave up on getting full retirement at age 60 (with 30 years) back, and (after a long fight) in 2002 they did!! That's right. The same year the ATSB turned down 7 airlines' loan applications, (including UAL's first) railroaders got their full retirement age back!

My pi$$ed off meter has been full scale since I learned this about two weeks ago. And I hope each of yours is now as well. Our union leaders couldn't be happier with 65 and they'll probably go for 70 sooner than they will challenge the RLA if we don't start jumping their case. Call your union leader right now (especially if it's John Prater) and kindly request they remove their head from their a$$ and fight for our rights. If we're to be covered by the RLA give us the benefits as well. If we don't get upside then release us from the RLA!

 

[airplane wizard]

He wasn't smart enough to find the spellcheck button, so I don't have a lot of compassion for him.

So many guys hit about 55 years old then start to get grumpy, then more grumpy, then they hate the job and their life.

It doesn't have anything to do with Northwest, or the TSA, it has all to do with some dude becoming a "get off my lawn you kids!" grump-ass.

I'm glad this guy has found his higher calling working at Sears.

Ten bucks says within 30 days he's telling war stories and within 60 days he's bitching about how Sears does stuff wrong.

Twenty bucks says this whole story is made up, too.

Sears might have been a good company before, but it is not the same company now. NWA and United were good companies 30 years ago too

 

[ACL65PILOT]

Remember that we fly businessmen and women in the backs of our overfull jets. They are shucking their crap from one hotel to the next just like us. A lot of the time with more time away from home and less pay.
Disagree with that statement, fine, but I have a father-in-law that has been doing it for 40 years, and he is gone more than I am.

This profession needs to be fixed, but there are worse places to be.

 

[Jim Smyth]

Great post and right on target. It shows you have been in the aviation grinder for quite a while now. I hope you enjoy your new job and enjoy being home every night with your family. You earned it and will come to love that life style. It's ashamed that we as Pilots let all this BS take over such a great industry.