Last I checked, most SWA guys and JetBlue guys were pretty happy with their paychecks, their company, and their lot in life.
Many of us had a choice when we picked out future carriers. An Eagle buddy of mine had both a SWA and an AA class. He choose AA due to the higher "top end" and the glamor of international flying and many of the other perks AA offered. He also planned on living in DAL, so domicilie issues were a wash. Pre 9/11, I might have made the same choice... Anyway--he's furloughed now, and things are tough for him. I know he's second guessed himself a few times, but I've never heard him badmouth a single SWA pilot for "undermining" his earning potential.
Now...the market has changed, and the low cost carriers are making money while others aren't. The power of internet pricing, the economy on a down cycle, and the 9/11 fallout are causing a lot of pain. However--I don't think anyone I know who chose to go to SWA did it with malice towards anyone. Instead, they did the math on their fingers and toes, and decided that working at SWA made sense for them. For some of them, the idea was they liked living in PHX, DAL, BWI, or MCO and flying short trips. Many liked the fact SWA had "never furloughed a pilot", and stability in the short term was worth more than 777 dollars down the road. Some were over 42 when they started their careers, and realized due to the large numbers of young guys hired at UAL, DAL, and AA that SWA or FDX would ultimately be more lucrative for them due to the fact they'd never make top 20% at another carrier. In any case, they spent their 10k and got their type, and a bunch of them are now living "happy ever after".
Instead of just lambasting those guys, maybe ALPA groups should try to emulate some of their model instead. (And I'm an ALPA dues paying member....) SWA guys make a very fair wage, and when the company profits they make even more. SWA guys have a sense of comaraderie and mutual support that resembles the feeling of a military unit. And....their company has been successful. Somehow, many unions have decided that negotiations away from safety issues are largely a zero sum game--you win or we win. While there are some issues within SWAPA, it seems to me that they are overall a much happier group of pilots than many others out there. As for compensation--how much is that ALPA negotiated A plan at USAir worth now? How much are you making for AA, UAL, or DAL while furloughed? SWA guys can take their profit sharing check EVERY YEAR and put it in a bank--saving it just in case hard times show up. If I can GUARANTEE my A fund and B fund will be there, who wouldn't rather have the traditional airline retirement? Unfortunately, a lot of guys at USAir got WAILED on in the latest TA. The latest round of TAs has shown that a contract is just a piece of paper--your company HAS to make money to feed and take care of you and your family along the way.
If upholding the profession means standing up with your local union for improving work rules and compensation, that makes sense to me. Unions are our counter to very hard nosed business practices that management can dish out. Certainly, standing together across the industry for support on safety is also an important part of being a professional pilot. However, if being a real "professional" means blasting a bunch of guys who like their jobs, make 100,000-200,000 bucks every year working about 15 days away from home, and seem to like their job--I would argue you definition of "standing up for the profession" is flawed.
