In now way was I saying the linemen don't deserve the money or deserve the respect, because they do. My point is that the passengers thought that we were paid extremely well, and at that time in my flying, I think some of the linemen made more money than me and I was a Capt.flyifrvfr said:Speaking of lineman, for some reason pilots look down on them as if they work as a street cleaner or something. Lineman perform a service that if it weren't for them, corporate pilots would be fueling themselves. Imagine self service available for jets with a discount, companies would jump on it in a heartbeat, if it saved them a nickle per gallon. Be happy you can tell the lineman your fuel order and you don't have to do it your self. If a lineman gets a tip for unloading luggage, it's because he earned it.
Lineman have to put up with the constant whining of pilots who constantly appear with bad attitudes. Pilots have a bad day for whatever reason and take it out on a lineman who had nothing to do with your bad day. I worked for a week as a lineman and I left after taking a better paying job driving tractor trailers. As a flight instructor, I'm very close to the line crew at my airport and I know that you would never want to be treated as they are treated. These guys work in all kinds of weather, and have to deal with people who don't respect them for what they do.
Lets say you are a fortune 100 company who owns a jet, you know the value. Lineman are responsible for pulling out and putting away your multi million dollar piece of equipment. I don't know about you but I don't want to think about yelling at this guy and have him pulling the jet from a hanger. He could "accidently" hit the hanger on the way out and put your AOG for who knows how long and at a huge cost.
In closing, you as a pilot are responsible for a multi- million dollar aircraft. a lineman is also resonsible for multiple, multi- million dollar aircraft, cut them some slack, they deserve it.