FlyingToIST
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Read this article if you are in early 20s and get excited about XYZ Flight Academy Ads.
For Many Airline Pilots, the Thrill is Gone
October 15, 2004
By CLAUDIA H. DEUTSCH
Neil Swindells, who flies a United Airlines Airbus 320 out of Chicago, remembers why he chucked his job as a financial analyst to go to flight school nearly 15 years ago. It was not just the prospect of a six-figure salary for flying maybe 80 hours a month, or the lure of being in charge, or the sheer fun of flying. It was, most of all, the glamour, the respect that the pilot's uniform got from passengers and airline management (usually, former pilots themselves) alike.
When United Airlines hired him nearly 10 years ago, "I thought I'd won the brass ring,'' Mr. Swindells said. "It was my ticket to financial independence, to socioeconomic status, to prestige.''
Today, that ticket feels like a trap. Only the lowest-cost airlines are hiring these days, and they have never paid as much as the mainstream lines like United, a unit of UAL.
And a seniority system that bumps pilots down to entry-level jobs when they switch airlines makes it costly to jump ship among the so-called legacy carriers.
Of course, the airlines are in a trap, too. United and US Airways are struggling to get out of bankruptcy; Delta Air Lines is poised on the brink of it. Desperate to cut costs, they are turning to the pilots again and again, seeking ever more concessions.
Not so long ago, even asking for such a vote would have been laughable. In negotiations, the pilots called the shots. When the airlines balked, pilots had many ways to bring them into line. In the summer of 2000 - when weather and air traffic congestion were already wreaking havoc - United pilots staged a work-rule slowdown. Numerous flights were delayed; United was forced to apologize to customers; and the pilots won one of their richest contracts ever.
But today, while pilots still feel in command in the air, they increasingly are feeling slighted, almost impotent, on the ground. Airlines have extracted huge salary, work-rule and benefits concessions from them. Layers of vice presidencies have been created at many corporate headquarters, so that the chief pilot, the person who oversees all of the fliers, rarely reports directly to the top anymore.
Pilots are not giving in without a fight. Northwest, for one, is pleading with its pilots for $300 million in concessions. Pilots at US Airways, where salaries have already been cut by an average of $89,000 a year, are refusing to allow a vote on the company's bid for still more cuts. Delta and its pilots have been at odds all year about the airline's bid for $1 billion in cuts, despite repeated threats by Delta to seek Chapter 11 protection.
Without pilots to lead them, other employee groups generally sit back on similar requests for cuts. But once the airline files for Chapter 11, the sway that pilots have over their fate and those of other workers cedes to a judge's control. And with it, the pilot's dominance is eaten away.
Gone, too, is much of the glamour, a casualty of the plummeting fares that have made air travel available to the masses. "People used to wear stockings and heels; we loved welcoming them to the cockpit, and hearing them say, 'Thanks, captain, you did a great job,' when they disembarked,'' said John A. McFadden 3d, who flew for United from 1967 until March of 2000, when he hit the federally mandated retirement age of 60. "Now you have to ask them to put shoes on, and security issues keep the cockpit door closed.''
All airlines face that, of course, but as a group, United pilots seem particularly galled. United was owned by its employees until its bankruptcy in 2002, so the pilots not only felt on a par with management, in a sense they were management.
United and other airlines say that in a world where low-cost carriers are grabbing market share, fuel prices are skyrocketing and passengers are surfing the Internet for the cheapest fares, they have no choice but to cut costs. But pilots say they have already given too much.
"The only idea this company has is to take more money from us,'' Mr. Swindells said. "Well, I don't see the C.E.O.taking a 30 percent pay cut. When they get their house in order, we'll look at further concessions.''
If Mr. Swindells, even in his defiance, holds out the possibility of further sacrifices, it is probably because he recognizes how dire United's condition remains. It is facing a $1 billion increase in its fuel bill this year, it recently cut back its domestic flights, it is considering yet more layoffs and the termination of its pension plans, and it is facing unremitting competition from low-cost rivals.
Indeed, not all pilots are as disaffected as Mr. Swindells.
"Yes, pilots have less authority, and service is skeletal, but cost accounting is making that happen throughout corporate America,'' said Mr. McFadden, the retired pilot.
His son, John B. McFadden, 37, has been flying for United since 1995, and he, too, seems more saddened than angry. He is the captain of a 737 that flies primarily to the Rockies and Canada, and he is clear-eyed about the mounting drawbacks of his job.
When flying took a hit after Sept. 11, he was bumped from captain on a 737 to first officer on a 767 at a "hefty pay cut'' - to $120 an hour from $148 an hour. He regained his pilot's status about six months ago, but he still makes less money than before, is away from home for longer stretches, and worries about his eventual retirement pay.
United should be able to find ways to cut costs without turning to the employees, he said. "I still love flying, but I know pilots who think it's gone from a dream job to a daily grind.''
No wonder. The economy has forced the grounding of many planes and the furloughing of nearly 9,300 pilots, while technology has eliminated some of the entry-level jobs.
Pilots used to start out as flight engineers -making sure the instruments are functioning properly - and worked their way up to co-pilot and finally, captain. Now, computers often do what flight engineers once did, which means that increasingly, there are only two cockpit jobs to fill.
And the glamour is tarnished. "I can still remember, as a kid, flying economy class and seeing a flight attendant roll a cart down the aisle, carving slices from a roast for the passengers,'' the younger Mr. McFadden recalled. "The service, the uniforms, everything about air travel seemed glamorous.''
These days, airplanes have become what many pilots disparagingly call "the Greyhounds of the sky,'' and that has unleashed a vicious cycle: with per-ticket revenue so low, airlines have had to cram in more seats per plane and replace roasts and Champagne with soda and peanuts. And, pilots say, as airports become more congested, more flights are delayed, making passengers cranky. "Airlines have not escaped the WalMartization of everything in America,'' Mr.
Swindells complained.
Pilots are still paid relatively well, so often elicit little sympathy from the general public. But Mr. Swindells gets furious when he hears people speak of their supposedly cushy life. Before United declared bankruptcy, Mr.
Swindells was making $200 an hour for the 78 hours he spent in the air each month and his annual salary approached $200,000. Today, after more than $1 billion in concessions from the pilots' union, he makes $130 an hour. He gets 10 days off instead of the prior 12, and his pay for waiting in airports or hotels during layovers has also been reduced.
Indeed, he was speaking by phone with a reporter from O'Hare International Airport during a two-hour break between his landing a flight from Toronto and taking off again for Spokane, Wash. - two hours for which he says he is not paid.
"If you fly 85 hours a month, you're probably away from home for 320 hours, and you're working 10-hour days for five hours' pay,'' he said. Which means he would have to clock in a lot more time than before to reach the $200,000 mark.
Mr. Swindells expects that soon after he completes this latest tour, he'll be called in at the last minute to pilot another multiday trip. United, like other airlines, has always had the contractual right to schedule pilots on four hours' notice but, he said, rarely did. Now, after furloughing more than 2,000 pilots as part of a cost-cutting measure, it does.
"I'll come back from five days away and assume I'll be called for another trip,'' he said. "I won't welcome it. It will help my pay, but I've got a 6-year-old and an 8-year-old, and after five days away, I'm desperate to be home.''
The airlines, of course, say they need for pilots to be more productive. But Mr. Swindells and others say they are bearing the brunt of management incompetence.
"The bloated structure of United Airlines is the problem, not employee pay,'' he insisted. He points to a recent trip, in which he flew from Chicago to Toronto, Toronto to Chicago, then Chicago to Spokane, then back to Chicago. The trip took five days; one of them, he said, he spent in a hotel in Spokane, doing nothing and being paid only his expenses.
"The airlines say they want us to be more productive,'' he said. "So why do they keep me sitting in a hotel for an entire day?''
For Many Airline Pilots, the Thrill is Gone
October 15, 2004
By CLAUDIA H. DEUTSCH
Neil Swindells, who flies a United Airlines Airbus 320 out of Chicago, remembers why he chucked his job as a financial analyst to go to flight school nearly 15 years ago. It was not just the prospect of a six-figure salary for flying maybe 80 hours a month, or the lure of being in charge, or the sheer fun of flying. It was, most of all, the glamour, the respect that the pilot's uniform got from passengers and airline management (usually, former pilots themselves) alike.
When United Airlines hired him nearly 10 years ago, "I thought I'd won the brass ring,'' Mr. Swindells said. "It was my ticket to financial independence, to socioeconomic status, to prestige.''
Today, that ticket feels like a trap. Only the lowest-cost airlines are hiring these days, and they have never paid as much as the mainstream lines like United, a unit of UAL.
And a seniority system that bumps pilots down to entry-level jobs when they switch airlines makes it costly to jump ship among the so-called legacy carriers.
Of course, the airlines are in a trap, too. United and US Airways are struggling to get out of bankruptcy; Delta Air Lines is poised on the brink of it. Desperate to cut costs, they are turning to the pilots again and again, seeking ever more concessions.
Not so long ago, even asking for such a vote would have been laughable. In negotiations, the pilots called the shots. When the airlines balked, pilots had many ways to bring them into line. In the summer of 2000 - when weather and air traffic congestion were already wreaking havoc - United pilots staged a work-rule slowdown. Numerous flights were delayed; United was forced to apologize to customers; and the pilots won one of their richest contracts ever.
But today, while pilots still feel in command in the air, they increasingly are feeling slighted, almost impotent, on the ground. Airlines have extracted huge salary, work-rule and benefits concessions from them. Layers of vice presidencies have been created at many corporate headquarters, so that the chief pilot, the person who oversees all of the fliers, rarely reports directly to the top anymore.
Pilots are not giving in without a fight. Northwest, for one, is pleading with its pilots for $300 million in concessions. Pilots at US Airways, where salaries have already been cut by an average of $89,000 a year, are refusing to allow a vote on the company's bid for still more cuts. Delta and its pilots have been at odds all year about the airline's bid for $1 billion in cuts, despite repeated threats by Delta to seek Chapter 11 protection.
Without pilots to lead them, other employee groups generally sit back on similar requests for cuts. But once the airline files for Chapter 11, the sway that pilots have over their fate and those of other workers cedes to a judge's control. And with it, the pilot's dominance is eaten away.
Gone, too, is much of the glamour, a casualty of the plummeting fares that have made air travel available to the masses. "People used to wear stockings and heels; we loved welcoming them to the cockpit, and hearing them say, 'Thanks, captain, you did a great job,' when they disembarked,'' said John A. McFadden 3d, who flew for United from 1967 until March of 2000, when he hit the federally mandated retirement age of 60. "Now you have to ask them to put shoes on, and security issues keep the cockpit door closed.''
All airlines face that, of course, but as a group, United pilots seem particularly galled. United was owned by its employees until its bankruptcy in 2002, so the pilots not only felt on a par with management, in a sense they were management.
United and other airlines say that in a world where low-cost carriers are grabbing market share, fuel prices are skyrocketing and passengers are surfing the Internet for the cheapest fares, they have no choice but to cut costs. But pilots say they have already given too much.
"The only idea this company has is to take more money from us,'' Mr. Swindells said. "Well, I don't see the C.E.O.taking a 30 percent pay cut. When they get their house in order, we'll look at further concessions.''
If Mr. Swindells, even in his defiance, holds out the possibility of further sacrifices, it is probably because he recognizes how dire United's condition remains. It is facing a $1 billion increase in its fuel bill this year, it recently cut back its domestic flights, it is considering yet more layoffs and the termination of its pension plans, and it is facing unremitting competition from low-cost rivals.
Indeed, not all pilots are as disaffected as Mr. Swindells.
"Yes, pilots have less authority, and service is skeletal, but cost accounting is making that happen throughout corporate America,'' said Mr. McFadden, the retired pilot.
His son, John B. McFadden, 37, has been flying for United since 1995, and he, too, seems more saddened than angry. He is the captain of a 737 that flies primarily to the Rockies and Canada, and he is clear-eyed about the mounting drawbacks of his job.
When flying took a hit after Sept. 11, he was bumped from captain on a 737 to first officer on a 767 at a "hefty pay cut'' - to $120 an hour from $148 an hour. He regained his pilot's status about six months ago, but he still makes less money than before, is away from home for longer stretches, and worries about his eventual retirement pay.
United should be able to find ways to cut costs without turning to the employees, he said. "I still love flying, but I know pilots who think it's gone from a dream job to a daily grind.''
No wonder. The economy has forced the grounding of many planes and the furloughing of nearly 9,300 pilots, while technology has eliminated some of the entry-level jobs.
Pilots used to start out as flight engineers -making sure the instruments are functioning properly - and worked their way up to co-pilot and finally, captain. Now, computers often do what flight engineers once did, which means that increasingly, there are only two cockpit jobs to fill.
And the glamour is tarnished. "I can still remember, as a kid, flying economy class and seeing a flight attendant roll a cart down the aisle, carving slices from a roast for the passengers,'' the younger Mr. McFadden recalled. "The service, the uniforms, everything about air travel seemed glamorous.''
These days, airplanes have become what many pilots disparagingly call "the Greyhounds of the sky,'' and that has unleashed a vicious cycle: with per-ticket revenue so low, airlines have had to cram in more seats per plane and replace roasts and Champagne with soda and peanuts. And, pilots say, as airports become more congested, more flights are delayed, making passengers cranky. "Airlines have not escaped the WalMartization of everything in America,'' Mr.
Swindells complained.
Pilots are still paid relatively well, so often elicit little sympathy from the general public. But Mr. Swindells gets furious when he hears people speak of their supposedly cushy life. Before United declared bankruptcy, Mr.
Swindells was making $200 an hour for the 78 hours he spent in the air each month and his annual salary approached $200,000. Today, after more than $1 billion in concessions from the pilots' union, he makes $130 an hour. He gets 10 days off instead of the prior 12, and his pay for waiting in airports or hotels during layovers has also been reduced.
Indeed, he was speaking by phone with a reporter from O'Hare International Airport during a two-hour break between his landing a flight from Toronto and taking off again for Spokane, Wash. - two hours for which he says he is not paid.
"If you fly 85 hours a month, you're probably away from home for 320 hours, and you're working 10-hour days for five hours' pay,'' he said. Which means he would have to clock in a lot more time than before to reach the $200,000 mark.
Mr. Swindells expects that soon after he completes this latest tour, he'll be called in at the last minute to pilot another multiday trip. United, like other airlines, has always had the contractual right to schedule pilots on four hours' notice but, he said, rarely did. Now, after furloughing more than 2,000 pilots as part of a cost-cutting measure, it does.
"I'll come back from five days away and assume I'll be called for another trip,'' he said. "I won't welcome it. It will help my pay, but I've got a 6-year-old and an 8-year-old, and after five days away, I'm desperate to be home.''
The airlines, of course, say they need for pilots to be more productive. But Mr. Swindells and others say they are bearing the brunt of management incompetence.
"The bloated structure of United Airlines is the problem, not employee pay,'' he insisted. He points to a recent trip, in which he flew from Chicago to Toronto, Toronto to Chicago, then Chicago to Spokane, then back to Chicago. The trip took five days; one of them, he said, he spent in a hotel in Spokane, doing nothing and being paid only his expenses.
"The airlines say they want us to be more productive,'' he said. "So why do they keep me sitting in a hotel for an entire day?''
