Doctors and Lawyers
I don't know that the Doctor and Lawyer comparison is valid here. Everybody pays for education and the basic qualifications they need for their profession including doctors, lawyers firefighters and pilots. The basic qualification and education allow you to qualifly for positions anywhere in the industry. The problem I have with PFT programs is that you are paying for specific training that's usually only good for one company and has little or no value to other employers. What if you pay 11K for training at Falcon Express or whatever the hell it is and the company shuts down a week after they have your money? Does the training have any value as far as getting you another job? If you spend money on college and basic ratings they are required everywhere and have value to all employers. A doctor or a laywer is paying for an education that allows them to work anywhere not at one particular hospital or law firm. This is the big problem I had with PFT in the early 90's for regionals. You would have had to pay for training that was only valid at one company. I refused to do it and spent a few months longer until I gained enough experience to get hired at a carrier that didn't send me the bill for training that was required at THEIR company.
Like it or not, you may gain personally through PFT but it will hurt you and everyone else in the long run because it sends the signal to employers that they can always find low timers willing to PFT. I like to think of it this way: PFT is bad and if nobody participated it would go away; it only survives because people are willing to do it.
As far as SWA is concerned, I don't agree with that either but at least you get to work for a good company if you get hired. As somebody pointed out, I don't think that SWA does it to save money as much as to use it as a screening tool to find out who really wants to work at SWA. Unfortunately, SWA misses out on a lot of very good potential applicants because it puts a financial roadblock in the way of employment consideration. They have great employees at SWA but they might have even better ones if they were willing to look at everyone.
I don't know that the Doctor and Lawyer comparison is valid here. Everybody pays for education and the basic qualifications they need for their profession including doctors, lawyers firefighters and pilots. The basic qualification and education allow you to qualifly for positions anywhere in the industry. The problem I have with PFT programs is that you are paying for specific training that's usually only good for one company and has little or no value to other employers. What if you pay 11K for training at Falcon Express or whatever the hell it is and the company shuts down a week after they have your money? Does the training have any value as far as getting you another job? If you spend money on college and basic ratings they are required everywhere and have value to all employers. A doctor or a laywer is paying for an education that allows them to work anywhere not at one particular hospital or law firm. This is the big problem I had with PFT in the early 90's for regionals. You would have had to pay for training that was only valid at one company. I refused to do it and spent a few months longer until I gained enough experience to get hired at a carrier that didn't send me the bill for training that was required at THEIR company.
Like it or not, you may gain personally through PFT but it will hurt you and everyone else in the long run because it sends the signal to employers that they can always find low timers willing to PFT. I like to think of it this way: PFT is bad and if nobody participated it would go away; it only survives because people are willing to do it.
As far as SWA is concerned, I don't agree with that either but at least you get to work for a good company if you get hired. As somebody pointed out, I don't think that SWA does it to save money as much as to use it as a screening tool to find out who really wants to work at SWA. Unfortunately, SWA misses out on a lot of very good potential applicants because it puts a financial roadblock in the way of employment consideration. They have great employees at SWA but they might have even better ones if they were willing to look at everyone.
