Our jobs and the entire airline industry is about to implode............

[Browntothebone]

The point is that the public doesn't care about the woes of the passenger pilots. ALL they care about is a cheap ticket.

 

[Browntothebone]

I cant belive the awful scumbags replying to that article...
"
The skills involved in flying an airplane are overrated. (My pilot friends would agree) It is only the consequences of the mistakes that make us think of this as an elite profession. There should be regulations about rest requirements just as there should for bus and truck drivers. The pay for an occupation is determined by supply and demand. If you have a bunch of young pilots willing to fly for low wages, oh well. You aren’t going to raise their experience or skill level but having a pilot minimum wage. Flyers don’t think they are “entitled” to fly anywhere for $99. Airlines in intense competition for butts to put in the seats are cutting costs to lower prices. That’s how competition works.
— Bob Wortman"

You are correct. The actual manipulation of the controls is very easy. It's always come easy for me, flying. You just need to get some good experience to build a data bank to fall back on when times are tough in the air.

 

[SLFLYHI]

I read Capt. Steve's article, and it wasn't bad. He was right about some things, but off base on others. The problem isn't $99 fares. The problem isn't the pilots at regional airlines, or foreign airlines, or low fare airlines. The problem is management. Period. The managers at the airlines have proven to be experts at divide-and-conquer. By successfully pitting one pilot group against another, whipsawing for new or continued flying, and generally using pilot livelihoods as a marketing weapon, they have ruined this profession. Unfortunately for us, there isn't a single union for pilots and as such, managers will continue this warfare even if it results in blood on their hands. I don't know what the solution is, but the problem, at least in my opinion, is clear.

 

[Browntothebone]

I read Capt. Steve's article, and it wasn't bad. He was right about some things, but off base on others. The problem isn't $99 fares. The problem isn't the pilots at regional airlines, or foreign airlines, or low fare airlines. The problem is management. Period. The managers at the airlines have proven to be experts at divide-and-conquer. By successfully pitting one pilot group against another, whipsawing for new or continued flying, and generally using pilot livelihoods as a marketing weapon, they have ruined this profession. Unfortunately for us, there isn't a single union for pilots and as such, managers will continue this warfare even if it results in blood on their hands. I don't know what the solution is, but the problem, at least in my opinion, is clear.

If your plane has Express, Connection, Airlink or any other regional trade name painted on it, then you ARE the problem.

 

[Full of LUV]

It's still the jumpseat....

I read Capt. Steve's article, and it wasn't bad. He was right about some things, but off base on others. The problem isn't $99 fares. The problem isn't the pilots at regional airlines, or foreign airlines, or low fare airlines. The problem is management. Period. The managers at the airlines have proven to be experts at divide-and-conquer. By successfully pitting one pilot group against another, whipsawing for new or continued flying, and generally using pilot livelihoods as a marketing weapon, they have ruined this profession. Unfortunately for us, there isn't a single union for pilots and as such, managers will continue this warfare even if it results in blood on their hands. I don't know what the solution is, but the problem, at least in my opinion, is clear.

The jumpseat should be held for professionals who make a professional wage. Right now, if you want to start up a cheap airline in San Francisco, no problem, because all of your competitors will deliver your low wage workers to the job site via the jumpseat. If it were not access to this, most companies would have to pay a decent wage to either get access, or convince pilots to move to their base. It would be much harder for skybus, rah, etc to get going at substandard wages. Where is ALPA in stating that !!!!! is the professional minimum wage in order to be a pilot for a 121 carrier. It may limit the top end in negotiating, but it will surely pull up the bottom end and I think most pilots realize that being undercut is far more dangerous than the relatively short lived designation of being the "highest paid" in the industry. LUV

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

Pilots, all of us, complain that consumers aren't paying enough for a ticket, then we rush to other industries and become the consumers we loath....

The market will continue to race to bottom when people function solely or mostly as consumers.

Airlines and most corporations in any given industry will continue the battle for the lowest cost and prices. What else are they to do...??

The only way corporations will change direction on the race to bottom is if they are mandated and that mandate applies to everyone. IOW, legislation.

Legislation is is a function of citizenship. Not consumerism.

 

[Browntothebone]

The jumpseat should be held for professionals who make a professional wage. Right now, if you want to start up a cheap airline in San Francisco, no problem, because all of your competitors will deliver your low wage workers to the job site via the jumpseat. If it were not access to this, most companies would have to pay a decent wage to either get access, or convince pilots to move to their base. It would be much harder for skybus, rah, etc to get going at substandard wages. Where is ALPA in stating that !!!!! is the professional minimum wage in order to be a pilot for a 121 carrier. It may limit the top end in negotiating, but it will surely pull up the bottom end and I think most pilots realize that being undercut is far more dangerous than the relatively short lived designation of being the "highest paid" in the industry. LUV

Sounds like you are saying that jumpseat priority for offline pilots should be by your hourly pay rate, irregardless of who signs up first for the jumpseat.

 

[777forever]

Very poorly written article that comes across as a long winded rant with no thesis or conclusion. Has the author ever heard of a free market? Since when have pilots (well known as some of the cheapest mofo's on this green earth) been given the right to bash passengers for getting the cheapest ticket they can get?

 

[JoeMerchant]

The jumpseat should be held for professionals who make a professional wage. Right now, if you want to start up a cheap airline in San Francisco, no problem, because all of your competitors will deliver your low wage workers to the job site via the jumpseat. If it were not access to this, most companies would have to pay a decent wage to either get access, or convince pilots to move to their base. It would be much harder for skybus, rah, etc to get going at substandard wages. Where is ALPA in stating that !!!!! is the professional minimum wage in order to be a pilot for a 121 carrier. It may limit the top end in negotiating, but it will surely pull up the bottom end and I think most pilots realize that being undercut is far more dangerous than the relatively short lived designation of being the "highest paid" in the industry. LUV

Do you work for Southwest?

 

[JoeMerchant]

Pilots, all of us, complain that consumers aren't paying enough for a ticket, then we rush to other industries and become the consumers we loath....

The market will continue to race to bottom when people function solely or mostly as consumers.

Airlines and most corporations in any given industry will continue the battle for the lowest cost and prices. What else are they to do...??

The only way corporations will change direction on the race to bottom is if they are mandated and that mandate applies to everyone. IOW, legislation.

Legislation is is a function of citizenship. Not consumerism.

I don't agree with you on much....but it is amusing how many pilots complain about pay and low fares...then shop around for the lowest price and try to get "a deal".....

They hate the $99 airfare.....while they try to get the $39 hotel room and $15 rental car.......