Quit Airline; now Corporate

[ultrarunner]

I am happy for you guys who are in a good corp gig now. Unfortunately, I left the airlines several years ago and deeply regret it. I am on the road just as much as I was with the airlines (I was a commuter), but when I am home I have to go into the office. When on the road, we are the passengers servants...we carry golf bags and drive the pax around to bars while they drink (of course we don't get to). I feel it is degrading. On a positve note, they have never questioned an expense report.

Look at the posting above...


"...for every good corp gig, there are a couple that are OK and three that stink..."

Guess you're in that latter category.

good luck

 

[Ty Webb]

Well, I hate to rock the boat the other way, but I left corporate aviation post 9/11 and hired on at AirTran. How's it worked for me?

Well, I live where I want, but have to commute. Commuting has been pretty easy, since I live near a city served by my own airline with 5 flights a day to ATL, and I generally bid lines that have an afternoon report and an evening finish, so I usually don't burn up off days commuting. I probably spend 0-3 nights a month in ATL, just depending on the weather and the line I get. We recently got FLICA, and that has been a tremendous improvement in QOL (I can trade my upcoming trips for trips in "open time" using my Treo phone or computer, so I can manipulate my schedule to get better trips- in real time).

After 5 years here, looking back, it's been a good move for me. I have been a 73NG Capt for over two years, and enjoy it, for the most part. I average 15 days off a month, never work on off days, and am making a comfortable living, especially since I don't live in an expensive metro or suburban area ($130K). My health insurance is high, but the Company put $14,000 into my 401K last year, and I also had some stock options (worth a few thousand only).

Minuses- I miss the variety of flying. I only fly to about 30 airports now, and most of them are pretty busy . . . . not too many visual approaches, that's for sure . . . I also hate having to deal with security most mornings, although, thankfully, I don't have to do that at every airport. It sure would be nice to be able to pull my car up to the airplane again, throw my bags in the external, and be done with it. I also miss the ski trips . . . and the multiple day layovers in nice places, like Telluride, CO.

BTW- strange but true:

The passengers paying $79. to go from ATL to FLL expect almost as much service as the guy paying $15,000. for it, and there are 137 of them to be p.o.'d. when something gets delayed . . . And the guy paying $15,000. can at least articulate his disappointment in a more dignified manner.

Future upside/downside . . . . who knows what the future holds? By the end of the next year, I'll be in the top third of the seniority list, so, being "out of a job" isn't really likely, but being bought or sold or merged is still a concern, to be sure. And, if that happened, I would probably get out of aviation before I would start over at the bottom somewhere else, unless it was as a street captain, which means it is generally a crappy company doing the hiring. I would go back to corporate, but it would probably require a move, and my kids would be at an age where that probably wouldn't be an option. I guess we'll see what we see. . . . .

I enjoyed my corporate days, and would go back to the "perfect job", but I don't think it exists, unfortunately. I am prepared to be corrected, though, if anyone is offering .

 

[G4G5]

The best corporate jobs blow away the airlines any day of the week.

The worst corporate jobs make most airlines look like paradise.

 

[Ty Webb]

There are a few GREAT corporate jobs, there are some GOOD corporate jobs, and then there are the "Battered Pilots Shelter"-type job.

Kind of reminds me of the old foreign service joke:

"The best situation in the world has an American salary, a British country manor, and a Japanese wife. . . . The worst situation involves a Bristish salary, a Japanese house, and an American wife.

 

[AA717driver]

Seems like in corporate, no good deal ever seems to last. We shall see... TC

 

[G4G5]

That's what I thought about the airlines when they came asking for 23% of my pay and then tossed me out the door

 

[AA717driver]

Seems like in corporate, no good deal ever seems to last. We shall see... TC

How about: Seems like in aviation, no good deal ever seems to last. I think that fits.TC

 

[Turbo]

The best corporate jobs blow away the airlines any day of the week.

The worst corporate jobs make most airlines look like paradise.

Couldn't have said it better.

 

[Freight Dog]

There are many valid points brought up here. I'm pretty surprised that nobody bothered to bring up this one:

When your airline folds, or you merge with another or you decide you leave, and let's say you're a 737 captain. Your hours, your experience, your currency, your salary don't mean a thing. You go to another airline, you're right back to 25-30k a year to start as a reserve probie FO.

On the other hand, take TC for example... let's say his company gets rid of the G-V, TC can pack his bags and get a G-V job somewhere else making similar pay to his previous job... but he most likely will not have to stoop to making 30k/year just to fly a G-V for another company.

Seniority system - the most perfect system and the most flawed system at the same time.

 

[AA717driver]

On the other hand, take TC for example... let's say his company gets rid of the G-V, TC can pack his bags and get a G-V job somewhere else making similar pay to his previous job... but he most likely will not have to stoop to making 30k/year just to fly a G-V for another company. .

Yeah, I'll just whore myself out as a contract pilot for $800/day... TC