United career progression

[SoCentralRain]

Is this a joke or what?

Wow. Forced to retire, not able to be grandfathered back in and suddenly you've got little respect for the company that trained you? Bitter?

SCR

 

[bahumba]

Is this a joke or what?

No dude you are the joke. Jet pilot Mike speaks from experience - you speak trash

 

[temcgrew]

what is the future contractual raise for may of 2008?

 

[bahumba]

May 08 = 1.5 % Not a whole lot

 

[UndauntedFlyer]

Jet pilot Mike speaks from experience - you speak trash

Let's see now, Jet Pilot Mike wears the Honda Wings, right! And what kind of experience does that indicate.

My message is clear, or so I would think.

It may not be such an automatic "no brainer" (as it once was) to move from an RJ Captain position making 85K - 100K per year with a nice solid Regional, to a bottom sucking 30K per year Guppy f/O position with an airline that is clearly in the process of selling assets like the maintenance base and possibly the training center. UAL long ago outsourced the kitchens, and more recently the company meteorologist and all the short haul business. The CEO is currently looking to sell anything and everything, plus has no new airplanes on order. Does that tell anyone anything? So you decide if going to UAL is a great move. But I'm sure that any pilot with his Honda Wings knows it all. You should surely listen to everything the new-hires say. UAL treats everyone great! Is that a joke or what? Please just ask any pilot who’s been there longer than a week if you want to ear a voice of experience! And yes, trash is the correct discription of the way many airlines treat their pilots. I wish it wasn't so.

 

[skyslug]

I know things have been especially hard at UAL and may or may not get worse. All the newhires are happy to be there never the less!!

But have to agree with Jet Pilot Mike that the folks at UAL have been really great thus far. Yeah go ahead and shoot me for saying anything positive! :beer:

Also we both came from an airline that gave us our Battle Stars and drug us down into Bankrupcy. We are extremely well versed on how crappy an airline can treat it's pilots/employees! And I think it would be safe to say that every newhire went into UAL with their eyes wide open knowing what may come!

 

[hmmm]

That is a definite. Eyes wided open. We all know at this stage the possibilites. The only people that need to listen to someone like Undaunted Flyer is the people that don't have the hours to get there anyway. I'm sure at this level we can make up our own minds and don't need someone to tell us how shi-tty our lives may be. We have lived it or we wouldn't have the ability to get to aany major anyway. Otherwise if Undaunted Flyer would like to start his own Unfailing Airline and pay us what he thinks we deserve and pay us forever I would be glad to work for him.

 

[Andy]

The bad news is that UAL will soon be out of business, merged with another carrier after most everything has been sold off. If you're near the very top your probably OK, but for any recently hired pilot, as well as many others it will be a lost cause and unemployment.

If you have a choice, choose most any other airline.

If you already have accepted the job, make the best of it and don't pay any attention to this post. Maybe things will turn out OK after all. I doubt it, but maybe so.

Good luck because anyone working for UAL will need it.

When you were retired, you said that if the age changed to 65, you'd be willing to apply as a newhire and return to United in the right seat. In your exemption request letter to Blakey you stated the same. One more lie from you and your ilk.

Kinda like this one where you're listed as a military veteran: http://www.ppf.org/Pg. 3 rollcall2007 PDF.pdf
You've already admitted that you've never served a single day in the military.

Folks, pour 'ol Al a big cup 'o bitter. Truly scum.

 

[whymeworry?]

There is a 3 year seat freeze that is only released to bid the 767 only. Other than that you are locked. If you get the 737 and after your 3 year lock you bid the bus "No real reason same pay" you are locked for another 4 1/2 years.

How could you guys ever negotiate such a POS?

 

[Andy]

How could you guys ever negotiate such a POS?

You can thank scumbags like UndauntedFlyer for that kind of stuff. Of course he was on the 777 so he didn't give a crap about the junior pilots when this stuff was voted in. I was on the street, so no vote for me.

 

[UndauntedFlyer]

The fact is that I have never claimed to have served in the military. I guess I made it into my airline career the hard way, like most of those being hired now and especially those currently flying for the Regionals. While the SPC ad that was referenced by ANDY indicates my status as a veteran, I can not be responsible for what is printed in the newspapers if I had nothing to do with proofing for accuracy. I would guess there are more inaccuracies in that ad but I just don't know because I had nothing to do with it.

Right now I have RETIRED from airline work. I made that decision recently when I turned down a contract to fly in a Captain position flying B777's internationally out of JFK. I did that because that's my choice. I just have no interest in flying any more 16-hour legs, then feeling like a zombie for days, only to do it all over again in three days. And the idea of starting as a new-hire with UAL is something I'm just not interested in now. Personally I am sick and tired of the whole airline business and I use caution before I recommend it to anyone.

Regarding UAL, if a person is young and has a lousy flying job I would certainly recommend moving to any better job, even UAL. But if a person has a good corporate job, or a good job as a senior Regional captain, that person should think very hard about changing. Otherwise, it is quite possible to soon find yourself unemployed and unable to return to your prior job. I have seen this happen many times before.

Now UAL: Their training is fair to good. Not great, just fair to good. It could be great but everything is provided to the bare minimum and only scripted emergencies/irregularities are trained. Only the test is trained and tested, but that is the way it is because to do otherwise would result longer training time or more failures, which slows down the training, resulting in more crew required to operate the airline. It's all money. So while some may think their airline training is good, just think about whether you're really confident that you'll follow the electronic checklist exactly, just as you're suppose to, for all the emergencies/irregularities without missing an important note or direction to reference another checklist. So now do you really think the training was so great?

Right now I avoid the commercial airports at all cost because if you think it's bad as a crew member, it is far worse as a passenger. I'm really surprised that any real people still fly.

Does anyone who works for UAL get concerned with the selloffs and outsourcing? How about the fact that UAL is about the only airline to have no interest in purchasing new equipment? Is there a message here? I would think so, and it shuld be concerning.

 

[UndauntedFlyer]

Angry posts in Reply?

I'm really surprised at the anger in some of the FI members in their replies to posts. These replies make me wonder if those posts are from members who can not handle the truth. When I ask others to use caution regarding a change from your current job to a UAL pilot job, on account of the current state of affairs at UAL, some chose to want to "kill the messenger." I have said I wish it wasn't as bad as it is but that would be a lie. Do you only want to hear fairy tales about how great it will be at an airline and how they will love you. And maybe even some BS about how you'll be promoted soon. Is that what is expected? Do the FI members want BS or some words of caution before they make major commitments to leave a perfectly good corporate job or a nice senior captain position with a Regional, or to leave a good job you like in the military? I believe that even ANDY has chosen to stay in the military rather than return to his UAL job.

 

[AWACoff]

This reference to "half wings"...is this a UAL only deal? Sorry if it's not getting through my thick skull but I haven't seen any half wings offered by ALPA during my probationary year.

 

[pipe]

UF-

You certainly have changed your tune since "getting fired". It seems the job you were willing to give your left almond for can actually be survived without.

We all tried to tell you to get over it and move on. We told you that it was possible to retire and actually live without it. We told you that airplanes would not fall from the skies without your massive wealth of experience.

We're not so stupid after all.

By the way it's Mai Tai, not Mia Tia. And they can be made anywhere, not just at Duke's. And Duke doesn't miss you. In fact, nobody there even knows you're gone. And they won't know or care when the rest of us retire, die, quit, whatever. And guess what? The passengers don't care. The company doesn't care. The stockholders don't care. The FAA doesn't care. Not about you, me, or any other airline pilot. We are all dispensable tools. That's it.

PIPE

 

[UndauntedFlyer]

We all tried to tell you to get over it and move on. We told you that it was possible to retire and actually live without it. We told you that airplanes would not fall from the skies without your massive wealth of experience.

We're not so stupid after all.

By the way it's Mai Tai, not Mia Tia. And they can be made anywhere, not just at Duke's. And Duke doesn't miss you. In fact, nobody there even knows you're gone.
PIPE

Yes, you told me all of this and I clearly told you that the age 60 rule was unfair and would soon be changed. I guess we both got what each other wanted the other to have. You wanted me to get fired and I wanted you to have the opportunity to work for 5 more years. So I got fired and you are stagnated for 5-years. I guess we each deserve the misfortune of being caught in the middle of a change. The only ones who came out ahead are the ones who quietly waited to pick up the pieces by turning 60 shortly after 12-13-07. The change just came 11-months too late for me.

Regarding my "new life," it's not that bad. The best part is that I don't have to put up with the BS of having to get this and that in on time plus my health is better from having a sort of normal schedule without pressures from airline work. There is something to be said for retiring at age 60 when you still have your health. I don't know if flying to age 65 would cause a person to lose their health, but it doesn't help to have the all night international schedules. Other domestic easy schedules like SFO turns would be no problem, but the international flying is definitely difficult.

Now regarding the Mai Tai's. Some of our members think this is a gay drink. I do not think so.