Originally Posted by
forgot to bid
I live in a place where I think I'm the only pilot anywhere nearby. I see pharma reps who have seen their $150K salaries cut by 2/3rds. All with strong educational backgrounds. I can't tell you how many businesses I've seen fail. I've seen finance people working at a major bank here in ATL work Monday through Friday, 7am - 10pm with the threat of doing anything less will mean that they will lose their jobs with "pending budget cuts". I've seen people come home on a Friday night to spend time with their family to only get a call, where are you? And oh by the way, we'll be here for a full day tomorrow. I have a friend with an MBA and he just past the bar and it took him 15 months to find a starter job. I can't tell you how many people I've seen show up at an unemployed prayer group. All college educated, many with masters degrees, ugly as all get out around here.
Nothing is perfect, but I promise non-commuting mainline is a good deal even on chapter 11 concessionary pay and work rules. All of which will need improving.
This is so true and the most common point that airline pilots overlook. The grass always looks greener outside of aviation but I can tell you that it's not from personal experience working for a so called stable company that used to be number 21 on the Fortune list. Just like you said, I have my MBA and I worked sometimes from 7am to midnight only to be at work the next day at 7am, my laptop and blackberry always followed me home on the weekends. I've watched not hundreds but thousands of people get laid off over time, management get hacked in half and combined with other divisions.
Yes if you compare the airline job to what it used to be before deregulation or even 911 it has gone downhill but try comparing aviation to what it's really like outside of aviation. Even if you get stuck at a regional living in base for the rest of your life, go try and make 100k in the corporate world with half of the month off. With that being said I will admit that if you get laid off from an airline job it doesn't even compair to a corporate layoff because you can't move laterally and you have to start from scratch. My point is just like you said, that the airline job isn't perfect but neither is the non-aviation corporate job.