Originally Posted by
Temocil27
Remember they were paying their dues with other carriers before you were even an FO. I'm going to go ahead and ask all pay to players to buy me lunch because I CFI'd for 4 years.
If I had been hired as a DEC at their former carrier when they were an FO, and the company then prevented them from upgrading, they'd feel the same way. And I would be buying lunch and drinks on trips for them as a peace offering. Your situation with the lifer CAs is apples and oranges. They are senior to you at this company, ergo they hold CA slots while you wait your turn. I have no problems with pilots senior to me holding CA slots. That's the way it's supposed to work, as we've all been told since we started working to get into this industry.
Seniority with your current company is the system we work under. There is no national seniority list, so DECs are viewed as cutting ahead in line. When a company hires DECs rather than upgrading its existing FOs in seniority order, and then refuses to set things right afterwards, it creates bitterness among the pilot group. Mostly, the bitterness is directed at management for creating the mess in the first place. I've flown with several of the DECs on the Saab, great guys to work with. I can only speak for myself, but my feelings are nothing personal against them.
Yeah this is the feeling system wide, the DECs I work with are great people, this isn't their fault they saw San opportunity and took it. However management and the union made it happen without any plan or method to make things right for everybody. The bypass pay was just temporary, now all those who were going to be captains are SOL. No upgrade program.... So now they're faced with their previous award as null and void. So from the management side it's a pretty big slap in their face. I can see and feel the bitterness in the air from Florida to ATL. Definitely a burn to loyalty. I hate it for those FOs that have been here for years and got burnt now, for those of us less than 3 yr here well we can make that lateral move somewhere else as pay wont be much of a change at other regionals.
Definitely a very internally hostile environment right now I feel here. I'm sure from what I have read many agree too.