There are many challenges to achieving what we want, and from what I hear most of what we want are QOL, better pay and benefits, and secure future.
Yes or No? Please add if I am completely off base.
This is what the public cares about our QOL, better pay and benefits, and secure future:
NOTHING!
Why? It doesn't affect them in any way. All ALPA has been chanting since the dawn of time is all this crap about "me, me, me." Copies of pay stubs, 43% decrease in salary, yada, yada, yada. WHO CARES! (Is what I say if I am a passenger going from Point A to Point B)
How does ALPA and the plight of Airline pilots get recognized?
Just ask any Freshman PR student.
MAKE IT ABOUT THE PAYING PASSENGER. THEY HAVE MUCH GREATER NUMBERS THAN PILOTS WILL EVER HAVE.
Look at all the recent press on:
Passenger Bill of Rights!
Lost Luggage complaints,
Headlines that say "Stranded on the Tarmac for 7 hours"
or
"Bumped off My Flight AGAIN!"
If you mould the pilots wants, wishes and desires into REAL applicable Passenger Concerns, THEN you will get INSTANT PRESS about the current state of affairs. Lets just list some things for fun:
1) Did you know your pilots sleep on their planes at night because the companies they work for won't buy them a hotel room? Lack of proper sleep can cause poor decision making while flying.(MESA)
2) Airline pilots are exposed to radiation levels far exceeding the normal safe radiation limits mandated by the FDA so you can get from Point A to Point B.
3) How many of you go to work where people try to kill you? How many of you have had your office turned into a cruise missile? How many of you work behind a bullet proof door?
4) How many of you are responsible for the lives of 200- 300 people, with any small mistake in your performance resulting in the death of your customers (and yourself) A bad day! A pilot cannot have a bad day.
5) Pilots close the door of the aircraft because that is their TIME CLOCK. This is the only way they can get paid by the Airline Company. They would rather sit on the tarmac with the time clock running then sit at the gate for hours on end without being paid. Blame their actions on their employeer.(Name of Airline) Management.
6) Many regional pilots these days get hired right out of Flight School with very few hours of experience. Some are even offered jobs before graduating.
7) Would you trust a 21 year pilot right out of Flight School to get you to the ground safely in a Thunderstorm if the Captain suddenly became incapacitated?
8) Did you know that your bags get lost because the airlines do not hire enough ramp personnel to perform the job on a consistant and timely manner. And that some airlines expect the pilots to help load and unload the plane instead of safely planning their next flight?
9) Did you know that many pilots have second jobs to supplement their income? And sometimes these extra jobs lead to fatigue, physiologically causing them to fall asleep while flying.
10)Did you know that the cost of learning to fly along with depressed pilot salaries are causing a decrease in pilots starts? Because of the reduced interest in becoming a pilot, airlines are forced to hire extremely young and underskilled candidates.
11) Did you know that some airlines are hiring their pilots, ones that are responsible for your life, with as little time as 350 hours of Total Flight time? However, these airlines won't admit it. 350 hours? This is less time than the average teenager has behind the wheel before getting their drivers permit. Airlines do this because they are not willing to pay the more experienced pilot a respectable salary.
12) Did you know that if every pilot quit today it would take well over 20 years to train enough pilots (based on current pilot starts and ratings earned) to reach today's air travel needs. Imagine having to drive or take the bus on your next cross country trip or not being able to go to Europe on vacation for at least a decade.
13) Did you know some pilots are threatened with losing their jobs by their Airline if they choose not to fly a mechanically deficient airplane? Imagine being forced to fly a broken airplane without you the passenger ever knowing.
ALPA would do itself justice in hiring a PROFESSIONAL PR Firm to discover how they can accomplish what is needed to make the PUBLIC and the GOVERNMENT take notice. A well targeted and executed campaign could IMMEDIATELY force change among the industry. Imagine 100 million US citizens demanding change in the industry vs. the less than 100,000 voices of pilots.
Just a thought.