Originally Posted by jblumindtrick
Blue2,
Contrary to popular belief, many of us at JetBlue have actively selected to be here OVER Southwest, Fed Ex, and Alaska due to the above list of 1-9. Even after 9-11 this 1-9 list was still being pumped into the interview process to "sell" the position in order to get this airline growing. This is where a lot of what was said "was never said" like the infamous we don't want career flight attendants. So, based on what "was never said" played vital roles in many individual's SELECTION of airline. This has set understandable expectations for many. Now that the baseline of the industry has dropped further, we can point to the demise of others. This has fostered a take it or leave it attitude which is not healthy for morale. This airline is full of hardworking pilots! There is not a single pilot that wants to rob the company or see it go out of business. I love this place but we have got to take care of our own!
Lounge and cockpit gossip.....you know better than that.
I don't know what went on in your interveiw class, but in mine there were no such promises as 1-9 above, except that Al did say that we would like to rise to SWA pay scale. That was before the raises they got with their extended contract, and he did not say we would match that. West Coast base was a maybe, not a promise, and Long Beach was ruled out as a base at the time. Nobody said we would get rich off of stock options, just that we could make some money that way. Others assumed we would mirror SWA and all be multi-millionaires. I flew early on with Captains who had totally unrealistic expectations, such as splits twice per year for their entire careers. These guys obviously never went to business school. Profit sharing is great, but you have to make a profit, and there are not many places you can make more than we do for flying the airbus. I expect pay to eventually rise here, but until then please remember that $/hour do not tell the whole story. Even the most senior pilot at Jetblue would still be an FO at SWA. I'm making a lot more money here than I would be at any other airline with the same length of employment, and so are you, unless you left SWA, Fedex, or UPS to come here.
When the stock price rose to $70 here, everyone except David N. went nuts. He knew it was wildly overvalued, which was why we went with a 3-for-2 split instead of the 2-1 or even 3-1 that some people expected. Stock options are an incentive, and ours are10 year options. If our stock is worth 4 times it's current value when my options are up, I'll be ecstatic. But profits have to increase with size! We have over 90 airplanes now, and we make less money than we did when we had 30. So heck, yeah, let's get a raise, right?! That makes no sense at all. It is a very competitive environment, with high oil prices and low ticket prices. There are plenty of little things for us to whine about, and some of us are trying to make changes, but let's keep the big picture here. It's not a "take it or leave it" attitude, it is the truth. Times are tough in the airline industry, but we are doing OK. Some of us make personal decisions (like where to live and where to be based) that make life tougher. When you take a job, you have to take those things into account before you sign on the dotted line, not after, based on the current situation, while weighing the possibilities. If you are a commuter on reserve in LGB with no growth in sight, yes it's tough. But there are always alternatives. Sorry to preach, but that's the way it is (in my opinion, of course).