I snipped a bunch from your post just to keep the quote down to a manageable size. I appreciate your thoughtful response and hope you don't regard the snip as anything other than editing for length. I think the gist of your post is captured within the text I quoted.

I agree that state of mind is important. I agree with the concept of working together. I agree that if all you do is gripe about a problem, it's not likely to be fixed.

The part that I can't get on board with is that there's nothing between a full-on gripe fest and the acceptance of the Company's continued empty promises and excuses.

In a round-about way, what I'm really saying is that all us old-timers, to one extent or another, did exactly what you're doing. WE did it as a defense mechanism. WE really wanted to believe all the promises of rainbows and butterflies offered by management in recurrent ground school speeches.

We "extended the runway." We "lived to fight another day." We were "team members" and "participated in the continued existence of the airline." We extended our contract--which was marginally acceptable in 2007--for a full 10 years because management told us it was imperative for the survival of the airline. We gave up $10million a year in concessions against a $1300 million (1.3B) a year budget because management told us that we were the difference between the airline's survival and extinction. We were snookered into believing that we are business partners in the running of an airline.

We taxi on one engine. We do cross-bleed starts on the roll. We take off unpressurized. We land Flaps-3. We almost never use reverse. We hold off on starting the APU until half the passengers are exhibiting signs of heat stroke. Heck, I even once flew with a captain who turned off the strobes in the daytime to save the company money!

We bought all this management nonsense. We swallowed hook, line and sinker. In more recent years, more and more "team members" have come to the realization that the "asks" and the promises of a better tomorrow will never end until we stop being receptive to the management BS.

In reality, all I'm asking is that you learn from my mistakes and resist the urge to press the repeat button on the most recent 10 years. By excusing management's unwillingness to rectify longstanding and continuing screwups, you are repeating our mistakes. By (implicit in your recent posts) accepting the premise that management is even interested in fixing these problems, you are encouraging them to continue making empty promises.

So what can we do to change the situation?

1. Hold management accountable to the terms of our CBA. EVERYONE needs to know and follow the CBA. Gone are the days of allowing a small, vocal minority to shoulder this burden on behalf of the entire pilot group. We have a bunch of freeloaders who say nothing to CBA violations in order to maintain their rosy relationship with management in hopes of being rewarded with check airman, special pilot, sim instructor, assistant chief pilot, or chief pilot status.

2. Challenge management when they offer yet another empty promise. If you're uncomfortable with direct confrontation, at the very least, don't act as a mouthpiece for management by repeating management's empty promises to encourage potential new hires and/or discourage existing pilots from pointing out management's shortcomings.

3. Find fulfillment outside of work. Family, hobbies, second career, whatever. Consider this job as absolutely nothing more than a dysfunctional business relationship. Harsh? Yes, but I think this is key to personal sanity.

As for whether I'm going to another airline… Nope. I'm one of the people who is effectively stuck here. I'm not a wife beater or murderer or alcoholic. I've never had an FAA violation or anything like that. I've got my 1000 hours TPIC. My story is that I have strong family and outside business ties to Colorado and I have a second career that makes my airline career largely superfluous. If there comes a time when I can't hold a position in Denver, I'll quit.

I'm 99.9% certain we'd get along just fine if we ever fly together. I'll be sure to identify myself if this ever happens.

I read an analogy on this forum several years ago in the context of flying as an expat for foreign carriers. I've adopted the philosophy for my career at Frontier. I have two (metaphorical) buckets, 1 for sh|t and the other for money. When either of the buckets is full, it's time to quit. Both my buckets are filling, but not full, and that's why I'm still here.