Originally Posted by
flyingreasemnky
You do realize that most regional FOs have large amounts of debt that they incurred to get their ratings. Most I have talked to, including myself, have around $600-$800/month student loan payments. So with making around $1,000/month take home, how do you expect them to make a budget to eat, pay their bills and pay for hotels? This is a profession that takes years of training and great deal of money to even get to the level of regional FO. You should not be expected to go into further debt to accept the job. Trans States' and all other airlines goal should be to make it so that new hires have nothing to worry about except passing training. Putting food on your table or defaulting on your debts should not be something you are concerned about.
I am really hoping the union negotiating committee focuses on improving the compensation and training pay for first year pilots. If TSA wants to continue to attract new hires, it is something that definitely needs to be addressed.
Yeah, comparing Delta to any regional carrier is ridiculous as they start you off at $70/hr during training. I also believe it is wrong and one of the reasons Delta isn't number 1 on my list. Delta and formerly Compass were an outlier and definitely not industry standard as well.
Are you the same person that hears people complain about the way the government is doing things and tells them to shut up and leave if they don't like it? Civil discourse is necessary for positive changes to occur. Maybe you should listen to those that have years of experience in the industry and a wealth of knowledge. I'm guessing you are new and have very little experience; maybe you should put down the kool-aid.
You among others have talked about the positive changes that have occurred at Trans States since a large amount of Comair furloughs made their way here. They brought their experience, knowledge and new ways of doing things with them. Your goal should be to find ways to take the best practices from these CQFOs' other companies and incorporate them in at Trans States. From day one, the training department was in our new hire class asking questions of the CQFOs and the way they did things at their last airlines. They recognized the fact that the CQFOs had valuable experience that they could use as a resource.
Maybe you should start asking what can I learn from this person. Whether you like it or not, the CQFOs are a part of Trans States and are here to stay.
I realize that almost everyone has debt that CHOSE this career. Myself included. I never once said it was great, or that we couldn't be better compensated during training. What I did say is that you can budget for 3 months to get thru training pay with minimal damage. I did, and still am, making $700 student loan payments and $150 car payments on top of rent for a house, which my parents don't live in. (not a crash pad as someone mentioned above)
No, I didn't have to go donate blood and semen to eat ramen noodles thru training. Some "huge expenses" people have are by choice. That $50,000 BMW isn't a necessity. Nor is the child support on 4 kids with 3 wives. I never said the training budget is lucrative, but it's doable.
As far as "comparing" TSA to Delta. That wasn't my intention. Just throwing out one example of a company that doesn't pay for any hotel during training. As someone else stated, apparently Frontier doesn't either. This place turns into the "Let's Bash Trash States!" forum about how subpar EVERYTHING is here compared to other places. All I did was throw out one company that doesn't provide a hotel during training. Until recent, CPZ didn't either, and nobody complained because they got to fly a super cool 175 after they were done!
I, like many others, are 100% open to alternative ways of doing things. But I'll be damned if I'm going to do something on line because the guy sitting next to me says "well this is how we did it at XYZ and it worked better, so I'm going to do it this way." I'm not going to get violated flying another airline's SOP because 50% of the flight deck thinks it's a better way to do it. You're exactly right, the CQFOs are a permanent part of TSA, and we welcome them with open arms. But accept the fact that you (not you in particular) are not at ENY, XJT, RAH, or 9E anymore and there may be a different way of doing things now. Under normal and 99% of abnormal operations, the
TRANS STATES SOP keeps yours and my ass from getting violated, so we need to follow it. Not XJTs, not ENYs.
And as for tom11011, real high level of maturity there man. You have absolutely no reason to be condescending to a coworker, solely based on what your assumption is of my age. (which most likely is incorrect considering you post makes me out to be ~14 yrs old) You have no idea that my wife may have had a miscarriage while I was in training. Or had a family member pass away while in training. Big assumptions to make there man, big assumptions. I like to think that when everyone entered into this industry, we began, or had been previously living in, "adult land". I'll refrain from being a pr!ck, back in middle school (which I just finished a few months ago), they told me some people just can't help themselves.