Originally Posted by
Twister
FWIW, a good friend of mine who is former AF told me that the 2 major differences working for Delta are 1) there's no BS outside of the cockpit, ie, no paperwork queep/deskjob crap to worry about....you show up, you fly, pull up to the gate and say goodbye to the passengers and then grab your bag and go home, which sounds nice but..... 2) no real camaraderie. In an Air Force squadron (and I'm sure the same for Navy and Marine flying squadrons) you have camaraderie, a common mission, and you fly with the same guys over and over, etc. Almost none of that exists in a major airline. He said he's flown with a repeat/same Captain maybe a half dozen times in 15 yrs.
Bummer, because for 24 yrs I really liked that second part.
Point number 1, exactamundo!
Point number 2, I guess it depends on your fleet. I've become friends with a couple of captains I've flown with. Now I bid for their trips and look for them in open time. Whenever we get trips together we have a good time. It's definitely
different than the camaraderie in the military, but it's there to be found if you fly with the right people. I will say this, I was expecting it to be like you said, but I've found it to be much better. The guys/gals in the left seat, at least on the 717 fleet, are a great group of people and I enjoy flying with them. There are one or two exceptions, but they're very rare.