Originally Posted by
DAL4EVER
Sadly, we in the U.S. don't get it. We keep reducing ourselves to the lowest common demoninator. The European carriers are mostly long haul and have established themselves as premier service providers that people are willing to pay top dollar for. The US carriers have cut to the bone in order to survive and have minimal infrastructure to handle the flying. Couple that with pilots who are willing to fly at JB, Skybus and Virgin America for $65-80K a year as a Captain is hurting everyone. In order to compete, everyone has to come down. This has been beaten to death over the past few years but it is our reality. The freight carriers who have a high barrier of entry don't have the competition so they are insulated from this. If we were smart, Alpa would establish apprenticeships in college and flight schools. We would educate pilots on the importance of not selling ourselves short just to take any job. Because the job we take to try to get to our dream jobs may indeed replace the dream job as they disappear.
DAL, I liked what you had to say and would like to hear your thoughts on how the US carriers can come up to par (or past it) with the European carriers. What can I do to make a better decision that will not only benefit me but the other pilots? I know brown and purple are the places to be right now but the major people carriers
use to be the ultimate destination for just about every pilot. But it's not anymore.
This is all a very confusing time for me because I grew up with the family flying for people carriers because it was the best place to be, and that was drilled into my head for 20 years! I'm almost tempted to go to Germany for a while to brush up on my Deutsche to get a job there. Compared to here, their pilots are being treated like royalty. I wonder if there's a DLH pilot who can chime in this too?? Danke!
