Ah yes, the grass is ALWAYS greener...

And I've never met a Delta/FedEx/American pilot who wasn't ecstatic about his job and company. In fact, the Delta pilots are so happy with the way they're being treated and valued by their management that they overwhelmingly voted down the latest TA offered.

Delta/American/United/FedEx/Fill-In-The-Blank are the Promised Land, or Holy Grail, of flying jobs for many (maybe even most?) pilots. But not for all. Some are quite happy (perhaps a foreign concept for many pilots) flying twin Otters in the Alaskan Bush, or flying a Hawker 900 in a corporate gig.

I for one can't think of a more miserable group of human beings than the old US Airways (East, to be specific) pilots. But, hey, it's a major (or was) so anyone would be stupid not to go there, right? As for me, you couldn't stuff enough cash into a 747 main cargo deck to get me to ever have gone to work there. But that's just one man's opinion, so treat it as such.

I appreciate your points, and I agree that Atlas pilots are grossly under paid, and the current working agreement has a lot that needs to be addressed. But let's not over-exaggerate the virtual salt mine conditions we labor under every day. Prospective new hires shouldn't come here starry-eyed, because no place is perfect. No place. They need to have a realistic understanding of just what working for Atlas entails so they can make as informed a career decision as possible that best suits their individual needs.

While I wish the best for those whose ultimate goal is to get on with a Delta/FedEx, I also recognize that there are others who are willing to take a stand here at Atlas to fix what's broken, instead of chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.