Originally Posted by
ATR35
I'm surprised to hear it's a stepping stone. My brother in law is a captain and I remember how hard it was just to get an interview, this was probably early 2000 that he finally got hired. It took years of job fairs, etc before he even got an interview.
It's the contract and career earnings that's the problem. It's still pretty hard to get on here which begs the question for really qualified people, why would you devalue your career by at least 7 figures just to fly with an Eskimo on your tail? There's valid reasons for that...for some, but let's be honest. Cash is King and Alaska Management will *NEVER* be willing to compensate anything close to what the big 3 do. Don't blame the pilot group either. That old Cliche' of a "weak" pilot group. Newsflash, every single airline has pilots in it that think their group is the "weakest" in the Industry. It's not true. The RLA is paralyzing to labor groups. That's the problem.
No. It's not strength or weakness, it's Management. They are nice guys at the company meet and greets...that's where it ends. Abruptly. Alaska Pilots will ALWAYS be compensated at 80-85% of the Big 3. If that's ok, fine. If not, Alaska is a stepping stone. At least for now it is.