Originally Posted by
TFAYD
^^^ this
The key lesson learned for me was that this is an entirely transactional business. There is nothing like goodwill or “I rub your back and you rub mine”
You can help our crew support all day long - no brownie points for you when you need help with a day off.
It is always a negotiation.
That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be professional and deliver a quality product. Just don’t think you build any goodwill that you can cash in one day by going the extra mile.
TFAYD
Adding to this, helping out crew support and expecting some brownie points probably worked when this was a 500 pilot operation vs. a 5000 pilot operation. Now, there are simply too many pilots for them to remember a favor you did and there is a lot of turnover in CS. Nothing nefarious, just the fact of being in a large company.
When I was new I saved the day once by accepting an assignment outside my reserve availability, hustling to the airport, coordinating so they could board while, I was on the parking shuttle, etc., keeping a flight form being canceled.
Fast forward a month or two and I'm trying to make a commute home with 20 minutes left in my ready reserve with the door about to close. They wouldn't release me, even though there is no way they could have used me for anything. I learned then and there that there was no reciprocity and not to expect it.