Whistlin' Dan

Don't forget Pan Am, Continental, and TWA. Even Flying Tigers was a career destination for some. Then it wasn't, then it sorta-was. Then it really-was again, but that came too late for those who had been on the fence about it before.

UPS was indeed, a "crap job." Mainly because it's flt ops were conducted much as Amazon's are today...as an operating unit that exits largely on paper. One cannot say they treated their employees badly because they really didn't have any employees. Their contractors may have, but they didn't. "Meh. Let 'em take up their problems with their respective companies. Not OUR problem."

FedEx in the early days under Fred Smith was not unlike DHL when Larry Hillblom still had a hand in running it. And FedEx's flt ops after Fred Smith dies are almost certain to become a lot more like DHL's are now. But that's a subject for another thread...

Amazon, as long as Jeff Bezos is alive and on the property, is not going to change it's business model. It's effectively firewalled itself from civic responsibility, labor discord, and from most labor laws in general. Amazon is not going to become the salvation of pilots who missed the brass ring of a job at a legacy carrier, or of those who actually prefer the relative serenity of flying at off-peak hours away from passengers and the hustle and bustle of airline terminals. Nor will Amazon bring salvation for warehouse workers, truck drivers, delivery drivers, or those who manage them. It's simply not in their corporate DNA to be that kind of company. And many American voters lack the will, the savvy, and/or the political influence to require it, and others like it, to be "that kind of company."

To carry forward your water analogy, "Pilots in the ACMI world are focused on the waves, when they should really be reading the swells"

Thanks for the reminder. And the warning...