Originally Posted by
Itsajob
I don’t see how a military pilot on leave is a drag. They aren’t paid reserve guarantee or anything while they’re gone. From a business standpoint I think that United would be thrilled to lock in a solid pilot and not have them go to a competitor. There’s also the PR aspect about supporting our military. There’s also the issue that those in the military past and present have made huge sacrifices to serve our country and it’s not out of line to show a little gratitude and respect to those who voluntarily serve. I wasn’t in the service, but that’s how I view those who are/were.
401k is not a small chunk of change, assuming a year 3 737 FO is out on leave thats probably 25K/year, a year 6 777FO is probably close to 40k/year. then you can factor in all the retaining costs to bring them back up once they return from leave, assuming they left after IOE now they have wasted at about 50K in training costs as well. now if they are not on long term leave but are regularly having to place mil leave on awarded trips due to conflicts with the military that can increase the cost significantly, now the company has to burn a reserve or potentially pay 200% to cover their trip. this can be particularly problematic with last minute stuff, im not in the military but ive talked to people who claim to have put mil leave on trips inside of 24hrs to report. not bashing mil pilots but to say there is no drag associated with mil leave is not true.