This is why I always advocated negotiating to improve wages and work rules at Eaglevoy over improving the flow. The company needed a functioning flow program to attract new hires ONLY when pilot supply is short. If the flow didn't work well, they had to either increase wages and working conditions, or increase the flow. Increasing the flow was essentially FREE for them, yet they always insisted on getting something from the union/pilots in exchange for doing what they were going to have to do anyway. Unfortunately, I was in the minority on the MEC at the time... and the never ending pay for flow deals attitude continued.

We all knew that when the pilot supply caught up, the bonus programs would vanish and there'd be no more work rule improvements. The pandemic has created that dynamic early by about 5 years. Thankfully, there were enough band-aids before the music stopped that the job has improved and looks very different than it did in the old days. Pay has come up, it's still not where it should be, but it's a far cry from the $22 I started at, and the $18 other guys started at. The lost decade guys spent over a decade in the right seat, while very recently they were hiring street captains. We used to crash in the crew room on overnights in base, there were ZERO commuter hotels, there were ZERO hotels for cancelations in base. The reserve rules still suck, and the CBA is so LOA/MOU/amendment round modified over the years that it is swiss cheese. It needs a total rewrite.

The place has changed a great deal. The one thing that has not changed is this management team. They are the most notorious, untrustworthy, miserable bunch in the industry. There is a reason that these guys have NEVER left the bottom end regional management level for anything better. The carrier I'm at has had 1 (one) grievance in 2 years. Yes, we are treated that much better. We had hundreds of grievances at Eaglevoy. The differences in management style are astounding.

Keep your chin up, I think the recovery will come sooner than the doom and gloom sayers are predicting. There will be some pain in the process. Keep your logbooks updated and keep pushing to get up and out. The mainlines won't be hiring for several years, but not the long ten years some were/are predicting. If you're in the furlough zone and can grab an Atlas/Southern job before their new contract gets done you'd be smart. Once the furloughs start, the competition for ANY job will get tough.

I recommend the LogBookPro software for PDA and desktop for importing flight records directly from SABRE/DECS and being able to print Jep style logbooks in PDF or take the file to Fedex for printing. It costs a litte bit but really makes a killer presentation when going for jobs.