Originally Posted by
mikea72580
To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about it. I bet if I asked the last 50 pilots I’ve flown with if I could stay in their guest room for a month because I was having hard financial times, probably 40 of them would hand me a key. But on the other hand, if I asked them to take $500 out of their wallet and hand it to me, probably all 50 would look at me weird. I think we have a very magnanimous bunch here, but there’s also a culture and history that I’m not sure lends to a pilot funded furlough fund of that magnitude. I think a voluntary fund would receive an impressive amount of contributions, though.
I agree with you until the argument was put to them that this is cheaper.
Some easy math because I am not smart. A five percent assessment for the duration of the furlough. Say 200 per hour for round numbers with 72 hour guarantee. 14,400 at 5% is 720.00. An eight hour guarantee cut for furlough mitigation is 1600 so we're saving 880 and no mitigation that ends up being the gift that keeps on giving. According to the math earlier in the thread the furloughed pilots would get around 40K per year. Most of us pilots are good looking enough with enough skills and personality to score at least 30-35K at a job during the furlough. So by my math we have furloughed pilots able to pay bills and survive during the furlough.
Senior pilots saving money over the concessions we almost always seem to accept. And a contract left intact so the furloughees coming back don't have to spend a decade getting money and QOL back. Also keep in mind that the airline understands its expensive to furlough and if the pilot group is firm and standing up for itself and the furlough candidates aren't scared for their lives the furloughs will be only what's needed to survive and not a union busting tool for managements.