I am in the training department and I take a bit of offense to this. We are understaffed and overworked like everyone else. The TD is small and works almost like a mom and pop company instead of a multi thousand pilot group airline. If somebody calls in sick we pick up the slack, we help each other if somebody needs a day off etc. There is always more work than people, but if we just said F it and didn't pick up the slack, it doesn't hurt the company, it screws over a friend and colleague and in the end, hurts the pilot group as every single pilot goes through the department multiple times a year.

This also is true among the Check Airman and FCF ranks. Are there crapheads? Sure, but that is every department within the company. It is very very very easy to make money in these departments because there is a ton of work and not enough people. The real kicker? We can't pick up any trips if we are in the training department. So all those P2P trades in open time, we can't pick those up to go actually fly the line (as we should do now and then). Then we have to read about how there are all these cancelations due to lack of crews for flights when we actually might want to go fly the line a trip or two a month to stay proficient. Is there money to be made in these departments? Yes! There is a pay override and we get paid more for being in these roles. Are we taking money away from you and other line pilots? Absolutely not. Apply to be in one of these departments...

Picking up premium as a line pilot is considerably different than doing extra work in the training department. Videos have to be made, changes to flows, procedures, manuals etc. all have to be tested and evaluated. Courseware has to be checked for accuracy and fluidity, all the training events are flown and triple checked by the training department before a script gets final approval and you get checked on it. There is a lot more to that department than simply picking up premium and stacking a fat paycheck.