Originally Posted by
Brickhut
Post of the century. Having 12 years 135, some 91 and a family member who works for NJ, and now 6 years at a major (ULCC at that), comparing apples to oranges to durian fruit, there truly is no comparison. There are all the big-ticket items mentioned above, but there are a million small things that nobody ever brings up, but add up considerably- having all of your bags beside you in a cockpit seat you can walk into, not having to stand at the FBO counter and ask "you got a fax for three-oh-five-queue-ess?" Not loading bags, not removing drinks in cold weather, not pulling out the suitcase lav, not pulling covers on a shaky ladder in the winter on an icy ramp, not checking oils on same ladder, not waiting for late pax, no airport standby, not having to check ID's, getting to leave the airplane as soon as you block in and letting the FA's deal with the heathens, getting to use a stand-up lav mid-flight and not giving a hoot about inconveniencing the pax, never having to crack open a cold airplane in the wind on a winter's morn, never having to crack open a steamy airplane on the ramp on a warm Houston day, getting your schedule for the month and then saying "F$#K that" and being able to drop/swap/change everything about that schedule, not kissing pax's a$$'s, not saying "tour", Not having to worry if, when arriving to Podunk, TX that the call-out line service will be there, having a hard, locked cockpit door, not having to fly with 70 year olds (kidding! sort of. Ok, I'm not kidding. But totally kidding!), being able to do a walk-around without getting an OJI, not connecting gear pins, etc...
Again, little stuff, but it really does add up.
The fun factor is out the window, though...
Can I come work for your airline? Because what you said doesn’t remotely look like AA. Cold/hot planes because the jetway air doesn’t work or they don’t have sufficient ramp staffing to hook it up. Can only trade a 4 day for another 4 day over the same footprint cause scheduling has all your trips redder (meaning your trip cannot possibly be covered by any of the 35% of the seniority list that are on reserve on your plane). Have to say mother-may-I to go to the lav. “Oh, yeah, we aren’t done with our service can you wait 20 minutes?”
Senior and working Christmas? Ooohhh, yeah, sorry about that. If you had a Ph.D in computer science, you’d know why that algorithm was buried in PBS.
Merging with JetBlue? Yeah, we’re gonna give them a sweet deal and stick all their captains ahead of you because if they’re unhappy, they might vote APA out and vote ALPA in.
4 day trips that are built to 8 hours of flying and 12 hour duty days. If they can’t fly you 8 hours, they’ll sit you for 3 just to you’ll do a 12 hour duty day.
The money can be good if you work the system. The retirement is awesome—16% pre-tax to your self-directed plan. Wide body flying is good (pre-Covid) if that’s what you’re into.
My point is, yes, majors are better than 135/frac in most cases. But, it certainly isn’t what it was in pre-deregulation and pre-9/11 and pre-Covid… Management works night and day to wring every last cent out of you and the union is powerless to stop them (Railway Labor Act needs to go.). I’m not bitter—I’ve had an awesome career but this is the same thing I tell the new people or those considering AA. As long as you go in with eyes wide open, you can deal with the pitfalls.
TC