Originally Posted by
rightseat
I think some of the more senior folks underestimate the experience and resolve of the more recent hires from the regionals. We are part of the lost generation that were paid peanuts and abused for almost a decade. We have seen warn letters, furloughs, lousy integrations, bankruptcies, multiple job changes, strike authorization votes, and the scummiest airline executives in history. We are done being abused!
I am personally a member of the Republic $36.62 Club. Ask anyone who knows what this means. We are some of the most beat up, hard nosed pilots that have ever flown 121. Many of us are now at Southwest.
Most of us have experienced more of the pain, delays and plusses of the RLA than those of you who have had the luxury of being here for 15+ years. We have the knowledge and experience SWAPA will be looking for when the calls for action come.
Give the youngsters some credit. We have earned it.
That’s good to hear. Educate the other pilots you fly with.
We have a long way to go if we want to be able to actually get to a point where our pilot group is willing to take advantage of the strongest leverage available to labor.
Many of the pilots I’ve flown with have had similar backgrounds to you and it has produced in them a nearly opposite effect that your background has seemed to have had on you. It seems they’ve had so many bad experiences that they’re just happy to be anywhere that can be called a “major” airline. It’s like they suffer from airline PTSD. One theory I’ve heard is that SWA loves to hire guys like that because the company becomes their savior and rescuer. They don’t want to challenge an entity that plays that role in their lives.