There was a time when a college degree was a ticket to upper middle class. There were essentially only three ways to do it, either your family had the means to pay, you were exceptional enough to get an academic/athletic scholarship, or you worked and paid your own way. This economic barrier, while seemingly unfair to some, meant that the supply of college graduates were limited. Then one day the government made taxpayers co-signer to loans. Colleges lowered admissions standards to attract more students. Banks lowered requirements to qualify for tens of thousands of dollars. Young people who had no business in either higher education or substantial debt chose to be blissfully unaware of what they were actually spending on. Tuitions went up, new degrees invented, and suddenly the market is flooded. This is why so many recent grads are frustrated to find meaningful careers and pine for loan forgiveness.

Ironically the airline industry caught this phenomenon briefly, as cheap money found its way to flight training just in time to meet a boom in regional airline hiring in the early 2000’s. Previously, borrowing money for flight training was so difficult and unheard of, if you could qualify for the loan you probably didn’t need it. Suddenly you had access to money, training cost went up as people scrambled to enter a career that promised adventure, excitement and high wages. But regional airlines and regional contracts are not the same. There was still a barrier to entry as legacy airlines that pay the big bucks also demanded high experience with limited access. I remember sitting next to new hire FO’s with six figure debt for a 20k a year job facing at least a decade of stagnation. Shiny jet syndrome meant there was always someone else willing to do the job for peanuts because it looked cool, and this was before smart phones and social media.

So why do you see well paid pilots doing informational picketing? Because if not for the strength of hard fought union contracts, the lifestyle and pay would erode just as fast as the barriers to entry. The current pilot shortage would be met by those willing to do it for less if it meant jumping to the front of the line, or pilots from other countries who do it for less for the chance at a visa. There is already a dilution of experience at all levels of the industry. One of the main reasons pilots are able to command the compensation we do is that the public’s perception is we are good at what we do and they are confident with their safety in our hands. Pilot contracts have consistently pushed for work rules that protect against unsafe conditions.

So yes, as a person who loves flying and thinks they would be incredibly fortunate have the chance to be paid $90/hr to fly big shiny jets, it may seem absurd to see those of us who make even more out there picketing, but this career is only what it is today because of decades of just such displays of unity.