Originally Posted by
cornbeef007
I was furloughed..and it took me 14 years to make it to mainline.
You’ve had 15 years to recover from 65…did you do anything for those that came before you to make them whole? No, because they weren’t you.
They were the ones that truly got hammered. In a way 67 would have been more salt in the wound.
I wasn’t name calling. I was giving you an a description of behaviors, in my opinion. Did I take 50% of your pay? Did I furlough you? Then why does everyone behind you need to take a hit for it? I don’t know a better word other than selfish to describe that mindset.
Do I resent those that got hired at mainline aged 24 when my day came at 35? Not one bit, I’m happy for them. This career is like rolling dice in Vegas.
Like I said, I appreciate the honesty. You’re not trying to hide behind some BS excuse in the pursuit of 67. There is certainly something to be said for that.
What BS excuse would I be hiding behind? You nailed it when you said this was a money-grab, though I would more appropriately label it as a struggle between the two separate camps attempting a money-grab.
[Devil's Advocate] You could make an argument that your willingness to fly a jet for what you did contributed to a major decline of this profession. You could also make an argument that it was the senior pilots at mainline who sold out the junior ones to preserve what they had. Both could be and are probably true. Lessons learned.... you looked after your career - you were building your turbine PIC time to be competitive to apply at mainline, and you didn't give two feces whom you screwed over directly or indirectly... as long as you got yours. Now take that to the top level at the mainline... again, they didn't give two feces about whom they screwed over and how, for as long as they got theirs. Neither they, nor you cared about anyone else, but both of you looked after number 1. That's the par for the course. That's to be expected. Now fast forward, and still playing a devil's advocate... I literally benefit ZERO from being benevolent to your career progression. Put bluntly, I don't care if you get furloughed, stagnate in the right seat until kingdom come, or miss out on career movement that benefits you at my expense. Why should I? Do you not look out for number 1 in your world?
Still playing devil's advocate... let me put it another way. You finally made it to mainline. You made captain in record short time. You're fighting for your interests and are masking your own ambitions by wrapping them into an altruistic "fight" against those who stand in the way of your own career progression. And guess what? Good for you. Fight for your career. Fight for your interests, but don't blow sunshine up anyone's butt in that somehow your cause is righteous because it's not. It's no less self-serving than of that senior guy. You're simply envious of their position and you want it for yourself as soon as you can possibly get.
That's how the system is designed. I didn't design it, but I play in it just as you do and I literally get nothing out of looking out for your career interests just as you get nothing out of looking out for mine. Our interests may intersect at some point and we can collaborate on our mutual interests, but this clearly isn't a mutual interest.
[/Devil's Advocate]
I do recognize I would benefit from the increased retirement age and I'm fine with that. However, my financial planning is looking to retire much earlier than any mandatory retirement age. I'm not taking sides in this. So I'm not wasting my time or energy writing to my Congressman and Senators either for or against it. I simply don't care, but I'm sick of the hypocrisy on both sides and in our society in general. Why is it so hard to call spade a spade?