Originally Posted by
VacancyBid
Begin rant:
The "you might get furloughed if you switch companies" fear is just overblown. 100% overblown. It's fighting the last war and yes there's plenty of war strories from the lost decade but that battle is over.
Pre 9/11 you had SEVEN major airlines that all ran about 60% load factor, had a lot of three pilot airplanes and still had contracts that werern't much changed from pre-deregulation days. In the 15 years following 9/11 you had
9/11 ... duh
the great recession
age 65
retrirement of 3 pilot aircraft
multiple rounds of bankruptcies and mergers that GREATLY increased pilot efficiency (ie decreased pilot demand)
You now have 3 airlines, all running 85% load factor, with two pilot planes and relatively efficient contracts. Until they can run an airplane without two pilots seated (and I think that's coming) things are gonna be ok. There are not huge, low-hanging structural changes to be made that will crater demand for pilots for a decade. Furloughs, if they come, are likely to be short and won't come close to negating the advanteages of 25+ years with a top-tier contract.
End rant
The drop in susceptibility to -extreme- furlough times, logically, does seem more minimal, but I wouldn’t say immune by any means.
Off the top of my head, UA’s extreme growth plan def offers higher risk to furlough, with intl being the first thing to be swept away..
Tho, I wouldn’t make a 40 yr career decision based off of that susceptibility to a high degree.
I was already leaning to stay with Delta, I’m here, in my rhythm, have some Sen#, & living in base. The swap over to UA would boil down to simply wanting to be there for this projected UA Next growth, which many ppl seem say is a risky thing to throw away 1.5 yrs/10% of the SenList at DL for, and I be moving from DL HQ to what sounds like UA’s most underwhelming hub (IAH). Also, that id be NB A or WB B at DL before I would at UA at this point.
Even since being hired I’ve had no complaints and schedule bas been easy.. hard to gamble it all for a new start somewhere else.
In light of that, I’ve told UA to not worry about me moving forward, but was extremely grateful for the opportunity.