Originally Posted by
andy171773
I'm not debating the niceties of what you listed. I'm also not denying a senior pilots right to choose within their seniority. What I am tired of is any pilot's "belief" that they're ENTITLED to whatever they want. The seniority system is way out of whack in this industry, and that's not even debatable. It has the potential to cause far more harm than good, and has proved that point on numerous occasions throughout the last 25 years. But i digress....
That aside, there's nothing we can do about the system itself. The problem therein lies in the whining and complaining that some in the top 20% do.
This is a unique job, where you can pretty much live wherever you want. Some chose to move to CVG, as that seemed a logical choice, as it was/is Comair's fortress. Things are changing, and there's a real possibility that CVG will no longer be Comair's mega hub it might be moving, or shifting a great deal to the northeast.
It is absolutely no secret that there are those who ADAMANTLY refuse to go to JFK. Some avoid that airport like the plague, and have vehemently opposed any suggestion of moving or being moved to JFK. What's mature about that?
THESE are the people I am speaking about. I have no qualms about them wanting to be with their families..but c'mon. You're AIRLINE PILOTS.
They take it as a mortal sin that THEY'VE been inconvenienced by this company going to heck in a hand-basket. Many around these people are being furloughed very early on in their careers, have no health insurance, and can't find a job to pay off their student loans, and can barely afford to put food on their table. Or the 7 year captains who got downgraded, took a 40% paycut and don't have a choice of where they end up...not to mention they're on reserve...again....
Yet there are a select few who complain because their seniority entitles them to?
I don't think so..it's ridiculous..that's my main point.
Call it childish if you want, but the pouting of 40-60 year old MEN is what's childish.
Rant #2 over
I appreciate your respectful clarification.
I just don't understand what you're saying about seniority being related to complaining? Anyone who has worked for Comair for more than a couple of years has every right to ask *** is going on, after having multiple concessionary working agreements forced upon them in order to "ensure the future success of the company". One doesn't have to have been at Comair for twenty years to have something to be, let me understate this, disappointed in.
While I've heard senior pilots say they wouldn't go to JFK, I never took it as complaining solely due to their position on the seniority list. Even if it were, these pilots have contributed far, far longer than you and I together have to build the company and working agreement we have today. Why should they be criticized for their lack of desire to live in a crashpad with twenty other dudes just so they can fly airplanes? They have worked a long time to get beyond that stage in life.
What exactly does seniority have with that anyway? If today I were a three year Comair pilot I'd be *****ing about having to go to JFK...it's a 5hithole. Some of us enjoy it. Fair enough...I don't criticize them for that...though I wonder what I've missed regarding the appeal of that place. I could have upgraded into that domicile three years ago, but quite frankly, it's not worth the extra $20k/yr. I certainly don't mind flying in and out of there...it's usually quite entertaining watching the incompetence. I get that now at CVG after they've closed concourse C. Quite honestly, I've never looked at a DSL and thought to myself "Oh no, I have to go there again."
We have pilots on furlough. In case no one has noticed, the economy is crap at present. It is not the senior pilot's fault things fell apart as these pilots were graduating school with $100k + in student loan debt. Personally, I've been curious about the decision to invest that kind of money in a career with as bleak an outlook as this one, but I've mostly written that off as having had the benefit of having a front row seat as things have fallen apart over the last five years.
Some of us aren't there yet, but there will come a day when our homes are nicer than a hotel room, our wife is more attractive and pleasant than whichever Comair Flight Attendant we're currently paired with, and maybe we'll even realize we can do better financially by investing our time on things other than flying airplanes for peanuts.
Nothing in this industry entitles me or any of us to anything. That's why I work to make Comair's future survival irrelevant to my personal future.
The most junior pilot on the street complains as loudly as the most senior pilot who doesn't want to be based in Kennedy. What is the connection to seniority? All at Comair have been failed by Atlanta and local leadership. There is no reason to trivialize anyone's concerns about the future...regardless of their position on the seniority list.
Feel free to disagree.