Originally Posted by
windowseat
Is that the best you could come up with to rationalize your decision to work for, as you put it, a "'bottom-feeding', 'profession-killing' regional?"
I put those phrases in quotes to indicate sarcasm, but apparently that was lost on you. Are quotation marks hard to see when you are looking down your nose at fellow pilots?
I do not need to rationalize my decision. I had a blast and would make the same decision again.
Originally Posted by
winglets
I love your rationalization. I'm still laughing as I type this.
Thank you, my Friend.
Originally Posted by
captainv
Well, let's see. 7+ years ago, I went to a regional with top-of-the-industry pay rates and phenomenal growth.
Things suck when airlines are shrinking. To be fair, there is no such thing as "top-of-the-industry pay rates" at any regional airline. The top pay rates are at the majors.
I reject the doo-wop heard constantly here that all blame for the state of our industry lies with certain pilot groups at so-called "bottom-feeders." An RAH guy once referred to myself and my sisters and brothers by that epithet. I am damned if some guy feasting on the rotting carcass of someone's Midwest Airlines career is calling me a "bottom-feeder" without a fight.
Some on this forum seem to feel very good about themselves because they work at a "good regional". They will bloviate about how pilots at other companies are "lowering the bar". I wonder if any of them would care to explain to me how the bar is raised by jobs leaving UAL and going to Skywest? From COA to BNA? From Midwest Airlines to RAH? From AAL to EGE?
"If all pilots refused to fly for the 'bottom-feeders' everything would be grand." This is a silly notion. Pilots will go where there is work, especially in this economy. If pilots at "good regionals" refused to fly jets and refused to perform the work formally done by major pilots, the bar would shoot to the moon. Neither of these scenarios will ever occur.
Proud of your job at a "career regional?" Swallow your pride and reflect on the fact that you perform work for less time off and 1/4 the pay in real dollars as the major pilots you have slowly replaced.
One of the main reasons that we are in this position is our lack of cohesiveness and the avalanche of market forces. Pilots have done a horrendous job of working together. Instead of bickering over the largest table scrap, we should all be in the same union working to expand flying at the majors, even if it means they fly regional jets and turboprops.
The Dash Whisperer