Originally Posted by
Beagle Pilot
Ambition is good and I sincerely hope you live your dream of flying for a "major" airline.
OTOH, I strongly disagree with those who would sell out themselves, their brethren union pilots and/or destroy their own union in order to fulfill their greedy desire to fly a big shiny jet. Becoming a ***** is only one step above a scab IMHO.
I beleive that his point is that they have not experienced the stagniation that the Captains have had, therefore they have less to lose being at the bottom of the list, it is only a furlough back to where they are. Not true for a regional Captain.
That said, in the aftermath of 9-11 and the growth of the RJ sector at DCI, I ended up spending six more years at DCI. With them parking the L15, MD-11, 727, and 732 here at DAL, much of the narrow gauge flying was off loaded to DCI. My airline tripled in size to almost 2000 pilots from 2000-2006. That is where the issue is and was.
Stop the off shore flow of seats from a mainline list and there will all of a sudden be a value to once again become junior and sit at the bottom of a 12000 pilot list.
In reality, it actually was a decision to make for me. I was making about 120K a year at my regional and making the transition to the mainline meant a cut for five years. Knowing all of this I jumped. Still to this day with a back bid or two, it is the best decision I could have ever made. Even with the sale of scope and the stagnation here, being junior and under a bankruptcy era contract, my QOL on and off the road, is at least five to eight times better than it was as a LCA/Capt at my regional working three days a week with every weekend and holiday off.
My point is that even in the ear of stagnation, the life of a mainline pilot is generally a lot better than that of a senior Regional Captain. Living both I can tell you that.
One thing that many do not consider and one that AMR Eagle may or may nor have to deal with being a WO, is that these FFD contracts have resets in them. That means there is going to be extreme downward pressure of the long term earning potential for a pilot at a regional carrier. I beleive that after the resets start happening this fall, the perception of life at a regional may change. Looking at my airlines contract, I saw it getting progressively harder to justify staying there as the years went on. It was a question of taking a hit now while I had time, or taking the hit when I was boxed in.
The only way the QOL of life at many of the regionals is going to maintain its status quo is if there is a shedding of 76-130 seat flying in the next contract round. Honestly I just do not see it happening. Finally, the majority of the mainline see what that does. They have their progression and stagnation over the last 10 years to prove it.