Originally Posted by
JoeyMeatballs
^ though agree to some extent, I was at Colgan when it was a "merrit-based" upgrade and that was not fun either. The problem is, there is little one can do to better themselves one they get hired on at an airline, just a number. That works when you are fat dumb and happy in the seat of your choice, at the airline of your choice, however the road to me sitting right seat in a 73 at CAL is looking rather dim, not sure I can put up with much more of what the industry has to offer. Even then if I where to get there, I would most likely look in the mirror and say to myself, "well, all that sacrifice for this BS?"
Look I am not condemning anyone for sticking it out, I give them credit and wish them luck, I don't know if I lost the "will" to keep on going or if I truly don't think it's worth it in my eyes..........
I feel ya. I was filling out job apps this morning and thinking wow I can't believe I'm really thinking of giving up after all this work but I just don't think I can stand working 4k hours a year for 70-75k a year. Because of this job I have no life when I'm home other than trying to get things done that needed to be done while I was gone or trying to make up to my family for being gone all the time. And thats after 4 years as a captain and after sitting in a pool for a overseas carrier that pays very well but at the same time would have me gone just as much. At this point I'm willing to even take a pay cut for a few years to get a job where I can have a regular scheduled life so I can A. go back to school which we all know is very hard to do with our schedules. B. have a normal life and not have to tell my family/friends "oh sorry can't gotta work that day" or "sorry on a 4 day be home in a few days". Not to mention how many of us work weekends when the normal person is off and we're off when everybody else is at work. Kinda hard to get together with family/friends when your shedule is opposite.
Add to this the fact that my wife just got/gets offers as a contract RN to work for places for up to 3 months at a time extendable for up to a year that pays for housing, cost of getting state license, cost to where the job is and back to where she lives, pays overtime, pays 1700-2000 a week. Thats over 85k a year + she gets a furnished place with utilities paid for. Thats over 100k a year and all she works is a normal 8 hour day. Yet we fight and fight to say how great this industry is when we spend all this time gone, get treated like crap by managment, and how many of us are working for companies that take 4 + year to negotiate a new contract so that they save money at our expense.