Dash, First, thanks for the great reply.
My personal take on Ayn Rand is that although she's very black and white, I like that she does not tolerate excuses, whining or complaining about factors that are outside anybody's control. Perhaps this is anomalous to SkyWest, but you wouldn't believe how many 20 something jet FOs I hear complianing about the upgrade they never got. The entitlement is unbelievable. A skilled family member of mine was in jeopardy of losing her job at the red cross making 35K a year during the recession (or whatever we're calling it) whilst these single dudes grossing 50+K were feeling sorry for themselves. Hard for me to respect.
Ayn Rand asserts that doing your job well should be a matter of pride extrinsic to recognition by your peers or superiors. A prime example, is a sloppy uniform. Now I'll admit that I've worn pants past their useful life, or put on a shirt that wasn't crisp, but at those times I honestly felt a little self-conscious walking through the airport. My own personal neurosis perhaps, but somehow I feel that its harder to address people when you don't start the day respecting yourself. That being said, I'm fairly apathetic to what other pilots' uniforms look like. It isn't my place to create or police policy, all I can do is take care of myself.
I don't believe Mesa pilots are bottom-feeders, sometimes I wonder why many of them went there at times when many others were hiring; It is my understanding now that although many didn't do their due diligence, from these boards I've ascertained that many others had a purpose behind their choice. Generally more curiosity than condescension and on this point I can of course only speak for myself.
More on SkyWest smugness later
You are spot on here. I'm continually disappointed in our ground handling and gate agents. "Pay 'em peanuts and you'll get monkeys" seems to be the sage advice regarding the crummy service and unfriendly attitudes. This point however relates to the idea of doing your best despite your working conditions. I've heard that the ramp is Denver is woefully understaffed, and I think many of the employees drag their feet as an act of rebellion, however the only people that this sends a direct message to are the pilots and passengers.
This is where our thoughts may diverge most appreciably. If all the other unionized regionals were continually, if just incrementally, increasing pay and getting better work rules and SkyWest just simply bumped up our pay to match every few years, then I would agree with you entirely, but this isn't the case. Would I object to a union at SkyWest? Absolutely not, but I personally don't believe that the presence (or lack thereof) of a union is what is hindering the regional pilot industry. I think the nature of being a contract carrier prevents anybody from rising much higher than anybody else. Right or wrong is irrelevant, if you strike, create 10% higher labor cost than your competitors, or both, you are putting the nail in your own coffin. It is frustrating to say the least, but if you were Delta looking at your options as a regional contract was coming to its completion, how could you justify your choice to go with the airline that provides an almost indistinguishably different product yet costs more and has proven that they're willing to severely interrupt your passenger carrying operation? I mean no disrespect to those who put their jobs on the line to better the profession, but management will slap a concessionary contract back on the table and have the airline operating below the cost of everyone else just to appease their partner for the duration of the contract. This is sad to me and seems to prove that from a strictly pragmatic viewpoint, striking at the regional level is largely ineffectual.
For what its worth, many SkyWest guys avoid eye contact with each other. Although I'm not sure on the overall ratio, there is a lack of camaraderie in our pilot group that stems from a contingent of elitists and strong senses of entitlement. I think we have quite a diverse pilot group when its comes to viewpoints and overtime that has lead to a lack of unity. Whenever things aren't going splendidly here, we start acting like spoiled children and the bickering begins.
Perhaps. I have no other frame reference in the 121 world.
In conclusion, I like working at SkyWest, but I don't define myself by it. I try to come to work and give passengers good service and increase the general public's esteem of our profession. I voted no on pay packages or issues that I felt weren't fair and I don't take joy in the depletion of flying from other quality regionals. Just like you may think its unfair for SkyWesters to be prejudiced against others, I recognize and don't enjoy being ignored by my fellow pilots. Mesa guys seem nice on the whole, ExpressJet guys are always quite social with me in Denver, GoJets pilots seem a little squirrelly but are nice enough, Republic crews seem nice but just seem more into each other than the outside world. In fact, the only guys that seem aloof are the Mesaba gents in MSP, but again that could be a total misinterpretation on my part. Who is John Galt
Anyway, fly safe and thanks for invoking thought.