Vital Signs

Hey Zap, I am guessing with words like "seniority" and "recall" you came from airline world.


Usually the corporate way of getting rid of the undesirables.

flysooner9

having set days off or being able to say hey i have a friends wedding i need to go to this month i need to be off. Would help go along way in keeping some pilots i think. Its one of the reason im looking at getting back into 121

Brett Hull

For us, after being constantly roadblocked by HR for over a year, it was two guys leaving in rapid succession for the airlines and both telling the CEO why they were leaving. The problem was then fixed in 4 days. Sometimes you have to get the big man involved to get the problems fixed.

The pay and stability still don't match what's currently available at the 121 carriers, however. Both of those reasons are what have me looking at the airlines. I don't want to be one of those guys who's 55 years old at a department that closes due to a merger or whatever and can't find another decent job because no one will hire him because of his age. Age discrimination may be illegal, but we all know it happens.

An acquaintance recently signed an employment contract with a company. He's in his early 50's. As long as he doesn't do something stupid like bang the boss' wife, if the boss sells the airplane tomorrow, his severance pays him until he turns 65. I think there are quite a few of us who'll need similar protection if we're going to take the risk of remaining corporate.

But I also give the guy credit for his negotiating skills; something we pilots are notoriously really sh!tty at.

BPWI

Over a decade of severance? Do you know any of the details? What the percentage is? Full payout or monthly?
Either way, that is utterly amazing. Good for him.

Brett Hull

Unfortunately I don't know many details other than it's 100% of the earnings he'd receive until age 65. I don't know if it comes in a lump sum (I assume it would) or continues as normal bi-weekly or monthly pay.

But yes, good for him. I think we'd be surprised what we'd get if we would negotiate with the correct person (read: not HR).

The dude

On the other side of that coin, I went to my boss after 8+ years flying him around the world in a large cabin corp. jet because I had an offer from a Legacy Airline and he didn't feel like negotiating. Acted like I was hurting his feelings. My job was great and I loved everything about it...except the fact that the compensation just wasn't on par with the airlines and the raises weren't keeping up either.

So I left and it took them about six months to replace me even though their initial impression was that qualified guys would be lining up. Every resume they got was from people in their 60's and people with little experience. The guy they did hire will probably leave for the majors within a year if my suspicions are accurate.

The fact is that a second year pilot at most of the majors will earn as much as a large cabin corporate captain. Airline captains earn twice as much. With the short upgrade times and massive attrition I can't understand why anybody would want to remain in the shaky corporate world.

trescommas

Watching the news, and walking through a major airport is enough for me. Personally, 1.5x the pay is not worth 25x the drama and headache.

Likeabat

25x the drama? Clearly you've never flown for the principal owner I worked for. : )

SonicFlyer

This assumes the company doesn't go out of business or go bankrupt in that timeframe.

The dude

Well, considering money is the reason I go to work in the first place I think millions of dollars over my career in compensation made the jump to the airlines worth it.

Not to mention the value of being able to put my cell phone away on my days off and not worrying about "the boss" calling at any given moment.

To each their own though.