How does Scheduling know when I have plans with my in-laws that I can't change? It's a green slip bonanza every time. This past weekend they called at least four times before I changed my slip request. One time they had three trips and gave me my choice...

 

Seriously?


fill

 

You are not a real airline pilot then.

 

winner winner chicken dinner!

DAL hates credit. You want to get paid for 6 hours/day, you are gonna WORK 6 hours/day or more. I hear what you are thinking: "But I'll get done sooner." I'll betcha the next round of whining will be about how fatiguing these schedules are.

 

My wife makes less as an attorney with 15 years of litigation experience than I will on first year pay. She is only done paying half her law school loans. She has been head hunted by larger firms that pay way more but she takes QOL over money any day. She has less billable hours and a boss that understands kids and the impact of a husband that was military and now an airline pilot and her own reserve duty. She will tell anyone she is on the lower end but even her friends at the big international firms don't make more than 200K unless they have no other life than the firm

 

Step 2. What is a doctor's QOL, on average versus that of an airline pilot? I am guessing that the majority of them do not have 15 days/month free and clear of any or all obligations to their jobs.

Step 3. Since we have been recently been categorized as less than middle class and looking up at Wal Mart managers, do you have any earnings data on them?

Good job on the research.

 

20 April 2015

Representatives and Officers of the Delta Airline Pilots Association,

My fellow pilots and I are aware that there is to be a special MEC meeting tomorrow the 21st of April. There is something that we would like all of you to consider at that meeting. I have worked very hard to get the pilots of Delta Air Lines to engage with their representation. Unfortunately, a very large number of pilots don’t want to talk to you. They only want to see results.

I am a true volunteer in the fact that I don’t get paid for this. Even the P2P volunteers get paid for attending training sessions. Me, I just want what is best for our pilots, our association, and the flying public. The pilots that I talk to tell me that this negotiation is very different from contract 2012. Our pilots have educated themselves. They have looked at the SEC filings of the company. They have read the reports from Wall Street. They know that restoring our pay and benefits to levels equal to what we had before 9-11, is mere crumbs compared to the money that our hard work and sacrifice continues to produce for Delta Air Lines.

The pilots that you collectively represent know that our company is doing the same thing that most companies are doing in this high cash flow environment. They are taking the wealth that we produce and buying back stock and paying down debt. They are not doing this out of the kindness of their hearts; they are doing this to protect the company from future economic down turn and hostile take-over. I thank Richard Anderson for the work that he has done to stabilize our jobs into the unlimited future; however, this stabilizing of the company has brought upper management tremendous wealth while we are still working for wages that give us less buying power, working more hours than we did 14 years ago.

Ladies and Gentlemen the very reason that we organize, the very reason that we unionize, the very reason that we are part of the Airline Pilots Association is to keep large corporations from taking advantage of our life’s work and dedication to this profession.

Now you, our representatives are in control of a very precious commodity, your members. This contract is not being negotiated solely for the Delta pilots; it is being negotiated for the airline pilot profession itself. All pilot groups represented by the Airline Pilots Association are looking to you to determine whether being a part of this association is a valid way to secure the future for themselves and their families. The young men and women that are considering airline pilot as a career are watching these negotiations. Airline pilot groups around the world, even the ones not represented by ALPA, are looking to see if you can restore this profession.

Ladies and Gentlemen I end my writing by saying with Great Determination because I want you, my Representation to succeed, for the Delta pilots, for the pilots of ALPA, and for the airline pilot profession as a whole. But if you fail to realize that we are the golden goose, if you fail to make the company realize that we are the golden goose, the majority of the pilots that I talk to say they will seek other representation.

The outcome of these negotiations will determine whether this profession can be restored or whether it is destine for sub-standard wages forever. There will never been another time like this in history. We, the Delta Airline Pilots stand behind you and wish you great success, as we wait for this next TA. I want to personally thank each one of you for your hard work and dedication to the Delta pilots.

Fraternally and With Great Determination,

Jimmy Johnson
7ER ATL

 

Different experiences in life for different people I suppose. My lawyer friends are hard and efficient workers when they work, but enjoy their free time when we hang out on the weekends. One's on his own and is a criminal defense attorney, and the others are together at a firm that does pretty well.

I shared what I have observed as a rebuttal to the argument of "We do better than lawyers, doctors, and dentists." I think we do ourselves a disservice when we try to compare ourselves to other professions. I guess it's a good way to manage expectations. What is it with airline pilots: We're not paid enough, but we sure do have it better than those saps who went to law school or med school, right? Which is it? I don't need to compare myself to someone else to build my ego up. I'm fine with them making more (or less). But I do think I'm worth more for my skill set than what I'm currently paid based on the profits I'm helping produce.

Gif added for emphasis.

 

The doctors and attorneys that make big bucks are in business for themselves. The only way to make lots of money is to own your own business, and be successful, which, is very hard to do. As far as being an someone's employee, airline pilot is the top job.

Another thing, the government allows doctors to set up an "illegal in all other industries pricing model", no way to compete with that.

 

This is an interesting side track. To what can you credit "our" high success rate? How many engine failures have you dealt with in your career? (Perhaps we should be cutting checks to P&W or GE) How many real no kidding Cat3 approaches have you flown. (Honeywell?) Had any frozen NDB approaches to minimums lately? (Are they even possible in our modern glass cockpits?) How about Oceanic navigation/communication? Taken any cel shots lately? The newbies today probably won't know what it is to go hours trying to call Shanwick on HF trying to get a position report out. (Position report?)

In reality, to us, the vast majority of our flying is no more challenging than a bus driver's. To us.

I am not in any way degrading what we do. Far from it. We work in a more dense airport environment than any of those that came before us, but to take credit for success rates and expect compensation based on that metric alone is a very slippery slope indeed.