coolyokeluke

My fav is when the oldsters (I'm approaching that remark at 44) preach about paying your dues and entitlement when many of them spent about 18 months at a regional after a year of flight instructing. At least I don't believe that since I had to spend 12.5 years at a regional, 1.5 years 135, and 3 years of flight instructing before that - that everyone else should. Build experience and expertise, sure. Entitlement...that phrase screams "get off my lawn". Okay Gramps.

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Fr8Thrust

Just because some people destroyed their lives, for the joy of flying airplanes, doesn’t mean future generations should have to do the same. Regionals are a means to move airplanes at the cheapest cost possible, nothing more. Building experience has no relation to life outside of the cockpit.

PowderFinger

Turn your music down and get out of my yard.
Stinking 40 year olds ... What do they know.

Puck Hawg

Really? “Entitlement”? Sure, I feel like I’m more entitled to a legacy job than the good looking girl sitting in the right seat, who’s been in 121 for just over a year, who’s trying to decide between CJO’s from DAL and UA. After 13 years at my current regional, I can’t even get a call. Job fairs. Been there. Trying to talk to and befriend anyone who rides the jumpseat? Done. What now? In what other industry is experience frowned upon?

Ticked that I’m stuck in the regionals? Sure. Entitled? *no*

coolyokeluke

That Elvis devil music! Shaking those hips so suggestively

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Itsajob

The point was that people starting out today don’t want to do all of the work and deal with the low quality of life without a guarantee. There has never been any method to the madness as to who gets called and who doesn’t. I sat and watched people less qualified than me get the call and it was frustrating, but part of the deal. One day the phone did ring, then there was 911, furlough, age 60, mergers, seniority adjustments, etc. One thing that is different now is the volume of pilots that are in the regionals now compared to 20 years ago. Post 911 the regionals swelled while the mainline carriers furloughed. The pendulum is swinging the other way now and mainline will grow and regional feed will shrink. Since there are more people at the regionals and due to merger consolidation at the majors there are fewer open seats available and time at the regionals could be extensive. That doesn’t mean that a person is stuck there. Companies like Jet Blue, Spirit, Atlas, etc are hiring too and pay much better than the regionals. Build your resume as fast as you can, get your 1,000 PIC, and start looking for a place that you could call home if the phone doesn’t ring. In addition to qualifications there is a huge amount of dumb luck involved in getting hired, some will, and some won’t.

As far as improving the situation and not maintaining the way us old farts did it I truly wish you the best. I’d love for people to have it better than we did. I don’t really expect that to change though. The majors are going to put the flying out to the lowest bidder. If your company stands your ground, another will pull the rug out. I think that as the pendulum swings several companies are going to go away, especially any airline that only has 50 seat jets. If the regional feed for all of the majors gets down to a few larger companies they can demand better conditions or the majors can at that time find it cost effective to bring even more of the flying in house. I wish it was different, but it isn’t, wasn’t before, and most likely won’t be any time soon.

Baradium

The problem with the industry is the idea that there are "dues" that need to be paid. Usually it has just been an excuse to not care about someone else's situation. And no, pilots not willing to accept poor working conditions is not a problem. At least not for the pilots in the industry... just the management types who took advantage of it for so long.

PowderFinger

I can't shake my hips since they were replaced ... Besides, I might sling my dentures.

Itsajob

It’s not that dues need to be paid, it’s that most career paths have a so called cost of entry. A doctor goes to college, medical school, residency, internship, and is then qualified to buy into an existing practice, join a hospital, or start their own practice. Lawyers go to college, law school and can apply to a firm or start on their own only after passing the bar exam. We get a bunch of ratings, endure our time at the entry level jobs and then hope to move up. Life at the majors is nice, but earning $70,000 while you wait is still a better quality of life than many people in this country. If you want to fly for a major then there are things you will have to do to get there. If you’re not willing to do those things (such as get a 4 year degree) then you most likely won’t work for a major. Nothing wrong with that. I’m just saying that fewer people are willing to do that without a guarangeed job at a major down the line. This isn’t a get your ratings, work X number of years at an entry level company, and then move up gig. It may be in the future, but it never has up to this point.

Itsajob

I didn’t mean to offend or come off as self righteous. I also didn’t mean to derail this thread. For that I apologize but also still feel the same way regarding the current state of the industry and the difficulty attracting new pilots to the regionals. Let’s just agree to disagree on this one. Having said that, can someone please answer my initial question? Why would UAL seriously consider buying an airline with a fleet of jets that they don’t want or a pilot group that they can simply interview and hire at no cost? Not trying to stir the pot. This is an honest question. I have another question regarding flow at other carriers also. Do those guys move up to their legacy companies no questions asked, or is there a screening process? I can see where a more defined path would attract applicants, but can the legacy company shoot a guy down if he proves to be weak or a problem of some sort while at that regional?