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Pilot response to Washington Post Article
Great response by a retired DAL pilot to a very anti-pilot article a lot of you may have seen last week.
Scoop Re: A Sacred Cow in the Cockpit '= By Steven Pearlstein -- Washington Post Friday, March 21, 2008; Page D01 Dear Mr. Pearlstein, In your March 21 article, "A Sacred Cow in the Cockpit", you highlighted the airlines' pilot seniority system, along with unions and "the selfishness and shortsightedness of airline pilots" as being the source of the airlines' ills. I too find fault in the seniority system for this reason: the seniority system is a trap, impeding a pilot's ability to market his skills to the highest bidding airline. In 1980, after earning my way through college as a commercial diver, competing three years as a varsity college athlete, and graduation with honors in aeronautics, my hard work, commitment, and sacrifice were rewarded with acceptance into a Navy pilot officer training program. If I worked hard and successfully completed Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, I would earn the opportunity to work hard, sacrifice, and commit to Navy flight training. Of my initial class of thirty-three officer candidates, only thirteen of us completed this initial program. The other two thirds, all selected college graduates, washed out before the hard work of flight training had even begun. The next year and a half were similar, in that my hard work, sacrifice, and commitment led ultimately to graduating Navy jet pilot training at the top of my class. Additionally, there was now risk. The risk of failure - many other very capable pilot trainees washed out, and the physical risk that could cost a young pilot his life. Earning my wings at the top of my class gained me the privilege of another full year of hard work, sacrifice, commitment, and risk. This time, as a Fleet Replacement Pilot, learning to fly and fight the F-14A "Tomcat". As before, the weeding out process continued, with the first two of several squadron mates lost in a fatal accident, and the ongoing performance standards to meet, with the final cut being based on successful night-time aircraft carrier landing qualification. The next five years of active duty service to my country were characterized again by, you guessed it, hard work, sacrifice, and commitment, and a substantial amount of risk which claimed the lives of several more squadron mates. Are you beginning to see a theme yet? In 1987, after serving seven years as a Navy carrier based fighter pilot, I competed against many other highly qualified applicants to attain a position on the bottom of Delta's pilot seniority list. At that time, Delta Air Lines was sought after by many aspiring professional pilots, due to its long tradition of strong management, financial stability, harmonious labor relations, and top of the industry compensation. The subsequent twenty years of my career as a Delta pilot are where the aforementioned strategies of hard work, sacrifice, commitment, and risk were no longer rewarded. We in the profession became the target of airline managers constantly seeking to diminish our hard earned standard of living, while greatly boosting their own wealth. A compliant business press aided these executives in their effort to deflect attention from their own inability to successfully manage our airline, by dutifully scapegoated pilots. This is where you come in. Those of us in the piloting profession long enough to have been through several business cycles have seen the same business press misrepresentations recycled several times now. These biased journalistic efforts typically contain phrases such as yours: "the selfishness and shortsightedness of airline pilots", even though the seniority system ensures pilots interests are in the long term health of his or her company. These same pilots have seen a parade of turnstile executives cycle through, taking their plunder with them in the form of early vestment in special executive retirement plans, severance packages, and other forms of featherbedding. Another business press straw man is the spoiled pilot, who works only a few days per month. The dishonest omission, as you probably know, is the length of a pilot's work day, and his total hours of paid time which is always less than actual in uniform on-duty time. An airline pilot's on-duty time frequently exceeds twelve hours, and more recently, goes well over sixteen hours, due to the advent longer range international flying. A pilot is not paid for preflight preparation time, or time spent in between flights while connecting to the next leg of flying during his duty day. This doesn't even take into account the amount of time a pilot spends away from home, as his working days off-duty time is spent living in a hotel room. In your article, you assert that one would think that "given the precarious financial nature of the industry, pilots would be willing to show some flexibility to assure the long-term success of their companies." You failed to point out that Delta pilots lost their defined benefit pension plan, and nearly half of their pay, during Delta's recent trip through bankruptcy. Would you or your readers care to show such flexibility? I believe that your misrepresentations cause harm to the airline industry by deflecting attention from other, very serious structural and management issues, which aids in their perpetuation. These issues include skyrocketing jet fuel prices, skyrocketing medical insurance benefit costs, a lack of pricing power in order to cover these skyrocketing costs , and a disconnect between executive compensation and a company's long term financial performance. In fact, it is ironic that you mention "a disconnect between performance and reward" in reference to the pilot seniority system, without noting what is in the recent memory of nearly every Delta pilot. That is the gang of short-term executives, led by Leo Mullin, who briefly passed through Delta, and then left for greener pastures with their lavish unearned retirements safely in hand, as Delta approached the bankruptcy that cost these pilots their pensions and standard of living. The bias you employ in playing to your target audience is a disservice to professional pilots, who now find that, contrary to the long held promise of America, their hard work, sacrifice, commitment, and risk are no longer rewarded. They deserve better. And you, and the traveling public, should hope that enough reward remains in the airline pilot profession to draw the quality of people needed to ensure that your every flight continues to operate at the high level of safety which you currently take for granted. For my part, I have conceded that, in a time in which leaders at the very top of our political and corporate culture are not held accountable for their failures, near term change is not likely. At the age of fifty, without enough remaining working years as an airline pilot to rebuild a retirement, I quit Delta, in order start over by running my own business. Finally, after twenty years, my hard work, sacrifice, commitment, and risk are again being rewarded. |
Author?
Did he sign his name? I want to buy that guy a beer!
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The guy does have a point.......
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Very well written. Way to stand up for us. Thankyou!!!
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Good article. I wish there were more like this to educate the american public on how the life a pilot it. Sadly, they all think we are rich!
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Wow, well written. It's sad this guy left the cockpit.
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D A M M I T.......i am voting for that guy for President!!!!
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was the response printed in the same paper?
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First, to the author, great job. Next, I think not only the general public needs to see it but also every young kid aspiring to be an airline pilot and make sure they understand the content before RJ ground school.
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Here is the original article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...003525_pf.html
Here is the author of the original article: Steven Pearlstein can be reached at[email protected] |
"Or, for that matter, why should tenure be the primary determinant of which pilots get ahead rather than, say, measurable differences in flying skills, ability to deal with customers and colleagues, and demonstrations of commitment to the company? That's the way it is done at most companies in most industries."
Because it's so easy to measure who pushes the autopilot button better, or who can make the shortest flight to XYZ. Honestly, I don't think this guy has a clue how flying is now. He seems to think we're Red Bull air racers. "While we're at it, what's wrong with mixing things up a bit so that every pilot gets to fly at least some of the more desirable routes or some of the more desirable planes for which he or she is qualified, regardless of seniority? Surely there's a way to design schedules so more junior pilots don't have to work on every holiday while senior pilots work on none." LOL, I have nothing to say. I can only laugh at the implausible idea (read: sheer stupidity) of being proficient at flying every plane American or Delta or United operates, let alone the systems. Southwest pilots would be fine I guess. That was an excellent response and I'll be showing that to some people who have trouble understanding our industry. |
Like the author of that fine letter, I emailed Mr. Pearlstein also. I tried to make him understand the difference between senority and longivity. I`m not sure if my respose was to the same article as the above author. He seemed to think that the mean ol Delta pilots should roll over and accept date of hire on a combined list with NorthWest. This posting is in no way trying to start a flame fest with NW. I wish them well in their careers.
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I also emailed the author of the article a day or two after the article was published. The letter above is very well written, it makes my letter look like a joke.
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that was a great read, the retired DAL guy did a fantastic job with his response. The original article was Just another fine example of media BS. Some jacknut gets paid to write about something they have NO clue about. Media = Worthless
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Originally Posted by Scoop
(Post 349042)
Great response by a retired DAL pilot to a very anti-pilot article a lot of you may have seen last week.
Scoop Re: A Sacred Cow in the Cockpit '= By Steven Pearlstein -- Washington Post Friday, March 21, 2008; Page D01 Dear Mr. Pearlstein, In your March 21 article, "A Sacred Cow in the Cockpit", you highlighted the airlines' pilot seniority system, along with unions and "the selfishness and shortsightedness of airline pilots" as being the source of the airlines' ills. I too find fault in the seniority system for this reason: the seniority system is a trap, impeding a pilot's ability to market his skills to the highest bidding airline. In 1980, after earning my way through college as a commercial diver, competing three years as a varsity college athlete, and graduation with honors in aeronautics, my hard work, commitment, and sacrifice were rewarded with acceptance into a Navy pilot officer training program. If I worked hard and successfully completed Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, I would earn the opportunity to work hard, sacrifice, and commit to Navy flight training. Of my initial class of thirty-three officer candidates, only thirteen of us completed this initial program. The other two thirds, all selected college graduates, washed out before the hard work of flight training had even begun. The next year and a half were similar, in that my hard work, sacrifice, and commitment led ultimately to graduating Navy jet pilot training at the top of my class. Additionally, there was now risk. The risk of failure - many other very capable pilot trainees washed out, and the physical risk that could cost a young pilot his life. Earning my wings at the top of my class gained me the privilege of another full year of hard work, sacrifice, commitment, and risk. This time, as a Fleet Replacement Pilot, learning to fly and fight the F-14A "Tomcat". As before, the weeding out process continued, with the first two of several squadron mates lost in a fatal accident, and the ongoing performance standards to meet, with the final cut being based on successful night-time aircraft carrier landing qualification. The next five years of active duty service to my country were characterized again by, you guessed it, hard work, sacrifice, and commitment, and a substantial amount of risk which claimed the lives of several more squadron mates. Are you beginning to see a theme yet? In 1987, after serving seven years as a Navy carrier based fighter pilot, I competed against many other highly qualified applicants to attain a position on the bottom of Delta's pilot seniority list. At that time, Delta Air Lines was sought after by many aspiring professional pilots, due to its long tradition of strong management, financial stability, harmonious labor relations, and top of the industry compensation. The subsequent twenty years of my career as a Delta pilot are where the aforementioned strategies of hard work, sacrifice, commitment, and risk were no longer rewarded. We in the profession became the target of airline managers constantly seeking to diminish our hard earned standard of living, while greatly boosting their own wealth. A compliant business press aided these executives in their effort to deflect attention from their own inability to successfully manage our airline, by dutifully scapegoated pilots. This is where you come in. Those of us in the piloting profession long enough to have been through several business cycles have seen the same business press misrepresentations recycled several times now. These biased journalistic efforts typically contain phrases such as yours: "the selfishness and shortsightedness of airline pilots", even though the seniority system ensures pilots interests are in the long term health of his or her company. These same pilots have seen a parade of turnstile executives cycle through, taking their plunder with them in the form of early vestment in special executive retirement plans, severance packages, and other forms of featherbedding. Another business press straw man is the spoiled pilot, who works only a few days per month. The dishonest omission, as you probably know, is the length of a pilot's work day, and his total hours of paid time which is always less than actual in uniform on-duty time. An airline pilot's on-duty time frequently exceeds twelve hours, and more recently, goes well over sixteen hours, due to the advent longer range international flying. A pilot is not paid for preflight preparation time, or time spent in between flights while connecting to the next leg of flying during his duty day. This doesn't even take into account the amount of time a pilot spends away from home, as his working days off-duty time is spent living in a hotel room. In your article, you assert that one would think that "given the precarious financial nature of the industry, pilots would be willing to show some flexibility to assure the long-term success of their companies." You failed to point out that Delta pilots lost their defined benefit pension plan, and nearly half of their pay, during Delta's recent trip through bankruptcy. Would you or your readers care to show such flexibility? I believe that your misrepresentations cause harm to the airline industry by deflecting attention from other, very serious structural and management issues, which aids in their perpetuation. These issues include skyrocketing jet fuel prices, skyrocketing medical insurance benefit costs, a lack of pricing power in order to cover these skyrocketing costs , and a disconnect between executive compensation and a company's long term financial performance. In fact, it is ironic that you mention "a disconnect between performance and reward" in reference to the pilot seniority system, without noting what is in the recent memory of nearly every Delta pilot. That is the gang of short-term executives, led by Leo Mullin, who briefly passed through Delta, and then left for greener pastures with their lavish unearned retirements safely in hand, as Delta approached the bankruptcy that cost these pilots their pensions and standard of living. The bias you employ in playing to your target audience is a disservice to professional pilots, who now find that, contrary to the long held promise of America, their hard work, sacrifice, commitment, and risk are no longer rewarded. They deserve better. And you, and the traveling public, should hope that enough reward remains in the airline pilot profession to draw the quality of people needed to ensure that your every flight continues to operate at the high level of safety which you currently take for granted. For my part, I have conceded that, in a time in which leaders at the very top of our political and corporate culture are not held accountable for their failures, near term change is not likely. At the age of fifty, without enough remaining working years as an airline pilot to rebuild a retirement, I quit Delta, in order start over by running my own business. Finally, after twenty years, my hard work, sacrifice, commitment, and risk are again being rewarded. |
bet the journalist sees nothing wrong with paying the likes of Britny Spears or some indispensable sports personality the mega millions they receive for their services.
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As much as we don't like to hear it, the author of the article is right. We are slaves to the seniority system. The seniority system needs to be eliminated. Schedules and pay should be based on job performance. I should be able to go market myself to other employers for better pay. It should be just like any other job in corporate America. Seniority keeps us trapped at one company even though we might not want to be there.
Get rid of seniority. Let the applicant negotiate his salary at time of hire. Base his promotion and pay off of performance evaluations. |
Originally Posted by texaspilot76
(Post 349330)
As much as we don't like to hear it, the author of the article is right. We are slaves to the seniority system. The seniority system needs to be eliminated. Schedules and pay should be based on job performance. I should be able to go market myself to other employers for better pay. It should be just like any other job in corporate America. Seniority keeps us trapped at one company even though we might not want to be there.
Get rid of seniority. Let the applicant negotiate his salary at time of hire. Base his promotion and pay off of performance evaluations. |
Originally Posted by texaspilot76
(Post 349330)
As much as we don't like to hear it, the author of the article is right. We are slaves to the seniority system. The seniority system needs to be eliminated. Schedules and pay should be based on job performance. I should be able to go market myself to other employers for better pay. It should be just like any other job in corporate America. Seniority keeps us trapped at one company even though we might not want to be there.
Get rid of seniority. Let the applicant negotiate his salary at time of hire. Base his promotion and pay off of performance evaluations. |
It's been tried
Originally Posted by texaspilot76
(Post 349330)
Get rid of seniority. Let the applicant negotiate his salary at time of hire. Base his promotion and pay off of performance evaluations.
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A great letter... unfortunately it will mean absolutely nothing to the writer of the Post. His motivation for writing the piece had nothing to do with taking a side for or against pilots but for creating a piece of opiniated "news" to sell more papers... and possibly to return a favor to a certain airline manager/shareholder. Holding people in the media accountable for what they write or say is like kissing your sister, it won't get you anywhere because they will continue to say what is required to keep thier jobs. That means all media stories will ignore the truth to tell an "interesting story", simply an ugly side of capitalism.
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Originally Posted by texaspilot76
(Post 349330)
Get rid of seniority. Let the applicant negotiate his salary at time of hire. Base his promotion and pay off of performance evaluations. This isnt like any other career field. You have thousands of employees at each company that do the exact same job you cant differentiate performance on an individual basis in the airline business. |
Originally Posted by Superpilot92
(Post 349349)
Please explain how you suggest one would should get pay raises on your performance in this industry. If i shoot an ILS better than you do but you still shoot a decent ILS approach and get the pax to their destination safely should i get paid more than you? If i call in sick and you dont because you feel you should fly sick so you get a better performance evaluation, should you get paid more?
This isnt like any other career field. You have thousands of employees at each company that do the exact same job you cant differentiate performance on an individual basis in the airline business. Believe it or not, alot of people don't do this. |
Originally Posted by texaspilot76
(Post 349352)
Job performance = On time performance (getting the customer there on time, not flying slow to make more money), customer service and customer satisfaction (helping the little old lady with her bag), contribution to the company (helping save fuel, etc), reliability (showing up on time), and going above and beyond.
Believe it or not, alot of people don't do this. Believe it or not, a lot of people did do these things when they felt valued! |
Originally Posted by texaspilot76
(Post 349330)
As much as we don't like to hear it, the author of the article is right. We are slaves to the seniority system. The seniority system needs to be eliminated. Schedules and pay should be based on job performance. I should be able to go market myself to other employers for better pay. It should be just like any other job in corporate America. Seniority keeps us trapped at one company even though we might not want to be there.
Get rid of seniority. Let the applicant negotiate his salary at time of hire. Base his promotion and pay off of performance evaluations. Another justification as to why we get drug tested. |
Originally Posted by texaspilot76
(Post 349352)
Job performance = On time performance (getting the customer there on time, not flying slow to make more money), customer service and customer satisfaction (helping the little old lady with her bag), contribution to the company (helping save fuel, etc), reliability (showing up on time), and going above and beyond.
Believe it or not, alot of people don't do this.
Originally Posted by Al Aska
(Post 349356)
Believe it or not, a lot of people did do these things when they felt valued!
EXACTLY!! |
Originally Posted by texaspilot76
(Post 349352)
Job performance = On time performance (getting the customer there on time, not flying slow to make more money), customer service and customer satisfaction (helping the little old lady with her bag), contribution to the company (helping save fuel, etc), reliability (showing up on time), and going above and beyond.
Believe it or not, alot of people don't do this. |
"Uhhh...Excuse me? Uhhh...Why didn't they build the electrical system with a...?"
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Originally Posted by texaspilot76
(Post 349330)
As much as we don't like to hear it, the author of the article is right. We are slaves to the seniority system. The seniority system needs to be eliminated. Schedules and pay should be based on job performance. I should be able to go market myself to other employers for better pay. It should be just like any other job in corporate America. Seniority keeps us trapped at one company even though we might not want to be there.
Get rid of seniority. Let the applicant negotiate his salary at time of hire. Base his promotion and pay off of performance evaluations. In this industry you only see you boss when you're in trouble. So how can you boss evaluate you when he never sees you. I show up for my specific show time, punch my ID number into the computer, find my crew the move on my way. I never see my boss and dont want to. If we didnt have seniority system one would have to brown nose his/her to the top or screw his/her way to the top. There is no way for your boss to evaluate how you compare to the other pilots in you company. If you want to base that your greatness on on-time performance, well sometimes on-time performance is out of our control. Should i loose demerits because i pushed back from the gate late due to bags, flow, late airplane, passengers connections and arrive at my destination late. These things we cant control so how can we be evaluate on things to get points from for a promotion and such.. You also mention customer service. Should we walk around with eval card in our pockets to give to a customer everytime we help them find the C gate or baggage claim. (God's gift to this company help me from getting lost in this terminal, give him a raise.) This is your job, why should you get praised for helping an old lady in the jetway. Thats what you were hired for and you should want to do that without extra incentives.. |
Originally Posted by texaspilot76
(Post 349352)
Job performance = On time performance (getting the customer there on time, not flying slow to make more money), customer service and customer satisfaction (helping the little old lady with her bag), contribution to the company (helping save fuel, etc), reliability (showing up on time), and going above and beyond.
Believe it or not, alot of people don't do this. |
I have no idea how to get a message to this Washington Post guy, but can anyone forward this to him?
As a military guy going from active duty pay to first year airline pay, it is tough. We are having to cut corners everywhere we possibly can to maintain. My flight kit is always half full of Top Ramen; nonetheless, I know tradition. The crew ALWAYS tips the drivers that take us safely from the airport to the hotel and back. I never *****ed or asked questions about this tradition. Can we start a tradition where each passenger on our planes tip us one dollar each for getting THEM safely to their destination? I am a new hire that, after 13 years of loyal service to our country, have to go through an initiation period where I perform and conform; so I cannot go out on that limb. For the purposes of the Washington Post writer(s), I deliberately and voluntarily chose this career. I can't come to you with a "poor little me" complaint. My choice, so I cannot complain. You, however, chose to belittle a group of dedicated professionals. You need to realize that this industry is scrutinized, monitored, regulated and every bit controlled by the government that we elect. If YOU make a mistake, an editor prints a 1/4 inch retraction in tomorrow's paper. If we make a mistake, billions of dollars and, perhaps, lives are lost. How much money do you make, Mr. Writer? Have you ever sat on a plane that took off from a place that you wanted to leave and arrived at a place that you wanted to be? Did you feel the urge to reward the persons responsible for getting you there safely? Well, after a five-leg day on the MadDog, I am more than excited to hand over a couple of crumpled up dollars to the cellphone-addicted van driver for getting me to the hotel safely. How about you? I will make you a promise, Mr. Washington Post: as a new airline guy, I will NEVER be a culprit of "selfishness and shortsightedness" if you pick up the torch and create a new tradition called "tip your pilots." Hell I think that labor unions worldwide would nominate you for somesort of a prize. Maybe that is the fly for performance initiative? My idea comes to you free of charge, so take it and enjoy. Until then, know this, there are men out there that have to go out and do men's work: so go take a look in the mirror, and realize that YOU can take a little time off. |
Originally Posted by texaspilot76
(Post 349330)
Get rid of seniority. Let the applicant negotiate his salary at time of hire. Base his promotion and pay off of performance evaluations.
This has to be crank yankers... right? |
Articles like this piece of crap are why I don't subscribe to newspapers anymore..........:mad:
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Originally Posted by Scoop
(Post 349042)
Great response by a retired DAL pilot to a very anti-pilot article a lot of you may have seen last week.
Scoop Re: A Sacred Cow in the Cockpit '= By Steven Pearlstein -- Washington Post Friday, March 21, 2008; Page D01 Dear Mr. Pearlstein, In your March 21 article, "A Sacred Cow in the Cockpit", you highlighted the airlines' pilot seniority system, along with unions and "the selfishness and shortsightedness of airline pilots" as being the source of the airlines' ills. I too find fault in the seniority system for this reason: the seniority system is a trap, impeding a pilot's ability to market his skills to the highest bidding airline. In 1980, after earning my way through college as a commercial diver, competing three years as a varsity college athlete, and graduation with honors in aeronautics, my hard work, commitment, and sacrifice were rewarded with acceptance into a Navy pilot officer training program. If I worked hard and successfully completed Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, I would earn the opportunity to work hard, sacrifice, and commit to Navy flight training. Of my initial class of thirty-three officer candidates, only thirteen of us completed this initial program. The other two thirds, all selected college graduates, washed out before the hard work of flight training had even begun. The next year and a half were similar, in that my hard work, sacrifice, and commitment led ultimately to graduating Navy jet pilot training at the top of my class. Additionally, there was now risk. The risk of failure - many other very capable pilot trainees washed out, and the physical risk that could cost a young pilot his life. Earning my wings at the top of my class gained me the privilege of another full year of hard work, sacrifice, commitment, and risk. This time, as a Fleet Replacement Pilot, learning to fly and fight the F-14A "Tomcat". As before, the weeding out process continued, with the first two of several squadron mates lost in a fatal accident, and the ongoing performance standards to meet, with the final cut being based on successful night-time aircraft carrier landing qualification. The next five years of active duty service to my country were characterized again by, you guessed it, hard work, sacrifice, and commitment, and a substantial amount of risk which claimed the lives of several more squadron mates. Are you beginning to see a theme yet? In 1987, after serving seven years as a Navy carrier based fighter pilot, I competed against many other highly qualified applicants to attain a position on the bottom of Delta's pilot seniority list. At that time, Delta Air Lines was sought after by many aspiring professional pilots, due to its long tradition of strong management, financial stability, harmonious labor relations, and top of the industry compensation. The subsequent twenty years of my career as a Delta pilot are where the aforementioned strategies of hard work, sacrifice, commitment, and risk were no longer rewarded. We in the profession became the target of airline managers constantly seeking to diminish our hard earned standard of living, while greatly boosting their own wealth. A compliant business press aided these executives in their effort to deflect attention from their own inability to successfully manage our airline, by dutifully scapegoated pilots. This is where you come in. Those of us in the piloting profession long enough to have been through several business cycles have seen the same business press misrepresentations recycled several times now. These biased journalistic efforts typically contain phrases such as yours: "the selfishness and shortsightedness of airline pilots", even though the seniority system ensures pilots interests are in the long term health of his or her company. These same pilots have seen a parade of turnstile executives cycle through, taking their plunder with them in the form of early vestment in special executive retirement plans, severance packages, and other forms of featherbedding. Another business press straw man is the spoiled pilot, who works only a few days per month. The dishonest omission, as you probably know, is the length of a pilot's work day, and his total hours of paid time which is always less than actual in uniform on-duty time. An airline pilot's on-duty time frequently exceeds twelve hours, and more recently, goes well over sixteen hours, due to the advent longer range international flying. A pilot is not paid for preflight preparation time, or time spent in between flights while connecting to the next leg of flying during his duty day. This doesn't even take into account the amount of time a pilot spends away from home, as his working days off-duty time is spent living in a hotel room. In your article, you assert that one would think that "given the precarious financial nature of the industry, pilots would be willing to show some flexibility to assure the long-term success of their companies." You failed to point out that Delta pilots lost their defined benefit pension plan, and nearly half of their pay, during Delta's recent trip through bankruptcy. Would you or your readers care to show such flexibility? I believe that your misrepresentations cause harm to the airline industry by deflecting attention from other, very serious structural and management issues, which aids in their perpetuation. These issues include skyrocketing jet fuel prices, skyrocketing medical insurance benefit costs, a lack of pricing power in order to cover these skyrocketing costs , and a disconnect between executive compensation and a company's long term financial performance. In fact, it is ironic that you mention "a disconnect between performance and reward" in reference to the pilot seniority system, without noting what is in the recent memory of nearly every Delta pilot. That is the gang of short-term executives, led by Leo Mullin, who briefly passed through Delta, and then left for greener pastures with their lavish unearned retirements safely in hand, as Delta approached the bankruptcy that cost these pilots their pensions and standard of living. The bias you employ in playing to your target audience is a disservice to professional pilots, who now find that, contrary to the long held promise of America, their hard work, sacrifice, commitment, and risk are no longer rewarded. They deserve better. And you, and the traveling public, should hope that enough reward remains in the airline pilot profession to draw the quality of people needed to ensure that your every flight continues to operate at the high level of safety which you currently take for granted. For my part, I have conceded that, in a time in which leaders at the very top of our political and corporate culture are not held accountable for their failures, near term change is not likely. At the age of fifty, without enough remaining working years as an airline pilot to rebuild a retirement, I quit Delta, in order start over by running my own business. Finally, after twenty years, my hard work, sacrifice, commitment, and risk are again being rewarded. It's a shame that a good pilot like this guy has to quit the job he loves and start all over again so he can build a good retirement nest egg. As a military veteran myself and slugging away as an airline pilot, if I see him at airports I fly out of I would be proud to give him a salute. |
Nice thoughts, and well written…
In all my cheering, I almost missed the fact that he failed to address the authors primary point that the airline seniority system is causing financial problems. All the talk about being dedicated, well trained, ex military, risk-reward, long hours, staying in hotels, and evil turnstile management, while true and very inspiring to the brethren, has nothing to do with the question of the unions/seniority system the author was pointing out. There are so many good arguments for strong pilot unions. Unfortunately, he made none of them in his response. |
Originally Posted by Lighteningspeed
(Post 349418)
I agree with everything he said, though, he did not mention the mega million dollar bonuses airline CEOs received after the bankruptcies, ie, AA, NWA UAL CEOs.
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Originally Posted by texaspilot76
(Post 349330)
As much as we don't like to hear it, the author of the article is right. We are slaves to the seniority system. The seniority system needs to be eliminated. Schedules and pay should be based on job performance. I should be able to go market myself to other employers for better pay. It should be just like any other job in corporate America. Seniority keeps us trapped at one company even though we might not want to be there.
Get rid of seniority. Let the applicant negotiate his salary at time of hire. Base his promotion and pay off of performance evaluations. In most professional jobs the guy in charge of (and responsible for) the operation can direct, discipline, hire, and fire the workers. Captains can't discipline or fire their support staff...in general they can only ask for something and hope it gets done. The only REMOTELY feasible system which would allow experience (and compensation) portability between airlines would have to be based on what some blue-collar workers do...you would need a national union, with membership a prequisite for employment. There would be set payscales for equipment type, and a pilot's seniority would be based on a formula taking into account union longevity and total flight experience. All vacancies at any airline would be available to all union pilots, based on their union seniority. You would need a seatlock to protect each airline's training investment. But good luck getting all the pilots on board with this...longshoremen do it, but we're not that smart. |
TP76..... perhaps you would be better suited for the true corporate world.... rather than a seniority based airline system. Merit based systems while doable in a controlled environment like the military ( and even then favoritism plays a factor ) would be wildly out of control in the airline world. I am NOT a fan of seniority based systems.. BUT they have been used effectively for many years in the airline industry. With either system you end up with people who dont deserve based on average performance levels the job which they have... fair? NO... but life isnt fair.
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Seniority system would be more equitable for all if the top few senior pilots stopped looking out for their own interest at the expense of junior pilots. Most of the concessions given by pilots at major airlines sacrificed junior pilots interest the most. Case in point, look at the first year pay for UAL, NWA pilots, pitiful compared to what they used to be before the concession.
The pay raise should not be % based, it should be a fixed dollar amount. ie, a % raise benefits the top few the most who already makes the top dollar. 20% of $200 is a $40 raise whereas for those making $60/hr, it's only a $12 raise. Instead, pay raise should be a fixed dollar amount, ie., $20/hr raise, $30/hr raise etc. for everyone at the airline. Or better yet a graduated scale of pay raise ie., those at the bottom gets the most amount of raise and the top gets less. |
Originally Posted by SOFA
(Post 349380)
I have no idea how to get a message to this Washington Post guy, but can anyone forward this to him?
As a military guy going from active duty pay to first year airline pay, it is tough. We are having to cut corners everywhere we possibly can to maintain. My flight kit is always half full of Top Ramen; nonetheless, I know tradition. The crew ALWAYS tips the drivers that take us safely from the airport to the hotel and back. I never *****ed or asked questions about this tradition. Can we start a tradition where each passenger on our planes tip us one dollar each for getting THEM safely to their destination? I am a new hire that, after 13 years of loyal service to our country, have to go through an initiation period where I perform and conform; so I cannot go out on that limb. For the purposes of the Washington Post writer(s), I deliberately and voluntarily chose this career. I can't come to you with a "poor little me" complaint. My choice, so I cannot complain. You, however, chose to belittle a group of dedicated professionals. You need to realize that this industry is scrutinized, monitored, regulated and every bit controlled by the government that we elect. If YOU make a mistake, an editor prints a 1/4 inch retraction in tomorrow's paper. If we make a mistake, billions of dollars and, perhaps, lives are lost. How much money do you make, Mr. Writer? Have you ever sat on a plane that took off from a place that you wanted to leave and arrived at a place that you wanted to be? Did you feel the urge to reward the persons responsible for getting you there safely? Well, after a five-leg day on the MadDog, I am more than excited to hand over a couple of crumpled up dollars to the cellphone-addicted van driver for getting me to the hotel safely. How about you? I will make you a promise, Mr. Washington Post: as a new airline guy, I will NEVER be a culprit of "selfishness and shortsightedness" if you pick up the torch and create a new tradition called "tip your pilots." Hell I think that labor unions worldwide would nominate you for somesort of a prize. Maybe that is the fly for performance initiative? My idea comes to you free of charge, so take it and enjoy. Until then, know this, there are men out there that have to go out and do men's work: so go take a look in the mirror, and realize that YOU can take a little time off. |
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