SKMarz

Today, the company finally shared its numbers...950 active pilots, starting in September. This means that most folks who were furloughed last time are likely to be furloughed, again....along with the new people who gave up their jobs to come to UAL. This takes us back to 1999 seniority. This all could have been avoided if the company had agreed to build lower credit time lines. They have refused because it is not 'cost neutral', they would have to pay benefits for the 950 who they would rather see on the street. In light of the 130 million incentive bonus the board just voted for, this is hypocrisy and greed at its finest.

INAV8OR

Best of luck to the UAL guys. I am awaiting my fate as an NWA newbie, see you in the unemployment line.

Ralphie

Me too as a Delta newbie. Got 2 squadron mates that went back to work for United after their 9-11 furlough, went back for a year with 2-leg commutes on first year pay, and will be on the street again. Is there any other job out there that takes so long and so much pain to attain that is as volatile and pays as little as this one?

Superpilot92

Good thing they changed the age 60 rule....

DAL4EVER

I am wondering the same thing. At some point, the industry will figure out quickly that no one is coming into this industry in the numbers they historically did. The regionals aren't able to fill classes, the military guys are staying in for their full 20, corporate guys are staying put. If and when the industry tries to recover, they may find that the mismanagement, greed, incompetence of the leaders and the boards could prevent the recovery because the new generation of flyers may not be there to staff the planes.

I remember in '99 flying with FOs at Comair whose average time as a new-hire was 4000+ hours. Now, Pinnacle and other airlines can't fill classes with guys who have temporary certificates. As the regionals downsize and those pilots go away, one has to wonder what will be left to fill the vacancies in the future.

My heart goes out to the UAL guys right now.

Superpilot92

not to mention that alot of people will get out of this business as a whole this time around. Many people have been burned a number of times. there is only so many times you can bully a kid before he takes his ball and goes home. Good luck to us all in this stupid industry.

Justdoinmyjob

They'll just declare it a critical job requirement and go out and hire outside the country just like the computer industry did in the 80s. Or, they can use it as justification to allow cabotage and European carriers to buy US carriers.

weirdbiz

I've always hoped it would bite them to treat everyone this horribly, but the truth is it's just not going to. There will always be a ready supply of people who are willing to be pilots, and if there is a period of substantial hiring where they can't get enough people fast enough, they will figure out ways to make things work--hiring foreigners, multi-crew license, ab-initio training, age 70, or just drastically lowering standards, whatever it takes they will do. It's just not worth it to business-minded people to treat pilots well, and clearly they don't have to.

labbats

Why does everyone assume foreign ownership is so bad for pilots? Putting aside our reservations of foreign ownership in times of war, the benefits and pay of foreign carriers make our national ones look like the joke they are.

Sorry for the derail. My best goes out to all the UAL folks in this time of chaos.

weirdbiz

to me it seems like just months ago everyone was talking about a pilot shortage, and in retrospect it just wasn't true, they were still able to get a bunch of people every month without changing a THING. A true shortage would be if they were offering new incentives AND still couldn't bring in more than a trickle of people over a SUSTAINED amount of time. Now, already, there's a huge surplus of pilots again, which to me suggests there was the whole time.