A320 Pilot

Hey!stalker is finally here.I dont have time for dealing with childish behaviour on this forum and once again your avatar really tells me a lot about your personality.

Airhoss

Obsessive compulsive, pessimistic explainer's galore.....


Why is it so hard for many pilots to just say hey guys congratulations I hope your career goes well? Enjoy it and keep up the good work.
SEE ABOVE.

VA guys good job I am happy for you keep up the good work.

Now was that so hard to say?

DYNASTY HVY

Guess I took the high road because i was the first to say congrats and it was not that difficult at all


Is the glass half full or half empty ? let me drink the last half and i,ll let you know .
ok now its empty lol

Eric Stratton

Because it gets old watching the industry continue to go down hill and the wages/contracts at start-ups/LCC is a big part of that problem. If they weren't undercutting everyone else I would say all of that.

Airhoss

Eric,

They, being the pilots at VA are just guys who are trying to make a living from flying. Just like you and me.

There will always be outfits who pay better than others and there will always be pilots to fill all of the slots available. Always have been always will be.

And their isn't a darn thing you can or should try and do about it. You are free to work for whoever you think fits your standards. If they'll have you.


Every time a pilot from SWA has the odasity to point out something good about SWA we get the same juvenile response so it isn't about the money it's about the ego.

Relax.

Reggie Dunlop

Intriguing. I thought it was an issue of the inverse relationship of the cost/revenue curves since deregulation. With the a contributing factor being airline management failing to properly address a trend that has been heading the wrong way for over two decades.

Silly me. I guess it is the LCCs.

Fred Flintstone

Actually Eric and Reggie are both right to a degree.

Prior to de-regulation, the routes and fares were set, and a profit was made if a flight was over 50% full.

De-regulation spurred competition, and the airline management went for market share, paying for it by raising the break even load factor (lowering the seat price).

To further their quest, expenses were lowered (our salaries). New entrants were added to the mix as well.

The problem is we are doing this with limited publicly funded resources, namely runways, gates and ATC.

Something has got to give, and with the high fuel fees there will be a lot less travel, at least until the economy corrects for the fuel hit.

Could the union leaders back in the 30's fought for a national contract and national seniority? Maybe. Was de-regulation a failure? I think so, but Joe six pack sure loves it.

In a true competitive arena the pricing must reflect the limited resources (such as LGA arrival slots) but we have so many conflicting agendas no one is willing to take the first step.

To quote Pogo: "We have met the enemy and he is us."

But what do I know, I'm just a dumb LCC pilot... And it is my fault, I voted for Jimmy Carter. But I corrected myself 4 years later by voting for Ronnie Regan. That was correct, I think!?!

Eric Stratton

and that statement is why we are going in the direction we have been.

do you really beleive that the contracts at jetblue, airtran and VA don't put downward pressure on the rest of the industry?

if they'll have me, lol...they just might have

Eric Stratton

so does that also explain why management salaries have fallen as well? Oops silly me I guess they just haven't accepted working for less money like pilots...

Reggie Dunlop

Are you making what you made ten years ago??? If not, why have you not quit if your idealism does not allow you to work for less than your subjectively placed "bar"?

Management gets paid whether they do a good job or not. It is, was, and ever shall be. has nothing to do with acceptance. It is just the way the system works.

The pressure on pay rates is a not a function of the LCCs, rather a function of unsustainable cost structure, lack of pricing power resulting from overcapacity of a commoditized market, and the disparity of the size of the club carried by management and that carried by labor.

Blaming other pilots for the state of the industry may make you feel better and provide a soothing sense sense of self-rightiouness, it does not, however fervently you believe it, mean they are to blame.