If the yet-to-be-hired pilot is in a dire financial situation, then he got into the wrong business.

 

That plus pilots not bidding all of their vacation for the next year.

 

Is it even POSSIBLE that any airline pilot could make "too much money?" I can always use some more....

.....but while we have 109 pilots on furlough here at brown , our pilot group is exercising our contractual right not to pick up open time, nor accept JA (draft) trips on our days off, and limit trades to withing 5 hours of original credit. It's worked. Instead of putting the announced 300 on the street, the company stopped at 109. Hopefully this will get them back on the payroll faster too. We've had an extremely broad base of support from our group during this difficult time.

 

Here's a thought, if you were a manager would you want a pilot that would sell out his coworkers for a few bucks each month?

I personally would find such a pilot, one who doesn't give a damn about his fellow pilots, as one who won't give a damn about my operation, my passengers, my airplanes, my flight attendants, my rampers, my gate agents, my rules, et. al.

I think such an attitude is not indicative of the ideal employee but rather of someone who is so self centered as to be the complete opposite of ideal.

 

Your theory is so untrue forgot to bid. In any other company in the world, employee's who go above and beyond and work more hours are recognized for their efforts. You are just trying to spin it anyway you can to make it seem like a bad thing.

 

I don't know where "in the real world" you refer to unless you refer to sales. BTW, this isn't sales. Front line employees don't make sales- they foster relationships and they provide the service already purchased. If you can't trust an employee to care about their own you can't trust them to care about you, your stuff or your customers.

now in the real world, you put that extra effort in all you want- it doesn't lead to a salary increase. only an hourly "turn the screw on the assembly line" type job equate extra hours to increased pay. in the rest of the world extra hours is for job promotions if one becomes available and you haven't turned everyone off by your me first attitude. Most job promotions deal with people management btw and stepping on and screwing over your fellow employees won't get you anywhere with the people above you, below you or to either side of you.

so overall, a big not so to your premise that picking up extra time while pilots are on furlough is tantamount to putting in those 60-80 hour weeks at a normal job to show everyone you're a winner.

"Hey Boss, you can fire oh what's his name, you know, the new guy. I'll do his work for him." Try that in the real world. See how it goes.

 

So iahflyr, in the job interview when the recruiter asks "so you're at an overnight and it's eight and half hours to show and your Captain orders another beer, what do you do?"

Let me guess, you hope that this pilot obviously senior to you drinks within the 8 hours so he can be caught and you can move up a number?

Did they ask this question when you were interviewed at CAL? Assuming by your name you're a CAL pilot. please tell me you're not coex.

 

If the ratio of line and reserve flying to open time remains about the same as prior to furloughs, I don't see enough of a problem to condemn those that pick up open time....assuming that the pilots aren't violating their own CBA. If the ratio changes in favor of management, then yes, there's a problem. I wouldn't call the those picking up open time scabs or anything, but I might have a beer with them and discourage them from picking up any more open time.....again, only if the ratio of open/line/reserve flying changes drastically.

Either way, I wouldn't pick up open time. Heck, even if we were fat pilots, I wouldn't pick any up....I'd rather be home playing golf.

 

No, I stopped picking up time when we had guys on the street. It's just wrong.

 

In response to an earlier post a few pages back, yes, contracts do address open flying.

Contracts however are broken down into two sets of rules. Those you MUST follow...and those you CAN follow...meaning things like picking up open time when guys are on furlough. Assuming that the contract has a minimum guarantee, as most do...then dropping a trip or having one cancel means that instead of breaking guarantee that month, you may only make guarantee for the month.

Meanwhile the furloughed guy is getting a few hundred bucks of unemployment and can't pay for health insurance...or a mortgage...or utilities...or groceries for the family.

So CAN you do it? Legally yeah. SHOULD you do it? That's a question only answered by your internal moral compass. It has nothing to do with being union or non union. It has to do with facing yourself in the mirror each day and knowing that your actions that day will either improve the profession and maybe some furloughee's life...or improve your own wallet and personal ego.

IAHFLYER's attempt to make it seem that "going above and beyond" is a trait embraced by management is multi faceted. In a time when everyone is working and running on the clacker??? Yes, extra effort is a good thing and appreciated.

However, when people are on the street and other are doing it to line their pockets? Yes, they are happy, but for a different reason. They are not only saving money, they are building a list of those who will sell their souls for money. An advantage at the next contract negotiation when they can say, "We want more from you pilots. We already have proof that x% are prostitutes and will do it and we'll use them to break the pilot group."

And before Flyer get's on his high horse, I've been furloughed and I've been spared furlough. I know what it's like to have friends fly their butts off to pay for so they can buy a new car, or a bigger engine for the boat while I was scrambling to pay the bills. And when I was spared the furlough, I refused any extra time, even at companies where we didn't have guarantee.

Actually, I should apologise to prostitutes. Even they know the worth of their service. Maybe I should have said, "x% are like crack junkies..."