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Old 02-26-2007, 07:49 PM
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Originally Posted by Chillyhead View Post
SkyHigh, you stated that you interviewed twice at Alaska. If they called you for the interviews you obviously met their requirements. To call you in for an interview and THEN tell you that you don't have "heavy jet time" seems ridiculous to me. What did they tell you the second time? I read post after post from you about how you don't have the connections, the relatives, live in the right neighborhood, the right social circle, etc. to explain why you weren't hired. The way I look at it, if an airline calls you for an interview they WANT to hire you. The job is basically yours to lose. I think you need to take a look in the mirror my man.
The second time they didn't say anything. Hiring was abruptly shut down and I think the class they were considering me for was canceled. I waited two weeks in limbo for them to make a decision. Heartbreaking at the time.

An airline doesn't always want to hire people they interview. Often they are simply trying to get an annoying captain off their back who wants them to interview his paperboy or perhaps the chief pilots office recommended someone for the interview but HR shot them down because they had their own prodigy in the wings.

In any case when hiring is slow it is about behind the scenes politics that most are unaware of. Maybe they already hired their quota but owed me an interview? Maybe to prevent from being accused of favoritism they had to interview a few people from Nevada?



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Old 02-26-2007, 08:04 PM
  #62  
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Well, you have to understand one thing about QX. They've got a culture of "we don't want to be the training facility for AS." George Bagley actually said that once. Unfortunately, they haven't figured out that the young guys who want to work for AS but get stiffed will go to other legacys/cargo operators all the same.

Why not hire them at AS? Beats me. You lose them from QX one way or another. If you bring them up, you know their work history, their sick leave usage and the quality of their training, both initial and recurrent.
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Old 02-27-2007, 04:51 AM
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Originally Posted by Velocipede View Post
Well, you have to understand one thing about QX. They've got a culture of "we don't want to be the training facility for AS." George Bagley actually said that once. Unfortunately, they haven't figured out that the young guys who want to work for AS but get stiffed will go to other legacys/cargo operators all the same.

Why not hire them at AS? Beats me. You lose them from QX one way or another. If you bring them up, you know their work history, their sick leave usage and the quality of their training, both initial and recurrent.
All I ever wanted was to work as an Alaska Airlines pilot. I didn't care if UAL guys made twice as much. Ever since I was a small boy all I could think about was working for them. It was my driving force, what made me get up at 4:00AM to open the gas station so I could earn another $30 to fly the 172 for another hour.

Once I met a senior Alaska Airlines captain with a group of other pilots. Everyone was asking him rapid fire questions about pay, the 737. I blurted out "how can I get hired by Alaska Airlines"? His quick answer was "hey, if you want to fly for Alaska Airlines then go to work for Horizon". At the time I was flying Learjets for a larger charter company and was discovering that in the entire history of that company no one had ever been hired from there to work for any major let alone Alaska Airlines.

If Alaska Airlines liked Horizon Air guys then that is what I would do. I had always avoided working for them since everyone knew that they were a boring slave ship. Where I was at I was the captain of a turbine plane and was due to upgrade in the Lear soon. It was fun but if Alaska Airlines liked Horizon guys then that is where I had better be. I a put myself to work and within a few months was hired by Horizon Air.

Imagine my surprise to discover on my third day in ground school that Alaska Airlines rarely hired people from Horizon and when they did they were usually a nepotistic hire of some kind. I had managed to find myself in the one place in the entire industry where was most assured to be never hired by Alaska Airlines from. To make matters worse I was told that if I quit before two years I would be blackballed by Alaska Airlines forever. I was indentured to a slave ship, sentenced to two years in hell for nothing.

Once I reached the two year point I was out of there. Perhaps I should have gone to SkyWest but National Airlines was hiring like mad and was promising a one year upgrade in the 757-200. It seemed logical to me and once again the chief pilot of Alaska Airlines himself at a job fair when asked what I should do said "the majors like big jet guys". Others had escaped the stench of Horizon Air and went to places like Evergreen and Vanguard and within six months got on with Alaska Airlines. My plan almost worked but then came 911 and everything went out the window.

I can understand why someone would make such statements in defense of the union however I am just a simple guy with a family to support and a dream. No one ever gave me the impression that it made any difference if I stuck with a certain union or not. I naively assumed it was all about the flying and who had the better experience. Experience has taught me that getting hired at Alaska Airlines or any other company for that matter isn't about your resume, moreover it is about being from the right group. I never really had a chance.

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Old 02-27-2007, 05:06 AM
  #64  
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There is more to life than working for one company...You should move on and forget about flying except on the weekends for fun w/ family and friends. Perhaps in time your business will do well and you can get a nice float plane and fly around BC / Canada.

-LAFF
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Old 02-27-2007, 06:34 AM
  #65  
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Default Short Answer

Originally Posted by LAfrequentflyer View Post
There is more to life than working for one company...You should move on and forget about flying except on the weekends for fun w/ family and friends. Perhaps in time your business will do well and you can get a nice float plane and fly around BC / Canada.

-LAFF
Sure, that makes for a great short answer. Just forget it. I wish I could. I spent almost every waking moment from JR. High till now with that overwhelming goal in mind. It is one of the largest constants in my life.

Of course it is a flawed strategy but dreams don't know about the rules. I wasted my youth in miserable Alaskan villages passing the days of my life alone in a hut while my friends danced the night away with hot chicks in Seattle because I had a relentless dream.

Sure it was foolish. Dreams tend to be that way. I find it difficult to get excited about aviation without it. I am sure that it will always be with me in some form.

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Old 02-27-2007, 06:36 AM
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Well, if the dream was so strong, why did you give it up? Keep trying, keep applying.
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Old 02-27-2007, 07:50 AM
  #67  
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SkyHigh I can understand you're frustration. I've watched guys with half my experience get hired at Alaska while I've never even gotten an interview and trust me I should be their poster child. Velocipede is right though if it's want you really want I wouldn't give up. I'd definitely have alternate planes, but you can still keep trying. Best of luck.
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Old 02-27-2007, 11:52 AM
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Did you work at QX twice? Or am I thinking of someone else?
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Old 02-27-2007, 12:21 PM
  #69  
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Default Try Again

I will never fully surrender my dream but with a wife and four young sons I can not afford to go back to a regional style job on new hire FO wages to make another run at Alaska Airlines. I've tried to pick up local kingair gigs but the pay and working conditions are miserable. One guy wanted to pay me 30K and I had to work in the potato shed when I wasn't flying.

Every few months I visit the Alaska web site and update what there is to tell. Every year I get older and farther out of currency. My only hold out hopes are that hiring heats up nationally to the point that Alaska starts to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Perhaps then it might seem stylish to hire a 40 year old retread.

I have only worked for Horizon Air once and left in 2000. Sometimes I consider giving it another go but then reality sets back in.

Thanks for the support!!


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Old 02-27-2007, 12:54 PM
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Originally Posted by SkyHigh View Post
Sure, that makes for a great short answer. Just forget it. I wish I could. I spent almost every waking moment from JR. High till now with that overwhelming goal in mind. It is one of the largest constants in my life.

Of course it is a flawed strategy but dreams don't know about the rules. I wasted my youth in miserable Alaskan villages passing the days of my life alone in a hut while my friends danced the night away with hot chicks in Seattle because I had a relentless dream.

Sure it was foolish. Dreams tend to be that way. I find it difficult to get excited about aviation without it. I am sure that it will always be with me in some form.

SkyHigh
I speak from experience...I've given up a dream as well for family. No short answer here.

-LAFF
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