Fighting the PR battle
 

This is a quote from another thread:


If we can't educate the public about our industry, WE NEED TO LEARN! Most of the people I talk to think we make about twice as much as we do. When I explain how little we earn, they can't believe it. When I tell them we only get paid from engine start to shut down (and how little of our day that makes up) they are speechless.

We pilots MUST learn how to inform the public about the realities of being a pilot. If we don't, the image (tacitly endorsed by our employers) of a bunch of overpaid, over-sexed, and over-whiny cry babies will continue to haunt us!

Install a meter in the front of the cabin like the one's in taxi cabs. Turn the engines on, meter starts running. Engines shut down, meter stops, make a PA telling everyone that's how much you earned for flying that leg of their trip.

Obviously, this isn't very plausible, but I think if we were to find some creative, relatively simple way to convey the message it would work a lot better than some press release.

Here's another idea, maybe print out a bunch of "boarding passes" that talk about all of what pilots do to make the flight happen and how much of that person's ticket is going to pay the pilots who make it safely happen. I'm sure you could get some of the Customer Service Reps at the gate to slip them in with the person's normal boarding passes.

I'm an outsider to airline operations, so I don't really know what typical company policy is on distributing this information. Obviously, it couldn't interfere with your work, but if we could find a quick, simple way to get information to people at a time when they have nothing better to do, like sitting on a plane when the only other options are most likely SkyMall and the airline's inflight magazine, it might be pretty effective.

I'm just trying to brainstorm a bit, so take it as it is.

Welcome aboard! Your flight crew is currently making between .60 cents and 2 dollars an hour per passengers ticket so sit back, relax and enjoy your heavily indebted underpaid highly trained flight to xxxx.

People don't care. They only want the lowest fare they can find. Thats all that concerns them.

I completely agree. Unfortunately that is an attitude that will most likely remain for some time to come.

It will be difficult to reverse that attitude. However, I feel a worthy goal is to make the general public aware of what their pilots are earning and sacrificing to safely move them from city A to city B. If you can get the public to understand the life of an airline pilot, then they will be more willing to accept picketing pilots as hard workers fighting for what's rightfully theirs rather than a bunch of spoiled playboys who aren't content with having just one red convertible.

The media is a very powerful tool and we all hate it when they falsely report on aviation related issues. But it's not something that can't be changed. I'm sure some pilot somewhere has some contact at some sort of media organization whether it be print, television, radio, or even internet. Maybe offering your services to any of these media outlets as an "aviation consultant" could be beneficial for both parties.

Once again, just throwing out some ideas.

The public doenst want to hear about the financial diffuculties of a bunch of airline pilots. They dont care if you get paid in squirrels. Airliners arent crashing so you are getting paid enough. I means seriously, do you spend time dwelling on how much they get paid in their various professions?? Take a personal interest in thier working conditions??

Good jobs in this country are being sent over seas by the thousands we are lucky the same isnt being done for pilots.

Hey there is an idea. JO could set up a MPL training center for poor foreigners. They could reside in thier home country and just be flown over for work. They would get on W's new gest worker permit. They would be paid 5 bucks an hour. I think ill send JO and email....

By all means we should fight the PR battle at every opportunity. The gayest thing I've ever seen was this regional FO at a cocktail party leading people on that he was a millionaire sky god...he hit every every bad stereotype :mad:

But public opinion only plays a very small role...the only impact it might have is to slightly flavor the opinions of the politicians they elect. We only get paid the greater of the market rate (pilot shortage) or what we can negotiate as organized labor. The negotiation process is impacted by federal politics.

Unfortunately, the market rate is deflated by inexperienced kids who think they're going to be making $300K in five years.

I think we are skinning this cat the wrong way. I agree with the previous poster in saying that "do you really care what other people are getting paid?" The only way we are going to increase pay and working conditions is decreased pilot workforce + increased airline revenue and demand. Collective bargining and not "public opinion". Im an pilot and I am fully aware and directly affected by this under cutting market; and I still just bought a $96 ticket from FLL to LAX!!! Money talks! Public opinion is just that, opinion.

i'm always a favorite of "welcome aboard, this flight is being operated by the lowest bidder"

hmmm...what made you choose to pay so much for a ticket from one side of the country to the other :rolleyes:....Seriously though 96 dollar tickets are another major step in the pay issues.

$96 dollar tickets are part of the reason why this industry is in so much financial trouble. The argument willl be made that the next guy will take the pax if you don't offer fares that low. However, if your cost is inflated by fuel you hurt yourself more to spend the money to operate the flight at a loss than if you didn't operate it at all.

the problem is that owning an airline is like this feather in your cap type of industry. The second the airlines get reasonable and are saying to each other, well i guess we can leave our masochistic style of business and make a dime here or there some wunderkid or cutthroat operation opens up shop and bang! Back to square one. I mean look at Go! operation in Hawaii. I saw that first hand. There in the islands was a small scale closed market that was operating in relative finacial harmony. Then Mesa rolls up with the intention of steamrolling 3 airlines by sell AT A FREAKING LOSS for up to three years?! Seriously what kinda of industry does this crap?!

That oughta be SOP...

The problem is, if we do go out and try to educate, what do you think we'll come off as? Arrogant, whiney, overpaid babies! If we were to educate, it would have to be very low-key and classy. Case in point: ALPA Picketing...I think it is a great idea! But then you have Joe Dirt walking down the street and all he can see is a gathering of Pilots making a LOT more than he ever will, ticked-off that they aren't making 100K to fly an RJ.

This is all easier said than done.

If I may clarify my original post: educating the public by itself will not make everything rosy; however, having the public on our side may help tip the scales in our favor.

Let's say a regional pilot group starts picketing seeking support for higher pay. Do we want the people who walk by to think:
(a) They already make $100k, greedy SOBs
(b) I saw a news release from that company that says starting pay is $25 per hour. Starting at $50k per year and they still complain
or
(c) I got a buddy who flies for one of those puddle jumpers. He says he only made $20k when he started

There are a couple threads right now talking about news reports about "inexperienced pilots" at the regionals due to a pilot shortage. Well, what if a different spin were put out: "We spoke with several pilots who said starting wages so low, many pilots who are single parents qualify for food stamps. As a result companies are 'forced to lower the standards: raise the pay, and you raise the standards,' said one pilot."

(before anyone says anything, I am not bashing lowtimers: it is an economic fact that increasing pay will increase a company's pool)


And finally, for those who believe public opinion has little or no effect on us, consider the fate of Value Jet. A crash whose proximate cause was a FAR violation by a contractor; yet, Value Jet suffered. Still don't believe? Take a look at a hacked version of Air Tran's home page.

http://www.2600.org/hackedphiles/val...tml/frame.html