The Regional Poverty Churn
09-19-2014, 02:36 PM
#21
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2014
Posts: 160
One longevity list. Bottom of the list for bidding schedules and vacation, but longevity for pay. Get paid for the experience you bring. Since people like to compare pilots to doctors, the AMA spells out the strict requirements of newhire Doctors that companies must hire. Make it the same. Companies can only go so long by hiring bottom barrel for experience before they are forced to hire guys throughout the experience spectrum. This pill would have been easiest to swallow for the legacies in 2010-2013 when virtually every pilot was topped at the 12 yr scale anyway.
But alas it'll never happen.
But alas it'll never happen.
Here is the kind of doctor that most major airline pilots and the general public think regional pilots are the equivalent of:
09-19-2014, 03:55 PM
#22
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2013
Posts: 3,014
Let's have a look at the bigger picture.
Everything that is happening today at the regional level is coming to the majors too. Collectively since you are willing to accept poor treatment now, you are going to have to accept it later as well. They already know you will.
You will never have what the current crop of major airline pilots have. They never had to accept the sub standard treatment many regional pilot groups are ok with today. They never had to chase a carrot like you do. Heck, many of them never even worked at a regional. They left the military and were welcomed to the club with open arms.
You are not a member of the club. If you are willing to chase the carrot now, you are going to have to chase it forever.
Everything that is happening today at the regional level is coming to the majors too. Collectively since you are willing to accept poor treatment now, you are going to have to accept it later as well. They already know you will.
You will never have what the current crop of major airline pilots have. They never had to accept the sub standard treatment many regional pilot groups are ok with today. They never had to chase a carrot like you do. Heck, many of them never even worked at a regional. They left the military and were welcomed to the club with open arms.
You are not a member of the club. If you are willing to chase the carrot now, you are going to have to chase it forever.
09-19-2014, 04:29 PM
#25
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2009
Posts: 190
The public doesn't care about the plight of the regional pilot, they just want a cheap ticket and not die in the process.
If the regional flying goes back to the majors, what are you going to do with all the regional pilots, seeing as more than a few are not qualified for a major and/or not major material?
If the regional flying goes back to the majors, what are you going to do with all the regional pilots, seeing as more than a few are not qualified for a major and/or not major material?
09-19-2014, 06:24 PM
#26
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2010
Position: 7er
Posts: 1,673
There has been increased media coverage lately of the chasm between QOL/pay at majors vs regionals. I don't think it even covers the whole story or goes far enough, but I think there's also a significant aspect of regional life that has been overlooked - let's call it "regional churn".
There's almost no point to life as a regional FO. Yep, that's a sobering claim. The primary point is to spend as little time as possible as a regional FO in order to upgrade, gain turbine PIC and move on to a major... or skip the upgrade and catch a rare direct opportunity. Stagnation as a regional FO is a career death sentence and likely costs a large percentage of future earnings, opportunity to save for retirement, etc. $20-$40/hr does not pay many bills.
I can think of dozens of FOs at my airline who are on their 2nd, 3rd or even 4th regional airline, through stagnation or the company shutting down. I can think of more who have left this regional for another one, weighing the pros and cons of yet another year at $20/hr and once again slotting in at the bottom of a seniority list.
From management's perspective, there's nothing wrong with this. It keeps labor cheap and the churn occurs cyclically with new contracts, adding or dropping aircraft, etc. Just business...
From the prospective of the profession, this has caused many high quality pilots to leave the industry all together and has significantly damaged the careers of many many others.
Thoughts and comments? How does this become a story the media can latch on to in a way that can benefit us all?
There's almost no point to life as a regional FO. Yep, that's a sobering claim. The primary point is to spend as little time as possible as a regional FO in order to upgrade, gain turbine PIC and move on to a major... or skip the upgrade and catch a rare direct opportunity. Stagnation as a regional FO is a career death sentence and likely costs a large percentage of future earnings, opportunity to save for retirement, etc. $20-$40/hr does not pay many bills.
I can think of dozens of FOs at my airline who are on their 2nd, 3rd or even 4th regional airline, through stagnation or the company shutting down. I can think of more who have left this regional for another one, weighing the pros and cons of yet another year at $20/hr and once again slotting in at the bottom of a seniority list.
From management's perspective, there's nothing wrong with this. It keeps labor cheap and the churn occurs cyclically with new contracts, adding or dropping aircraft, etc. Just business...
From the prospective of the profession, this has caused many high quality pilots to leave the industry all together and has significantly damaged the careers of many many others.
Thoughts and comments? How does this become a story the media can latch on to in a way that can benefit us all?
09-19-2014, 07:19 PM
#27
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jun 2008
Posts: 384
I don't think people are saying its a hopeless endeavor or to give up. I hate to say it this way the system is the way it is. People can talk about one seniority list, higher pay and a pilot shortage all they want. In the end none, I mean none of it will change or even become close to what it should be. Sadly the only people that care about the plight of pilots are pilots. The public doesn't care, the union doesn't care and sadly even most pilots don't care (apathy at this point). Accept the crap sandwich for what it is... it will never be filet mignon, except for a small percentage of pilots.
09-19-2014, 07:41 PM
#28
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: May 2010
Position: Baja Vermont
Posts: 5,197
Let's have a look at the bigger picture.
Everything that is happening today at the regional level is coming to the majors too. Collectively since you are willing to accept poor treatment now, you are going to have to accept it later as well. They already know you will.
You will never have what the current crop of major airline pilots have. They never had to accept the sub standard treatment many regional pilot groups are ok with today. They never had to chase a carrot like you do. Heck, many of them never even worked at a regional. They left the military and were welcomed to the club with open arms.
You are not a member of the club. If you are willing to chase the carrot now, you are going to have to chase it forever.
Everything that is happening today at the regional level is coming to the majors too. Collectively since you are willing to accept poor treatment now, you are going to have to accept it later as well. They already know you will.
You will never have what the current crop of major airline pilots have. They never had to accept the sub standard treatment many regional pilot groups are ok with today. They never had to chase a carrot like you do. Heck, many of them never even worked at a regional. They left the military and were welcomed to the club with open arms.
You are not a member of the club. If you are willing to chase the carrot now, you are going to have to chase it forever.
GF
09-19-2014, 09:46 PM
#30
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2014
Posts: 160
This...as the old joke goes. "Will you have sex with for a million dollars?" "Yes, then how 'bout for 10 bucks?" Girl answers, "what kind of girl do you think I am?" Punch line, "we already established that, it's now about the price". RJ pilots have said they"ll fly for these wages, why should companies pay more just to fly a bigger plane?
GF
GF
UPS has a single pay scale. Seems to work good for them.
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