Well, not only am I a hatter, I am a MAD HATTER!! Mad at this scumbag, walmart industry, and loathsome of the people who run it!
Well I thank you for the well wishes, but I don't have a family. I can't seem to find a woman that wants to have anything to do with a guy that puts up with being involved in this black hole of an industry with no future and continues to whore himself out like a common street walker.
Seems like you worked hard for this regional FO job. Yet you seem content knowing you have 10 years before upgrading and about 12 years before having even the slightest possibility of moving on to a major airline. When I read how satisfied many of you are, I become extremely frustrated knowing that you will get no where in contract negotiations when management can throw your very own posts in your face. After all, why pay a livable, professional wage when so many of you are quite content? Nothing will change until a pilot group grows some balls and takes their negotiations all the way to self help (strike) as Comair did in 2001. And don't give me this nonsense about difficult economic times. Management will always have an excuse from here on out. Now they use the economy as an excuse to keep wages low, and as the economy improves, oil prices will skyrocket as they did right before the economic collapse in 2008. This industry will never, ever turn sustainable profits. And thats just how management wants it. The executives will still get their multimillion dollar salaries and bonuses and management will still be getting their upper 6 figure salaries and bonuses. All the while they hear about how satisfied and thankful their pilots are just to have a job. We are all doomed in this industry. It has never been so bad in it's history.
WOW!!! 4-5 years? How did you ever manage?? Seriously man, don't ever say that to one of your 10 year FO's unless you want to take a fist to the face!! Your statement shows just how out of touch you are with reality. And it is a story I have heard from several Eagle FO's I have spoken with about the CA's over there. There are hundreds over there that could have gotten hired by a major carrier way back in the late 90s to 2001 but they chose flow-through that never happened. Which made movement painfully slow over there. Now as the time approaches where it looks like at least 250 or so of them will get a spot at AA not to mention an additional 300 on top of that in a few years, they all moan and groan and say that can't afford to go over. Now they will be continuing this stagnation at Eagle forever! Yes forever! Because by the time they retire an make way for some FO's to upgrade, many of these FO's will now be near or over 40 years old and by the time they get the PIC time needed to get the hell out, they will be too old and end up career regional pilots.
My advice for people considering interviewing at Eagle is to RUN!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!! And steer clear of there. Unless you are under 30, you will have absolutely no chance of getting the PIC needed to go to a major airline before you are nearing mid 40's in age. This isn't opinion, it's fact! Now if the nearly 600 CA's at Eagle who have AA numbers are required to abide by the decision they willingly made when choosing an AA number, then in a few years when retirements begin again at AA, within a couple years after that they will all be gone. But that isn't going to happen. When in the history of this profession did an outcome that would benefit the MAJORITY of the pilot group, not get shot down by what benefited the top 20% of the pilot group.
Well you do make some good points. Somewhat. Just because i can live on what i make doesnt mean im content or agree with my wage. I know im worth more then $37k a year. When the time comes i will fight to get what im worth. Whats the point in being pissy and stressed now? Doesnt make any sence to me. I HATE flying with captains that have this type of attitude. If you dont like it get the F**K out of the seat. As far as airlines making money. Well since 1978 we've all known this, whats to say something wont change again to make them profitable? Please, try to be more optomistic. You might find yourself a great woman or guy. Whatever your into, not that i have a problem with that.