Why did you leave the airlines?

Nihon_Ni

Nihon_Ni

Well-Known Member
A few weeks ago I spent a day with a good friend of mine who is a fairly senior captain at a regional airline. I was shocked to hear him tell me about the number of folks who have left the industry for other professions. I've read a lot of posts from folks who are bitter, but are still flying the line; but the piece I'm missing is from the folks who've actually left.

If you have left the airline industry, would you mind summing up your reasons for me? I hope some of you are still lurking around out there.

Rob
 
I keep in touch with several who have quit. If I could distill just one common theme it would be this: There has to be a balance between what you give and what you get. At the end of the day you have to feel it was worth it or resentment will grow over time.

We all like to believe the old adage "You get out of it what you put into it".

All the ones I know who left still enjoyed flying they just felt ripped off from what they had expected from the career. Not as bad as acting or pro sports where less than 1% ends up with 99% of the reward. But, none the less, many career pilots who have thrown in the towel expected much more than they got. It's a career filled with those who dreamed big and never made it big. Often management types bear the brunt of the outrage but the blame is misplaced. Pilots have failed to limit supply. As such the fault lies with pilots.
 
I got furloughed, so leaving the industry was not really a "choice" for me. I was kicked out on my butt. Twice. At first, no one was hiring F/As at all, then the regionals started hiring again, but I wasn't willing to go back to 1st year pay and life as a regional F/A. So we had our kids, and by the time the majors started hiring F/As flying a full-time new-hire schedule simply was not possible with the kids. So, while leaving the industry was not my choice, not returning to the industry has been my choice. I hear Bill's stories of the TSA, ground stops, ridiculous out/off & on/in times at JFK, chock-a-block full flights and I'm honestly very glad for the choice that I have made. I loved the job, I liked the variety, I liked helping people have a comfortable flight, but there was a lot of baggage outside of my specific job that I'm just glad I don't have to put up with anymore. I loved my time there, and miss some parts of it a lot sometimes, but I'm where I need to be right now.

I know I won't be gone from aviation forever, but when I return it'll be either in a management (training department) position or to the corporate arena. Eventually my goal/dream job is Cabin Safety Inspector with the FAA.
 
You can only get kicked in the head so many times before you realize that things just aren't going your way. After numerous furloughs (3) and 6 airline jobs (3 regionals - 1 twice -, one LCC, and one major) my wife told me if I was going to stay in aviation to look for an aviation CAREER ... not just another aviation JOB.

I did significant research on the aviation vocations that offered the best quality of life (most time at home), fair compensation etc.

It's easy for the airlines to get into your blood. I occasionally feel like I might apply again someday, although I will be far more selective next time. For now though, I enjoy spending most nights at home in my own bed.
 
Thought of a few more things that make me happy:
  1. No more hats (yes, I wore mine like I was told)
  2. No more ties
  3. No more dragging my rollaboard around with a 50 lb flight-kit attached
  4. No more dragging said rollaboard through ice/snow in the employee lot
  5. No more employee lot busses lacking air-conditioning, heat, and shocks
  6. No more waiting at employee lot bus-stops
  7. No more entering security codes at every &%@$# door in the building
  8. No more TSA telling me to take off my shoes
  9. No more TSA inspecting my flashlight for the 40th time
  10. No more TSA telling me to remove my hat
  11. No more TSA leaning in to smell my breath
  12. No more TSA
  13. No more gate agents taking their good ol' time printing the release
  14. No more waiting for gate agents to give you access to your airplane
  15. No more waiting for jetway drivers
  16. No more calling ops to ask for said jetway driver & being told, "shift change"
  17. No more flight attendants calling up front because it's too hot, cold, bumpy
  18. No more flight attendants sitting in first class instead of providing customer service
  19. No more flight attendants whining about not getting crew meals
  20. No more flight attendants whining when they DO get crew meals
  21. No more APU's deferred with no ground air carts available
  22. No more waiting for the hotel van
  23. No more roadside fleabag hotels
  24. No more :40 van rides to the long-overnight hotel so the F/As can shop
  25. No more apologies for being away on weekends, holidays, special occasions
  26. No more watching flying be outsourced to the lowest bidder
  27. No more watching ALPA spend dues on "strongly worded letters"
  28. No more ALPA (thats the best part!)
  29. No more delapidated "crew rooms"
  30. No more junior manning or extensions
  31. No more pagers
  32. No more calls from scheduling at 2am to transition you from regular reserve to short-call
  33. No more quick-calls to go to Akron and back
  34. No more racing through the terminal and grabbing a McValue Meal during a 15 minute break
  35. No more equipment changes every time you fly through the hub
  36. No more nastygrams from the company whenever you're in negotiations
  37. No more feeling ashamed at the lack of customer service the company provides.
  38. No more apologizing for weather, aircraft size, ATC delays, mechanical delays, etc.
  39. No more groundschools in converted hangars or old elementary schools.
  40. and finally... no more turning on CNN every night and wondering whether the airline is still in business.
(ahhh... I feel better now)
Did I miss anything? Feel free to add to this list.
 
41. No more sitting around in crashpads on reserve.
42. No more ready reserve and sitting around an airport for 8 hours waiting for the possibility of work.
43. No more reserve
 
I'm afraid I don't get out of reserve. We have Standby duty periodically. But I keep a work-shirt in my locker at the hangar and if they call, I just head over there.

Sitting reserve at home and knowing that if you get called you can park 50 feet from the airplane? Priceless.
 
44. No more pilots whining because there's no leftovers. (No, we're not lying to you. Often, there really ARE no leftovers!)
 
ZapBrannigan said:
Thought of a few more things that make me happy:
  1. No more dragging said rollaboard through ice/snow in the employee lot
  2. No more employee lot busses lacking air-conditioning, heat, and shocks
  3. No more waiting at employee lot bus-stops
  4. No more entering security codes at every &%@$# door in the building
  5. No more TSA telling me to take off my shoes
  6. No more TSA inspecting my flashlight for the 40th time
  7. No more TSA telling me to remove my hat
  8. No more TSA leaning in to smell my breath
  9. No more TSA
  10. No more gate agents taking their good ol' time printing the release
  11. No more waiting for gate agents to give you access to your airplane
  12. No more waiting for jetway drivers
  13. No more calling ops to ask for said jetway driver & being told, "shift change"
    .
Click to expand...

Did a stint in DTW huh? :D


My story - by the time I was 30 - 8 working years since I had graduated college - I had 1 corporate job, 1 135 job, and 3 airline jobs AND I took a year off from flying so essentially in 7 years I had 5 different jobs. And it's not like I was job hopping for the fun of it - all of the jobs except one "went away". I quit my last flying job (Pinnacle) in 2006 - we had our first child in Nov 05 and I quit in Jan 06....having kids changes your priorities in life. I was spending 20 to 24 days a month in DTW sitting reserve flying my ass off be jerked around the highly capable management team at 9e and I finally decided it just wasn't worth it. I'm not bitter about anything - things are just the way they are and after looking at the job possibilities available to me at the time and in the future I simply decided it was better for me and my family to not be a professional pilot. I am in a management position with FlightSafety now - great job. I don't get to fly airplanes but I set my own schedule, the center is closed on holidays (2 weeks off for Christmas coming up), I **generally** don't work weekends, I can guarantee a day off for events (weddings, parties, anniversaries, etc) and I haven't spent a night in a hotel for 2 years except for vacations. Oh yeah, next year I will make more than twice what I was making at Pinnacle as a CRJ Captain.

I miss flying airplanes but for me the decision was a no brainer.

Jason
 
Nope. No DTW for me, but they're all pretty much the same. Over the last 13 years i've been based in:

JST, FWA, PIT, ATL, SYR, PIT, (again), LGA, CAK, CVG, and finally, ROG. :)

I've heard the benefits at FSI are just fantastic. Glad you're doing well. What are you teaching?
 
Thought of another one today. In the 3 years i've been here i've been home for EVERY Christmas eve and day. I've been home for EVERY New Years eve and day. I've been home for EVERY Thanksgiving. EVERY Independance Day.

In the 10 years prior to coming here I was gone for every one of those holidays.

Withour liberal vacation policy I will be home for EVERY little league game. EVERY school play. and EVERY band concert. (unless I happen to be at recurrent)

Priceless.
 
Yeah... so in January of 1999 you have a choice. Do you go back to AirTran when they recall you? Or do you go to US Airways and join one of the first classes of newhires in 7 years? US Airways was projecting over 1100 newhires in 99/00 (in fact they hired 1149) and you would be in the first 50 or so.

This isn't a trick question.

In 1998/99 AirTran was a dirtbag POS company. The only ones who went to work there were those of us who couldn't get hired anywhere else. The airplanes were old British Midland and Turkish Air DC9s with PDIs and green/black radar. Some didn't even have HSIs. The manuals were an embarrassing amalgamation of Eastern and Valujet.

Seriously, it's not a trick question. I made the choice to go to US Airways.

Anyone who says they would have done otherwise is a liar or a fool.
 
ZapBrannigan said:
In 1998/99 AirTran was a dirtbag POS company. The only ones who went to work there were those of us who couldn't get hired anywhere else. The airplanes were old British Midland and Turkish Air DC9s with PDIs and green/black radar. Some didn't even have HSIs. The manuals were an embarrassing amalgamation of Eastern and Valujet.

Seriously, it's not a trick question. I made the choice to go to US Airways.

Anyone who says they would have done otherwise is a liar or a fool.
Click to expand...



You mean you didn't want to work for Valujet in disguise?
 
*gasp* so your magic crystal ball prediction wasn't right!?

total sarcasm there!


Of course you went to USAir! (Or USAirways or whatever). Several UFS friends of mine went there too in the late 90's. I wonder where they've ended up.......


Someone really could make a fortune if they could invent a crystal ball that would predict the future in our industry :)
 
UFS... god I haven't heard that name in a long time. I remember seeing those mammoth Jetstream 61 ATPs in Fort Wayne, Indiana. UFS did their training in the plane their at night.

Saddest thing I ever heard was a UFS Captain in Akron giving a speech over the gate PA on the very last flight he was to make before the airline shut down. Darned Hulas.

In all honestly, AirTran (I refuse to call it "da' tranny". Grow up people) was not anyone's first choice in 98 and 99. Today things might be different, but back then it just wasn't the place to be.

I wouldn't have made the decision any differently if I had to do it over.
 
Real good recollections Zap...it really illustrates what the industry does. When you think about it, 1998-99 really wasn't that long ago. I like going back in the forum a few years and read what the "latest and greatest" was. The only thing that doesn't change is....everything changes.

In my squadron, most of the pilots were furloughed from NWA, United, AA and DAL. They have been hired as civil service (great money and great QOL) and none of the furloughed guys are leaving. They say it is the lack of job security and QOL for them. We do have 2 that will be going to SWA though, it is their 1st airline gig.
 
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