Sums up the airline career path

IrishSheepdog

Sitting in the median
This was posted on FlightInfo, in a thread about pilot compensation. It is a good explanation of the airline career path!

[ QUOTE ]

In 2001, I made $118k(before the AA/TWA merger took effect).

In 2002, I made $160k(courtesy of the AA/TWA merger).

This year I will make $90k(courtesy of the AA/TWA merger).

Next year, I will make $0k(courtesy of the AA/TWA merger).

I'm just glad I love to fly or this would have been a really sh***y career choice.



[/ QUOTE ]

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Damn Matt, that really strengthens the confidence in my career choice.
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Just kidding.

I think you'd be a fool not to think you'll hit a few bumps in this job.

Merry Christmas all.

Tom
 
The TWA guys got ROYALLY screwed by the AA pilots; I know one guy who was an MD80 capt at TWA who's now on furlough from AA. And yet no one carries a list of AA pilots' names or calls them "scabs" like they do the guys who went to work for Freedom. Hypocrisy, that.
 
Not really, because the TWA guys would not have a job at all, were it not for the merger. Well, it's hard to go from caviar to cold cuts but either one is better than starving in my opinion.
 
That is what happens when two different unions collide. Solidarity apparently doesn't extend beyond the boundaries of your own shop.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Not really, because the TWA guys would not have a job at all, were it not for the merger.

[/ QUOTE ]But it would have been a completely different story for them if AA had been an ALPA carrier. Dave's right; it's what happens when unions collide. Still doesn't change my argument that if the early Freedom pilots are scabs, so are *all* APA pilots; there's little difference in their actions.

Don't get me wrong--I support unions, but I see them as a necessary evil. However, the business of giving "scabs" the silent treatment or refusing them a ride to/from work is the most childish of behaviors; I don't care if they DID cross a picket line at some other airline 20 years ago. I can't imagine a pilot who'd do so haphazardly, everyone knows what it does for a person's reputation.

Not a popular viewpoint here, I'm sure, but you can't say I don't have the courage of my convictions.
 
[ QUOTE ]
But it would have been a completely different story for them if AA had been an ALPA carrier

[/ QUOTE ]

Incorrect statement... Nothing would have changed had both carriers been ALPA, APA, or any other union. This was NOT a merger, it was a purchase. The TWA pilots had a contract that would have guaranteed them seniority integration for a merger. The AA pilots have a contract that guarantees them a certain seniority integration for a merger. If it were a merger, both sides would have gone to arbitration, and an arbitrator would have merged the lists.

This was not a merger though. TWA was purchased by AMR. The TWA pilots were not guaranteed any type of seniority integration when their company was purchased, in lieu of liquidation. This isn't about being politically right or wrong. AMR could have let all the TWA pilots go and staffed the airplanes with AA new hire pilots. They chose to add the TWA guys to the list in a manner of their choosing. Should the Midway pilots be integrated into Mesa's seniority list by DOH?? Virtually the same type of purchase as AMRs purchase of TWA?

It's a sad statement about the industry we are a part of, or want to be a part of. Bottom line is TWA was sold just prior to liquidation and the flight crews were given a few more years to put money in the bank or look for other work, where they would have otherwise been in the unemployment line immediately.
 
Both of these are simple answers to what was an extremely complex situation. Yes it was a purchase but to say that the APA-ALPA clash had no effect would be false. If they were both the same union the outcome could have been much different.

They tried to work together but it was always there. "You're ALPA, we're APA"

It was a sad situation and many of my friends are out of work now because of it.
 
Delta is most certainly ALPA.

Airlines that are not ALPA include American, Southwest, Skywest, Fedex...I'm sure others can list some more.
 
Delta is ALPA. Interestingly enough AA was one of the founding carriers for ALPA before they started APA.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Delta is ALPA. Interestingly enough AA was one of the founding carriers for ALPA before they started APA.

[/ QUOTE ]


So then would all say that ALPA is the best and most powerful pilots union.

Also if American was a founding member of ALPA why'd they leave and go form APA?


Matthew
 
I think, because they have the largest membership, you could say ALPA is the most powerful. Non-ALPA pilot groups vote to remain independent because they think they can get a better deal on their own and that's what the membership wants.
 
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