United pilots choose motor homes in 'LAX Ghetto' after pay cuts

On the "RVs are expensive" angle, I'd wager that many of those pilots bought (or financed) the rig during "better" financial times.

Having lived in an RV before, I an attest that it is somewhat inexpensive, more so if the RV is paid off. I'd pony up the few extra dollars to park it in an actual RV park.

Hmm....an RV park just for flight crews.....could be a lucrative business.
 
I've got no sympathy for someone that has to live like this. You want a job that requires you to be at LAX, you move to LAX.
 
TFaudree_ERAU said:
I've got no sympathy for someone that has to live like this. You want a job that requires you to be at LAX, you move to LAX.
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To some extent that is true. However, with base closures, forced displacements and most airlines only offering moving expenses (read, no bump in pay to account for increased cost of living for forced move) it isn't always as simple as "live where you're based".

It would be an itneresting study to see how beneficial it would be to have more long tours followed by long off periods that only required 2 or 3 commutes a month, instead of 4 day trip, 3 days off, 2 day trip, 1 day off, etc.
 
Dugie8 said:
To some extent that is true. However, with base closures, forced displacements and most airlines only offering moving expenses (read, no bump in pay to account for increased cost of living for forced move) it isn't always as simple as "live where you're based".
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It is that simple. Every other industry goes through base (office) closures, forced displacements, etc, and the employees either pack it up and move, or find other work.
 
TFaudree_ERAU said:
It is that simple. Every other industry goes through base (office) closures, forced displacements, etc, and the employees either pack it up and move, or find other work.
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In a lot of other industries you can take your experience and use it to negotiate a livable starting salary. In most other industries you don't start at the very bottom, in terms of benefits, schedule and overall QoL. You might lose some, but not like you do in the airlines where you literally start from the very bottom. Throw a family in the mix, or a spouse's job that isn't something they can up and move on a whim and it isn't as easy as you seem to think.
 
etflies said:
In a lot of other industries you can take your experience and use it to negotiate a livable starting salary. In most other industries you don't start at the very bottom, in terms of benefits, schedule and overall QoL. You might lose some, but not like you do in the airlines where you literally start from the very bottom. Throw a family in the mix, or a spouse's job that isn't something they can up and move on a whim and it isn't as easy as you seem to think.
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He didn't say it (the choice) was easy; he said it was simple. You choose to live in base, or commute. I don't fault a man for the choice he makes, but I do expect him to own his choices, and not complain about it or cry to the media about it.

To me, it is ironic that the very things airline pilots cherish and attach so much importance to, i.e. seniority/longevity system, is also the root of their complaints about the profession.
 
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