Posted on 03/13/2024 7:45:22 AM PDT by DallasBiff
CHICAGO, July 20 (Reuters) - United Airlines (UAL.O) , opens new tab CEO Scott Kirby has acknowledged that the carrier's pilots are shunning promotion to the captain's chair, hurting its flight capacity in the fourth quarter, confirming what Reuters reported earlier this week. Multiple pilots at United told Reuters that senior first officers have been avoiding promotion to captain as they do not want the unpredictable schedule that comes with the bigger paycheck, creating headaches for the Chicago-based company
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
And that is the rest of the story.
One-legged, 8-fingered, black, lesbian dwarves ARE hard to find.
The airlines have a very powerful pecking order based on seniority.
United has what is probably the most rigid and extreme union based seniority policies in the industry and many senior First Officers would rather have their existing position instead of becoming a very junior Captain.
OK
That is 100% why my bro-in-law has never been a pilot. He’s happy with a regular schedule and good pay as a co-pilot. He has flown for a couple big airlines.
I thought they were gonna promote all their DEI hires to Pilot and co-Pilot jobs?
United kills the majority of the dogs that die during commercial air transport
>United has what is probably the most rigid and extreme union based seniority policies in the industry and many senior First Officers would rather have their existing position instead of becoming a very junior Captain.<
All airlines use the same type of seniority system, from the smallest commuter to the major airlines. The latest issues arise because, after the latest round of negotiations, senior first officer (copilot) pay is more than captain pay used to be. It’s a pretty penny. Captain pay is a pretty penny and a quarter.
Airline scheduling has a long history of abusing the rules and pushing pilots to the extreme. A senior first officer is much more insulated from that than a junior captain. It becomes an even bigger issue if the pilot has a wife who works and/or kids at home.
My mother, the school teacher, used to give me grief that she had to work 5 days a week and I only worked 3 or 4. I told her to pack a suitcase on Monday morning and stay at school until Friday afternoon and tell me about this comparison again. She gets it, but our family likes to rib each other.
EC
I thought it used to be layovers with the flight attendants.
Today? Not sure, as I think it's still the same flight attendants all these years later.
-PJ
And the recent turnover and resulting shortage of highly experienced pilots in general has really reduced the pool internal applicants across the board.
Dude has been listening to too much Lou Reed-—
Holly came from Miami, F.L.A.
Hitch-hiked her way across the U.S.A.
Plucked her eyebrows on the way
Shaved her legs and then he was a she
She says, “Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side”
Said, “Hey honey, take a walk on the wild side”
” Coffee, tea or me?”
Maybe still the same
Given that most of the Flight Attendants asking the question are the same ones asking in the 1980s, I going for the coffee
Given that he’s apparently a Woke idiot who wants to discriminate against White men.......
It’s more than that. The entire industry knew this big bubble of retirement was coming. In an effort to kick the can down the road, in 2009 the mandatory retirement age was raised to 65 from 60. This effectively froze everyone in place.
The older more senior pilots stayed around making the big bucks. The middle seniority was stuck making middle bucks. The bottom seniority was stuck making bottom bucks. And the new pilot was never hired. The solution sucked.
Now, the talented young new generation doesn’t want to go through the long career slog to make it to big bucks when they can become computer programmers and make big bucks quicker.
The military isn’t pumping out pilots like it did post Vietnam.
The entire pilot pool dried up, especially the unwanted white male. Watch for the next big solution to be even worse.
EC
That was also a TV movie from CBS in 1973 starring Karen Valentine (from the TV show Room 222 and John Davidson.
It was based on a popular book that was purportedly true memoirs but was written by a guy making up tales as if he were a stewardess.
-PJ
Yeah, it’s gotten pretty bad.
The new generation of civilian trained pilots are a different breed. Not all, but a lot.
My policy in the past was fly commercial for business because you need to get there and fly private for fun.
Now I block of the time and fly private for business.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.