Alitalia.
As this is a pilot forum, the moment you say "S.A.A." every pilot will have a comment. The S.A.A. criticism is not aimed at the pilots at all. Most of my friends and old flying buddy's are with S.A.A. Great aviators all of them.
The following are just my personal experiences and opinion.
Biggest crit. is against the politicians that use S.A.A. for personal gain. No accountability, jobs for friend, incompitence etc, etc........the list is long. Now if it was their own money or investments most of us would not care a sh!+. But they are government subsidised with no end of this free ride in sight.
There are some very good listed companies, and privately owned airlines in S.A. that have to rely on service and value for money to make it in a tough environment while these guys drive the gravy train.
I have personally been affected twice in my career by predatory practices by S.A.A. ( read management) Dropping prices that no one can make a living, even they were making a loss on these routes, and the tax payer suffer a doulbe loss, as they keep S.A.A. afloat, and as soon as the competition go toes up they increase fares, manipulating routes etc. I understand that at this moment there are some court cases regarding S.A.A. and travel agents, don't know much about this, maybe some one else have more gaf. on this.
Most people are against Aff.Action., and many a younster have been affected by this.... this is a subject on it's own. I don't think in the big scheme of things this has had a major impact on the flight deck ( yet) as the S.A.A. captains are high standard guys who will not settle for this.
There are some very dynamic individuals in Flight Ops. and SAAPA, but due to political interferance these guys will never grow to the positions where they should be, and in the long run this is going to cost the company dearly.
In my opinion the only thing keeping them more or less in line is a very switched on pilots union in SAAPA.
Personally I would love to work with my mates, but my decision to leave was for lifestyle and reasons outside of aviation.
R.I.P. Flitestar
R.I.P. Sun Air
Last edited by Beta Light; 10th May 2005 at 12:52.