Originally Posted by 411A
The only problem with your idea, Tandemrotor, is that by those doing so I suspect are the same folks that have ignored really basic financial realities in their airline careers, thereby finding themselves on the short end of the funding stick.
Take a look at DAL as a perfect example.
For years the pilot 'thinking' was...'the company is so financially strong, has plenty of cash on hand, has always treated their employees well, so the pension plans available will surely take care of our needs during retirement.'
If we put aside 411A's snide commments about "...country club...two trucks...multiple wives..." and recognize them as the tired old sterotypes used by people who just want to take a shot at people they perceive did better than they did, his remarks quoted above are pretty accurate for some pilots.
The fact that people end up mismanaging their finances is hardly reason to "ALERT THE MEDIA". People will largely exhibit human traits and failings.
Their error ( and in the airline business, it's a big one ) was trusting the people they worked for. They demonstrated a bit of naivete by believing what their leaders told them, along with sterotypes and virtual urban legends ( SWA is the current one ). What leads people into this mindset is far too complex to address here but not everyone fits 411A's vision of pilots at Delta or any other major carrier I would bet, he just hopes it does for personal reasons.
I know that at Delta the flt ops management really pumped the new hires full of sunshine in an understandable effort to motivate them which probably left a long-lasting imprint. When I was a 727 captain, I'd get the new FE's who were absolutely beaming about being where they were,and they should have been at the time. They'd fall into the hands of an evil real estate agent in Peachtree City and get qualified for a mortgage based on their SECOND year pay...bad mistake. But as 411A said, there were decades of history to support the claims made by the company that "The sun will never set on the British Empire." It would take an experienced, skeptical, suspicious-minded airline type to dispute these notions; these folks did not fit that description. They were comparatively young, but very bright, guys from the military where they could trust their leaders and no profit motive was involved. This was largely their first foray into the "real world". When I told them they should live in an apartment in Hapeville for their first three years and buy nothing larger than a loaf of bread, they just looked at me like I had two heads.
None of this is to disparage these people ( they are wonderful ) but none of them was a fortuneteller, nor can they be slammed or demeaned now because they weren't.
Life is messy...and let the first of you who hasn't made a mess step forward as a benchmark for us all.