Just keep this in mind. Back in the heydays when people were earning the $$$ with fantastic pension, flying 400 hrs a year and staying with the same company until retirement the industry was much smaller and the chance of becoming a pilot much smaller. Under that system plenty of us would never have been able to work as pilots to begin with, so the success of all these low cost companies is a double-edged sword. Gives plenty more people the chance to a flying career but there are more pilots around so the benefits get watered out because if you don't like it there are 400 guys queuing up to replace you. Then of course, in a downturn all that capacity is no longer needed and so people get laid off resulting in a much lower job security. It's not hard math, it started out with companies paying for everything. Now we have people paying for their own line training. What those people need to understand is that pilots coming after them will be happy to pay for that AND their hotel on overnights (for example). The idiocy of competing to sell ourselves the cheapest should be clear enough, if not then it will be by the time you've had a few years experience.
I absolutely agree that we are out own problem when it comes to declining salaries and benefits. The bottom line will always be the bottom line and we keep agreeing with reductions for personal reasons like seniority, base and so forth. In my opinion, unions are pretty much useless when faced with a situation like this one. The MD pilots get screwed and the union does nothing. Stop expecting morality in aviation would be my advice, cynical perhaps but at least you'll be able to plan your life accordingly with some degree of predictability. The same goes for colleagues, when the going gets tough, ultimately it will be every man for himself. That is something you can count on.
To the .se pilots, especially on the MD good luck and all the best. To the rest of us, how long before we get a similar treatment?
