MM
"We are all apart from Harry, working on our exit"
Really? you speak for the entire workforce of 3850 pilots do you? Well, if you're personally that desperate to vacate flying, maybe I can help you speed up the job search. Ever thought of becoming a reporter for the Daily Mail? Sensationalism and inaccuracy are their forte.
For yourself, like others on these forums who love to spout the 'koolaid' rhetoric, perhaps a dose of 'reality smelling salts' is needed. Once a day to awake you from the constant bitching, moaning and negativity that pervades these forums and the flight deck like a cancer. Damn right things are not perfect here but let's have some perspective shall we. I wonder how your colleagues at Monarch would be feeling when they read posts such as yours since the take over by GreyBull, the Venture Capital Group;
1) Final salary pension wound up and incorporated into the Government Pension Protection Fund. All pension values reduced by 10% with a max payout capped around £27,000pa. (Senior Captains had been expecting £70k+in retirement). Some were less than a year from retirement, one was only 3 weeks away!
2) Removal of salary scales with only one fixed salary for F/O and one for Captain. Slight increase for Junior guys but big drop for the senior guys.
3) Removal of flight pay.
4) Further reduction in basic salary, splitting year into 4 week sections. This now makes it easy to explain why they only require pilots to work 11/13 of the year due to seasonal fluctuations and as a result, rather than not pay you for 2 'months', we'll merely reduce your basic further by 2/13.
5) Job losses and redundancies across the board, including pilots. Closing of some bases with associated redundancies. No moving costs if offered another base.
6) No more long haul, majority all turnarounds.
So, whilst you bitch and moan and invite me to remove my head from my arse and take a good look around, maybe you should stop and do exactly the same. Why not reflect what your former colleagues have had to endure, facing an unsure future, degraded terms and conditions as well as huge remuneration penalties. This is not some crappy fly by night outfit, it's the oldest surviving charter airline in the UK that retains it's original name. Its reputation for service, safety and training is highly regarded within the industry and has not suffered a single hull loss in over 45 years of operations. This Airline is not alone in fighting to stay alive. Just ask those in MAL how financially secure they currently feel.
And please, before Algonquin Crusader joins the fray, perhaps a quick history lesson in how Delta shafted it's pilots years ago when it stole their pensions to pay for a nice re branding of uniform and livery. That was after it emerged from that wonderful safety net called Chapter 11. Strangely, the CEO and other senior management still walked away with such insane payouts, it would make a banker blush! Pilots, as history has proved, have short memories. So, still feel like moaning? Fill you boots pal but don't expect any sympathy from me. Oh, and the best bit I've saved till last. Monarch's previous owners are in the World's top richest 500. They fiddled the books, blackmailed the UK government and then walked away from a £500+ million pension liability.
That must be one hell of a bitter pill to swallow each time your mates fly over Lake Geneva and look down at the owners' massive homes on the Lake and the mega yacht(s) moored up nearby. Maybe you should apply for a job on their yacht. I hear the weather's great this time of year!
Harry
Last edited by harry the cod; 19th Sep 2015 at 20:05.