"What the heck is a career destination carrier?"
You haven't heard that term before ? It's a common colloquial term here. OK, you may not be from the USA.
BA, LH, CX would be some int'l examples.
I spent 31 years at one so I can speak with some authority. It's an airline where a person signs on expecting to stay with it, despite inevitable ups & downs, until retirement. These careers and airlines are not a sprint but a marathon. Compromise is part of the deal; there is no utopia.
It's not a guarantee of a smooth road but rather a place where one can reasonably expect to go the distance because, all things considered, the job offers more positives than negatives...a subjective call.
It can be a tough go at times but the reasonable expectation is that the company will be there long term, providing employment...over all long term. But, it beats the heck outta jumping from one abusive, flimsy contract job to another.
[Don't burn any electrons telling me about companies that go BK and disappear or ones where employees take a beating they hadn't expected. I'm intimately familiar with that.].
They may not offer a quick route to the LHS but the wait is worth it because it offers a life for the pilot and family...and as much of a reasonable expectation of stability as one can expect in this career.
Sorry if you don't have access to such an arrangement. You'd like it.
JetBlue's ab initio deal ? The expectation is it won't go the distance. I don't know...and neither does anyone else; it's a proposal so far...and unique for the USA which makes the concept newsworthy.
Financially, I'm not sure there is a difference with what JB proposes vs a person just going out and paying for all his ratings..and then hoping to get a job...someplace. Unless a person goes in the military, EVERYONE pays for for his civilian training just as JB proposes...and with attendant debt load.
IIUC, the theoretical JB ab initio will take the training and incur the debt...but can then beat feet if he chooses. There's no way that person can be forced to remain with JB. The debt would follow as it would under any other scenario.
ALPA ? They don't "...let this even come up in discussion." They can merely express their disapproval as they clearly have and they make a valid point. Unions in this country don't control who gets hired or under what circumstances. They wish they did.
Any ab initios completing this program would undoubtedly be paid existing seniority-based pay rates once they jumped the hurdles as if they'd walked in off the street and began accruing seniority-based pay.
"And how can you be a career destination when you have a long ways to go on pay and benefits?"
Well, because people are willing to ride the road to see where it goes in the reasonable expectation of a positive outcome. And in the case of JB, it's a reasonable choice by all indications so far and worlds better than a regional. Do you think AA, DL, SWA and UAL started off with premium pay and working conditions ? Uuuh, they didn't.
These JB ab initios will NOT be paid fast food, regional wages but rather the same seniority-based acft/seat pay rates of any JB pilot.
I hope I've explained this to your satisfaction.
And..PEOPLE HAVE THE OPTION TO NOT APPLY TO THIS PROGRAM IF THEY FIND IT'S ABUSIVE, EXPLOITATIVE, REPUGNANT AND BENEATH THEIR DIGNITY.
Last edited by bafanguy; 5th Dec 2015 at 13:03.