Virgin Australia Priority For Boarding
As a Physically Disabled (Totally and Permanently Incapacitated – TPI) ex-Vietnam Veteran in my 70’s, I find Virgin’s offer to veterans to have priority boarding and an announcement onboard as an insult to the veteran community.
I normally board first in anycase as I’m disabled. Does this mean I’ll board in front of other disabled persons? It’s all a joke and publicity stunt to attract customers. Most veterans I know would prefer to keep their anonymity while boarding and as for an announcement on board that just adds to further embarrassment.
Maybe a discount (e.g. ID travel) would provide greater recognition for their service to Australia where veterans 'lay their lives on the line', instead of priority boarding and an announcement.
Maybe Qantas could look at my suggestion in acknowledging the operational service with some form of discount seeing the Minister for Veterans Affairs announced the initiative to have a ‘Veterans Card’ whereby companies could offer discounts to veterans?
I normally board first in anycase as I’m disabled. Does this mean I’ll board in front of other disabled persons? It’s all a joke and publicity stunt to attract customers. Most veterans I know would prefer to keep their anonymity while boarding and as for an announcement on board that just adds to further embarrassment.
Maybe a discount (e.g. ID travel) would provide greater recognition for their service to Australia where veterans 'lay their lives on the line', instead of priority boarding and an announcement.
Maybe Qantas could look at my suggestion in acknowledging the operational service with some form of discount seeing the Minister for Veterans Affairs announced the initiative to have a ‘Veterans Card’ whereby companies could offer discounts to veterans?
Dr Dre, Same point as above. It’s a matter of law and the application of that law. You are correct, ‘no body signs up to the ADF to die’, they do however hand over the control of that choice to the Government. This is where the distinction lays.
Read my point again fellas: ‘When you sign up to the ADF the deal is that you no longer have a say when it comes to being placed in harms way. An emergency services person does not, when signing up make this same agreement, and whilst the numbers may be similar, their death whilst tragic was not part of the deal.’
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Read my point again fellas: ‘When you sign up to the ADF the deal is that you no longer have a say when it comes to being placed in harms way. An emergency services person does not, when signing up make this same agreement, and whilst the numbers may be similar, their death whilst tragic was not part of the deal.’
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I could as easily say that the people in the military are already well rewarded via pay and benefits, in all cases they are paid while training whereas almost all civilians aren't (case in point pilots) and receive allowances when they are deployed. Therefore they already receive a much larger reward than one group who puts their lives on the line for us, emergency services volunteers. Volunteers do what they do for zero monetary reward (or in some circumstances very small allowances but nothing substantial).
Isn't that enough to place them in the highest league of those who are recognised in our society?
Last edited by dr dre; 7th Nov 2018 at 07:03.
Last edited by dr dre; 7th Nov 2018 at 10:25.
Perhaps that's because they DON'T say, that. They let Business Class and certain status Velocity members board early or in a separate line because they make a disproportionate contribution to the company's bottom line - they don't 'invite' velocity members to board separately just as Qantas don't invite frequent flyers, just Business, First, Platinum One, Platinum and Gold.
If you’d said ‘guilty of murdering locals’ I’d happily agree with you (except that then they’d hopefully be in prison and not boarding a 737). But ‘accused’? As far as I know, we still have something called ‘presumption of innocence’ here, and just being accused of something doesn’t automatically put you on the same moral level as a corrupt cop.
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Unless you were conscripted, joining the military has always been voluntary and the risks known (as with many other mentioned civilian careers). This is just a publicity stunt and it's made virgin look very amateur.
Well I'll say I disagree with that point, but you seem to be saying it's that point alone which determines that the military should be honoured or recognised more in our society above emergency services.
I could as easily say that the people in the military are already well rewarded via pay and benefits, in all cases they are paid while training whereas almost all civilians aren't (case in point pilots) and receive allowances when they are deployed. Therefore they already receive a much larger reward than one group who puts their lives on the line for us, emergency services volunteers. Volunteers do what they do for zero monetary reward (or in some circumstances very small allowances but nothing substantial).
Isn't that enough to place them in the highest league of those who are recognised in our society?
I could as easily say that the people in the military are already well rewarded via pay and benefits, in all cases they are paid while training whereas almost all civilians aren't (case in point pilots) and receive allowances when they are deployed. Therefore they already receive a much larger reward than one group who puts their lives on the line for us, emergency services volunteers. Volunteers do what they do for zero monetary reward (or in some circumstances very small allowances but nothing substantial).
Isn't that enough to place them in the highest league of those who are recognised in our society?
I've also always been intrigued by the rare disdain I've seen in some of my GA mates when it comes to being paid to learn how to fly. Granted we aren't paying for it, but I'm yet to see any school in Australia that you are on a daily renewable contract with (maybe cadetships, I'm honestly not sure). Pilot's course was pretty brutal, we started with 18 and finished with 11. Given the context of how the ADF employs those skills they've invested time and money into giving you, I think it's a fair trade.
This thread says so much more about pilots, yet again, than it does about the proposal
Why do we as a group always find ways to belittle the contributions of others, rather than accepting a gift graciously and then pushing for more.
It never ceases to amaze me the attitude of those who, when they see imbalance, want to take from the better off, rather than work to bring everyone else up to the same standard.
It's a pretty easy argument to justify benefits for veterans, and importantly incredibly hard to argue against (in person that is, not on an anonymous forum). Once one group gets some sort of advantage/benefit it then becomes significantly easier to argue for that benefit to be extended to other worthy recipients. It's not rocket science, but we'd rather the short term satisfaction of cutting down a tall poppy than work together for the benefit of everyone in the long run.
CEO's must be laughing their tits off at us. We can find a way to create division from just about anything. Negotiating with pilots must be like taking candy from babies. Just throw out a divisive idea and wait for the **** fight to commence.
Did anyone notice that Ryanair Captains have knocked back 5000 pounds to work on a day off. Fat chance of that happening here as we'd race to undermine each other.
Why do we as a group always find ways to belittle the contributions of others, rather than accepting a gift graciously and then pushing for more.
It never ceases to amaze me the attitude of those who, when they see imbalance, want to take from the better off, rather than work to bring everyone else up to the same standard.
It's a pretty easy argument to justify benefits for veterans, and importantly incredibly hard to argue against (in person that is, not on an anonymous forum). Once one group gets some sort of advantage/benefit it then becomes significantly easier to argue for that benefit to be extended to other worthy recipients. It's not rocket science, but we'd rather the short term satisfaction of cutting down a tall poppy than work together for the benefit of everyone in the long run.
CEO's must be laughing their tits off at us. We can find a way to create division from just about anything. Negotiating with pilots must be like taking candy from babies. Just throw out a divisive idea and wait for the **** fight to commence.
Did anyone notice that Ryanair Captains have knocked back 5000 pounds to work on a day off. Fat chance of that happening here as we'd race to undermine each other.
I've always found this very interesting. I think you'll find that those who are commanding KC-30's and similar sized jets, flying in some pretty "interesting parts" of the world, staying in usually worse accommodation and for months at a time are earning considerably less than their commercial counterparts.
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Granted we aren't paying for it, but I'm yet to see any school in Australia that you are on a daily renewable contract with (maybe cadetships, I'm honestly not sure). Pilot's course was pretty brutal, we started with 18 and finished with 11. Given the context of how the ADF employs those skills they've invested time and money into giving you, I think it's a fair trade.
You are paying for it in:
- Return of Service Obligation;
- many, many interstate moves;
- higher risk at work (bullets);
- non-negotiable conditions;
- forced family separation;
- steep and difficult learning curve during training, with a two strikes and you're out mentality;
- route marches, putting up with the crap without recourse, having to respond "yes Sir" when some absolutely hopeless dipsh!t gives you a totally absurd secondary duty, etc, etc.
benjam, no doubt things have changed since my time, pay was so low for some folks that they qualified for welfare (below poverty line I think was the issue), we payed into a superannuation fund but if you got out before retirement you got back exactly what you had paid in minus a handling charge - no interest earned. To top it off, if your family was in married quarters housing you had to get out if being sent into combat, you didn't requalify until you returned from your tour of combat. Oh, and you had to ask permission of the CO in order to get married, not a family friendly organisation was the military in my day.
I don’t think you understand the concept of ‘service’ to others. Members of the ADF do.
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I have found this thread to be somewhat 'interesting. 
Purely from the fact that some posters simply cannot pass up the opportunity to 'sink the boot in.' Feel free to apply your own interpretation of my observation. IDGAS!
However, as far as I'm concerned, a letter to the Editor in The Australian (in the 'last post' section, somewhat appropriately I would think!) on Thursday 8th November inst says it all....
Purely from the fact that some posters simply cannot pass up the opportunity to 'sink the boot in.' Feel free to apply your own interpretation of my observation. IDGAS!However, as far as I'm concerned, a letter to the Editor in The Australian (in the 'last post' section, somewhat appropriately I would think!) on Thursday 8th November inst says it all....
My Father was a veteran and was always the first to board the aircraft and the last to disembark, but this was 1944, the airline was 466 Squadron, RAAF, the aircraft, a Halifax bomber and he was the pilot.
On his final trip, as usual he was the last out, but this time by parachute.
On his final trip, as usual he was the last out, but this time by parachute.
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Good grief. As if we need more proof that the internet empowers idiots.I seriously wonder how the current generation would have responded in 1939.Perhaps the moderators on this site should just give up on the quality implied by the title "Professional" pilots network.Its getting embarrassing. Maybe about time to give up on this site entirely. Anybody out there able to recommend an alternative?
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The military veterans I have had the pleasure to meet and grow up with do not seek priority boarding, or additional benefits from the government. And they certainly don't try and get into a pissing contest with their civilian counterparts on whose job is more dangerous.
I have never heard any of them complain about time away from families, superannuation, pay, marching or RoS obligations. They just got in and did it. What fine people they are/were.
Different generation perhaps. (WW1, WW2, Korea and Vietnam)
I have never heard any of them complain about time away from families, superannuation, pay, marching or RoS obligations. They just got in and did it. What fine people they are/were.
Different generation perhaps. (WW1, WW2, Korea and Vietnam)
