Pay for everything
Thread Starter
Pay for everything
Pay to apply, to be interviewed, for a sim check, for a type rating, for an OPC, an LPC, a base check, a uniform, an ID card, a ...!When at last will we stop this ridiculous paying for everything trend? I think it really is up to us!
Join Date: Mar 2006
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I agree 100%. By allowing them to charge us for expenses that they should handle, we only devalue ourselves and our professions. We keep on doing this and eventually they'll start treating us any old way they feel like. It's time we take a stand against al of this poor treatment. We are professionals, and we are required to meet very high standards befor we can do our jobs. Anyone off the street can legally be CEO of an airline. To be first officers, we have to meet very strict requirements. Even higher standards for captains...We need to take a stand against this sort of treatment!!!
For the very young pilots out there, you might benefit from reading about how pilots groveled and 'crawled through the gutter' when US deregulation expanded and (under White House pressure) the FAA tolerated many outrages ( check their Western Region's "alleged" policies...), such as during the CO strike in 1983, so the super-scabs could fly jets for Mr. Frank Lorenzo.
That uniform with the shiny stripes has a quite intoxicating, hypnotic allure for hordes of pilots (and for the curvaceous, coat-climbing females they hope to meet....
), who are too impatient to wait for the drawn-out hiring process. They know that they can leave their house and "be somebody". One guy in 1982 told us that "I want an airline job so bad that I can taste it". Yep! He crossed the pilot picket line and also flew in the Colorado Springs AFRES..."it is all about me" 
.... Another pilot was reportedly a convicted child-molestor before he scabbed at CO, based on what an EWR-based pilot on our jumpseat told me about two years ago.
This concept is nothing new, and goes back decades before that.
What puzzles me is the exorbitant cost now for civilian pilot training. Where in the US will the young pilots go and try to earn back the investment? How about after the major expense of the aviation programs at the Univ. of North Dakota in Grand Forks, or at Embry Riddle etc? After a few years, in the right seat of a regional jet one can feel a sense of accomplishment (without a good bit of PIC time somewhere, no ATP, so no upgrade...), but if your wife is home with a baby, you will qualify for US government food stamps-and you must often still pay at least a 20% chunk for any trip to the doctor's office. Are many ready to leave the country after several years and spend a career with various foreign airlines? Some are doing this now. Find out what is going on. Except for Southwest, UPS, FEDEX etc, the US major airlines each have several hundred pilots laid off. Find out how many thousands of pilots with years of flying turboprops and jets are competing just for an interview at those companies.
That uniform with the shiny stripes has a quite intoxicating, hypnotic allure for hordes of pilots (and for the curvaceous, coat-climbing females they hope to meet....
), who are too impatient to wait for the drawn-out hiring process. They know that they can leave their house and "be somebody". One guy in 1982 told us that "I want an airline job so bad that I can taste it". Yep! He crossed the pilot picket line and also flew in the Colorado Springs AFRES..."it is all about me" .... Another pilot was reportedly a convicted child-molestor before he scabbed at CO, based on what an EWR-based pilot on our jumpseat told me about two years ago.This concept is nothing new, and goes back decades before that.
What puzzles me is the exorbitant cost now for civilian pilot training. Where in the US will the young pilots go and try to earn back the investment? How about after the major expense of the aviation programs at the Univ. of North Dakota in Grand Forks, or at Embry Riddle etc? After a few years, in the right seat of a regional jet one can feel a sense of accomplishment (without a good bit of PIC time somewhere, no ATP, so no upgrade...), but if your wife is home with a baby, you will qualify for US government food stamps-and you must often still pay at least a 20% chunk for any trip to the doctor's office. Are many ready to leave the country after several years and spend a career with various foreign airlines? Some are doing this now. Find out what is going on. Except for Southwest, UPS, FEDEX etc, the US major airlines each have several hundred pilots laid off. Find out how many thousands of pilots with years of flying turboprops and jets are competing just for an interview at those companies.
Last edited by Ignition Override; 8th Oct 2006 at 06:43.
Thread Starter
Transavia used to be a good company. It is a 100% KLM subsidiary and quite successful in the charter business. Lately it has been transformed into a loco charter "web" airline and started to charge a fee for pilot applications. I chose not to apply, as I chose not to pay for an application and sim check at FR.
But others do. It all started with "pay for training", a practise started in the US, if I am not mistaken. Here in Europe, the bean counters have taken the concept many steps ahead. As long as we keep on paying, the trend will continue and some airlines will find other things to charge us for. I doubt it if this sort of thing takes place in any other profession, except maybe for prostitutes.
But others do. It all started with "pay for training", a practise started in the US, if I am not mistaken. Here in Europe, the bean counters have taken the concept many steps ahead. As long as we keep on paying, the trend will continue and some airlines will find other things to charge us for. I doubt it if this sort of thing takes place in any other profession, except maybe for prostitutes.
Last edited by Coppi; 8th Oct 2006 at 10:13.
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when supply meets demand, thats exactly when we re gonna stop paying and shooting ouselves (or rather eachother) in the foot. i did nt do it. times are changing now though and its starting to go back the way it was thank god
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Beancounters
Is it? Would it, be possible to get this <self-centered/ SUPER-egotistical/ bunch of back-stabing/ un-supporting of each other> group of homo-sapiens called "Professional" pilots, to for once: group together and STOP the inroads that these 
BEANCOUNTERS are making into our lives (and directly into our loved one's lives), by identifying them PUBLICALY and what they are saying and trying to achieve in practically ALL Airlines!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOOK WHAT IS HAPPENING TO AIRBUS RIGHT NOW!
Look at mostly (NOT ALL!) of our Airlines, and you will see and identify these people who will pay lip service and all other homage to their 'workers', short of it costing money/time/effort, so that they can have more/all of the bottom line!
It's time that we start using/abusing, call it what you like, our learned/trained/slaved etc skills as LEVERAGE!!!!!
BEANCOUNTERS are making into our lives (and directly into our loved one's lives), by identifying them PUBLICALY and what they are saying and trying to achieve in practically ALL Airlines!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!LOOK WHAT IS HAPPENING TO AIRBUS RIGHT NOW!
Look at mostly (NOT ALL!) of our Airlines, and you will see and identify these people who will pay lip service and all other homage to their 'workers', short of it costing money/time/effort, so that they can have more/all of the bottom line!
It's time that we start using/abusing, call it what you like, our learned/trained/slaved etc skills as LEVERAGE!!!!!
