this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2023
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[–] [email protected] 57 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So they know the problem, pay increase isn't worth the bullshit surrounding the promotion, and they know the fix.

Will they create more stable schedules or bump the pay to make it worth their captain's time?

Fuck no. Let's just cancel a bunch of flights because no one wants to work

[–] AnotherPerson 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And then bitch about it publicly to try and create pressure on the pilots. Sorry UA, the class warfare stuff is out of the bag, I'm with the pilots

[–] acosmichippo -5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Unless you think the airline can just eat the cost of raises, I'm not so sure it's a simple case of class warfare. Airlines operate on very thin margins, so any increase in costs would have to lead to increased prices for customers.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Airlines make record profits every year, and are run on razor thin margins. The wildest thing is that the flights themselves are a loss leader for the insanely profitable travel points scam they've been running since the 60s.

Stop extracting 80% of the profits for the investment class from the tourism industry and paying the pilots triple their current wages would be simple.

Never believe a corporation when they complain about labor costs. It's always a lie

[–] acosmichippo -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Stop extracting 80% of the profits for the investment class from the tourism industry and paying the pilots triple their current wages would be simple.

not that simple. stop extracting profits, then no one wants ownership of the company anymore.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm sure the employees do.

[–] acosmichippo -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

so you’re jumping from a relatively minor quirk in labor staffing to a socialist takeover of a multibillion dollar business. be realistic, it ain’t happening.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Other than employees already run the business.

[–] AnotherPerson 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Stop carrying water for millionaires.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

But how will they stay rich?

[–] acosmichippo 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

i’m not carrying water for millionaires, just being realistic about the capitalist world we live in.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If everyone "stays realistic" about the way the world is then the reality is the world stays the way it is. If enough people expect the unrealistic outcome then maybe it could be real.

[–] acosmichippo 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

firstly, you don't have "enough" socialists to make that kind of change, and secondly if you're stuck in an idealist mindset then you may miss on good solutions just because they aren't perfect in your opinion.

[–] Galluf 2 points 1 year ago

You obviously didn't read the article as creating more stable schedules is exactly what they're doing.

Is it enough, probably not. But let's not make up lies.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As a pilot the problem with upgrading early is seniority dictates QOL. A junior captain needs to work a junior base, fly a junior plane, and get whatever crappy trips are left in the schedule. That means that a senior First Officer would have to move or commute to a new city until they build enough seniority to go back to where they want to live all while working the worst schedule, or even worse sitting on reserve. Absolutely not worth the pay bump when you can wait a little longer and not have to deal with all that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Have you done the mental math about where the pay would make it worth your while?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Hard to say, upgrade means going to a junior base which are almost universally high COL areas and you'd need to either move there or rent a crash pad for several months to several years until you can go back.

In my case, I'm lucky enough to have 0 ex-wives and no kids to put through college so I'm in a comfortable position money wise. It would take a pretty big chunk of money for me to take the hastle to upgrade until I could hold my base.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It sounds like they need to figure out how to merge the two lists to give junior captains some time not fully on call. Maybe allow senior first officers to be standby captains one week out of the month to ease them into the role.

[–] themeatbridge 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Or just increase pay. Supply and demand.

[–] Duvidl 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That clearly didn't work. A 40 percent increase is plenty, but it seems people don't want their jobs to dictate their personal lives. Which is fair, I guess.

They need to change the expectations tha t come with the junior captain's seat. Or force senior captains to be a bit more lenient, too.

The alternative is having no captains anymore, soon.

[–] themeatbridge 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Obviously a 40% increase was not plenty, or this wouldn't be a problem. For example, I wouldn't take a 40% pay increase to be constantly on call. A 200% increase, yes I would do that. So there is a number for me, I'm just not sure exactly what it is.

There will always be people who refuse at any price, but you don't need to convince everyone. You just need enough captains to keep scheduled flights from being cancelled. There's a number that gets you there, and the only thin we know for sure is that it's more than 40%.

Fwiw I'm not disagreeing with your first point. Reducing the demand on captains could also help.

[–] AnotherPerson 3 points 1 year ago

If we're going to live in a supply and demand economy that works it needs to apply to both labor and goods. I'm all here for this.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

The senior first officers are noting QoL issues as the major reason they are not choosing to be junior captains. If a 40% increase in salary isn't enough to get people to make the jump, maybe the solution is to change the quality of life for junior captains.

It might also be cheaper for the airline to make the cutoff more flexible in a way that is acceptable to the pilots' union.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

World News.