Many airlines have successfully convinced labor to take paycuts in order to keep the company from liquidation since 9/11. Most cuts occur at airlines that are in, or close to Chapter 11.

That is until today. Alaska airlines, which has been posting profits during the last few quarters achieved through binding arbitration, what it couldn't in negotiations.

The arbitrator sided with Alaska and reduced pilot hourly rates from between 22% to 34%.

Anyone considering a career in aviation should think twice, the draw into the piloting profession has always been ability to make a good salary, and the time off to spend it!
This combination is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/content/view/45/17/

*note: the hourly rates look great although that's per flight hour - which average around 75-85 hours a month. No, not poverty, but the wages and benefits vs. the cost of living in the airline industry have nose dived (aviation pun!) since the 60's. Add this to roughly 320 hours per month away from home and it's not that great of a gig.

 

Out of curiosity, are the rates on your website the new (reduced) hourly wages, or are those the pre-reduction rates?

What kind of profit sharing (as a % of salary) do you see every year (since the airline is profitable)?

I just looked at Northworst's (who I fly weekly) pay rates. . . and I can see why the pilots rarely complain.

The airline industry is definitely not what it used to be, for employees AND travelers. Definitely a sad state of affairs. Personally, I'm not sure what the majors can do to dig themselves out of trouble, other than cut labor costs and decrease services. Now, if only USAir employees could figure that out. (Yes, I was one of the poor souls trapped in Philly on Dec. 26th 2004)

Anyway, it definitely sucks that pay is being cut that such a large %, but I assume it is a pre-emptive move to avoid future troubles. Good luck, going forward.

 

Boo hoo. Airline pilots aka bus drivers in the sky are (in general) overpaid as it is. Oh, but they have many peoples lives in their hands and they have a stressfull job.

How much does a real bus driver make? Less.

How many peoples lives does he have in his hands? More

How many hours does he work? A lot more

Who is more likely to actually get into an accident? The Bus Driver

The flip side to the first post that you don't see are the greedy unions and individuals running the airlines into the ground with unrealistic expectations and demands. What once was is no longer, the industry itself must evolove or die. The days of great pay, great benefits and little work are gone.

 

Google "John Liotine" and learn a bit more about Alaska Airlines.

I never fly Alaska Airlines anymore. On more than one occasion-- back when I did fly Alaska-- we were stuck at the gate awaiting a part to be flown in, because Alaska flew their planes until something broke. I strongly encourage my family members to never fly on Alaska.

f*ck Alaska Airlines

 

The rates published are the "new" reduced rates. As for profit sharing, within the industry it seems to be a moving target; a real carrot on a stick tool. Commonly it's a operational metric for pilots and flight attendants based on "on time performance" and "customer intent to repurchase". So quarter over over quarter the threshold rises despite the profits for that period.

 

Steve, I might be going out on a limb here but in stormy, or even just windy conditions, I'd say it takes a bit more skill pilot an aircraft. And a bit more training. And intelligence. And calm when under stress.

A bus driver can just step on the brakes, pull over, turn on the hazards and wait it out.

I have a good buddy from college who went on to become a pilot at some regional airline up in the Great Lakes area-- small jet, not a turbo-prop. He's one of the most rational, level-headed and intelligent people I've ever met and had an excellent work ethic with truly inspiring levels of personal motivation. It's a damn shame that he got into this industry just before it started heading into such financial turmoil.

Slackers do not go through all the rigors (and expense) of pilot school, and years and years of cockpit time it takes to be a commercial airline pilot. I think comparing them to bus drivers is ridiculous.

 

Hey Steve, don't get me wrong - I'm not soliciting sympathy. In general labor unions don't have a shoulder to cry on in the public's eye. This is quite true with airline pilots for sure. I disagree with your bus analogy, but I do respect your opinion - so go with it man.

A labor union will always try to extract the maximum pay and benefit for the membership. A company will always "cry poor mouth" and attempt to get labor to work for free. It's just the way things are. The facts are that the planes don't move without pilots, and pilots can't work without a very expensive captial asset (the jet) which the company controls. They do in fact need each other, but it's rarely pretty.

What I found interesting is that a "neutral" arbitrator awarded Alaska airlines' opener. The awarded rate reduction was verbatim of what Alaska originally passed to the union (ALPA) last year before both parties agreed to arbitration. There was no arbitration, everything went to the company.

With respect to Alaska Airlines this award was odd. The company is not in distress, profitable, but unwilling to find "interest based" methods to reduce costs.

Cheers - wedge

PS. Could you post a photo of a 297 passenger bus?

 

In terms of people picked up, carried and dropped off your average bus will carry more people on a given day, he will also work a full day, day after day.

There is no such thing as the perfect analogy, but the bus story is one I picked up from someone in the family who is in the industry -- currently being poked in the ass by the unions who have managed to drag the airline from profitability into a loss -- for the second year in a row.

For what its worth, I have been a private pilot for the past 16 years and despite what you may think, this recession has been a long time coming, I knew better than to expect a lifetime of overpayment back then, many people did. Maybe my point of view was skewed, I grew up in an airplane centric family .. dunno.


Yes, they do, I know a few. Airline pilots are like anyone else. There are drunks, drug users, idiots, assholes and really good people in the mix.

 

Interesting thing about most airline labor is that they work under contracts (between members of the union and the company). The company and the unions MUTUALLY AGREE on the terms of the contract through collective bargaining. Once signed by both parties, the contract defines work rules, hours of service, pay, etc. - and each party is expected to perform under the collective bargaining agreement.

You make it sound like union members show up at work one day demand the letter "Q" be strickened from the alphabet. Far from it, the only legal basis a labor union has is defined in a CBA. It sounds to me like the angst your family friend expresses is a collective airline management's inability to perform to terms of a labor agreement.

How does a labor union working under a mutually agreed upon agreement "...drag the airline from profitability into a loss..."? As a line item, labor contracts are a fixed cost that change in proportion to block hours flown.

All this time I thought it was the increase in the price of Oil that was causing panic in the industry - and airline managements inability to keep pace with a changing world economy. Silly me.

 

European Airline, different rules. Oddly the mechanics are on board with everything, it is the pilots who are demanding more.

That said, after sleeping on it and reading a bit more about the Alaskan case today, I think it does in fact seem like a raw deal for the employees.