Getting "Plutoed"

To "pluto" is "to demote or devalue someone or something," much like what happened to the former planet last year when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided Pluto didn't meet its definition of a planet. (From an article by the Associated Press)

In case you hadn't noticed, the economy is in the crapper. So people say it's getting worse while others say it's starting to get better. What's the truth? I have no idea. I'm a pilot, not an fortune teller. We'll just have to wait and see. However, many folks have been laid off in the last couple of years and airline pilots have certainly not been an exception. For most people if you lose your job, you are pretty much just on your own. An upside is, if you've gathered some decent experience from the company that let you go, you might be able to land another position similar to, or maybe even better than the one you had. Things are slightly different when an airline pilot gets "Plutoed." This is largely because of an ancient artifact that is the seniority system.

When a regular company goes through tough times and has to lay people off, they get to chose who to let go based on what projects lack funding, who doesn't get their work done when they should, who routinely comes in late, etc, etc. When an airline lays pilots off, they don't have the luxury of separating the wheat from the chaff. Who gets laid off is based purely on their date of hire with that airline. Those who have been with the company the least amount of time, will be the first to go.

I must say, this certainly makes things easy on management. No tough choices have to be made of who stays and who goes. There are no awkward meetings with sad employees begging you to reconsider. No one is sobbing while telling you about their mortgage and kids. In fact, airline pilots are laid off with one of the most insensitive vehicles of communication that exist in corporate America: A Memo.

Pilots aren't completely cut loose when this happens either. This is why you don't really hear of pilots being "let go" or "laid off." Technically, we get "furloughed." Yes, there is a difference. Having been furloughed, you could go to another airline if they are hiring, but you'll start at the very bottom of the seniority list all over again. While your company doesn't want to pay you to work for them, they still want to keep you close by for when things get better. They do this by holding your position in the seniority list while you're gone. When times improve, they start to hire again and you can come back and be right where you left off. Airlines have a very enviable position here. A regular company might not want to lay off a good employee for fear that they might go to work for a competitor. Airlines might not be able to chose who they cut, but they have a great deterrent against them going elsewhere.

This is the evil carrot which airlines have dangled in front of pilots for decades and decades, and not just in time of furloughs. A pilot's quality of life and pay scale are solely related to that pilot's place on the company seniority list. For the most part, you start out making the least amount of money, flying in the right seat of the smallest aircraft with the crappiest schedule. As you move up in seniority, you will get better schedules, and work your way into the left seat, bigger planes, and a bigger paycheck. This is what allows company's to crap on flight crews to the extent they do. Sure, things might suck, but if you've been with a company for a few years, you are going to be willing to just put up with things rather than starting all over.

Let's say you've worked your way up to something like left seat in an Airbus 320 or Boeing 737. You could be making somewhere in the neighborhood of $150,000/year. Your company has really been pissing you off in terms of crappy schedules, horrible procedures, stupid policies and idiot bosses. After all, you've got years and years of Part 121 experience, Pilot In Command experience, several type ratings, and a great safety record. However, leaving for another airline means you will be back in the right seat, in a smaller aircraft, perhaps making $35,000/year. And, since you have a mandatory retirement age of 65, you might have enough time left to work back up a new seniority list to where you were at your old company. How much will an airline pilot put up with? The answer is: an awful lot.

Lets say you are a captain and you survived a furlough. Plenty of people on the seniority list below you. This doesn't mean you will be unaffected. You could be downgraded. This means you'll either find yourself flying a smaller, lower paying aircraft, or worse yet, back in the right seat of something. This means a HEFTY pay cut. Usually this is somewhere on the order of 40-50%. How many people out there would struggle if they all of a sudden got their paycheck cut in half? How many of those people would be looking for another job? An airline pilot would like to as well, if not for that damn carrot still hanging there.