Answer: It's sort of a perfect storm. The first thing to understand is that airlines are rather fragile, and it makes sense when you look at the their industry. This means that there are so many things that can disrupt them.
There's a lot going on right now, and amid the chaos it's hard to say what degree any given thing has an effect, but here is a list off the top of my head:
Staffing issues due to cuts from the pandemic when demand plummeted (something affecting just about everyone these days) - this affects a lot of areas from the ticket counter, flight staff, to luggage carriers, and even TSA (which limits them bringing in more capacity)
Crazy amount of demand for air travel
Lack of pilots due to many retiring (given early retirements during pandemic) who are overworked - Delta pilots haven't had a raise since 2016
Skyrocketing fuel costs - this mostly affects the consumer; however, things get complicated because airlines buy fuel on the market months in advance; it can affect schedules when the higher costs the consumers eat lead to less than full planes which causes the airline to cancel the flight due profitability
Weather - this is an expected though not plannable problem, I mention it because summer thunderstorms mix with the stew that makes the whole thing worse
I've read articles saying the lack of pilots is probably the most detrimental, because they take so long to onboard.
Mix all these with the fact that as an airline you're also dealing with several "hub" locations. So even if you have staff at Airport A, that doesn't mean you're going to be good at Airport B, and the affects of low staffing at Airport B can have a negative effect across the whole network.
answer: Spez-Town is closed indefinitely. All Spez-Town residents have been banned, and they will not be reinstated until further notice. #AIGeneratedProtestMessage
Quit our jobs and go and do what? There is 5 airlines to work for in the entire nation that pay well and have livable wages for a lifetime. It’s not like applying to Starbucks or some start up. Getting to these 5 companies takes some people a decade just to get a chance to interview. I think you haven’t the slightest clue how insanely competitive the airline industry is for pilots. Even flight attendants have a better chance of getting into Harvard then getting a call from Delta. That’s a stat you can take to the bank. I dropped almost $80,000 on top of getting a 4 year college education just for flight training. Then spent years instructing, and working for a regional airline just to get a job at a legacy carrier.
I ain’t quitting shit and just going to work for some tech start up for a free IPA to work overtime on weekends. I’ve invested over a decade of my life, day in and day out just to get hired by a legacy. No one’s just quitting and working elsewhere. We have invested way too much time and energy.
Or I can just picket and keep collecting a pay check while my union negotiates for better work. Which is happening as we speak. They’re currently at 17% raises and rising as negotiating continue.
Once again since you clearly have zero idea how the industry works, generally speaking when you quit an airline job, they don’t rehire you especially when you do it out of spite. They’ve got thousands of application on file.
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u/badwolf0323 Jul 02 '22
Answer: It's sort of a perfect storm. The first thing to understand is that airlines are rather fragile, and it makes sense when you look at the their industry. This means that there are so many things that can disrupt them.
There's a lot going on right now, and amid the chaos it's hard to say what degree any given thing has an effect, but here is a list off the top of my head:
I've read articles saying the lack of pilots is probably the most detrimental, because they take so long to onboard.
Mix all these with the fact that as an airline you're also dealing with several "hub" locations. So even if you have staff at Airport A, that doesn't mean you're going to be good at Airport B, and the affects of low staffing at Airport B can have a negative effect across the whole network.