Things are not looking good for my employer, and by extension, me. They’ve just announced that 49 pilots were furloughed yesterday. All of those pilots were still in new-hire ground school. Being furloughed is basically the same as being fired. The only difference is that when the company hires again, they have to hire the furloughed pilots first. Furlough sounds like not such a bad thing, and makes one think that you might get some kind of benefits. This isn’t the case. When a unionized company furloughs, they have to start at the bottom of the seniority list. Right now…
The Captain on my flight to DFW last night informed me that he’d just finished a drug screening, and his first attempt to produce a sample of sufficient quantity had failed, and he’d had to sit around drinking water until he could produce another. As a result, he was well hydrated and was likely to need the lavatory on our flight to Dallas. He was a former Dash 8 pilot, and was brand new to the jet, fresh off of IOE. On the taxi, we got excited because it looked like we were going to be #4 or so for…
The best food in business class is something which I think they call an egg quesadilla. It’s not, but it’s good. It comes with sausage and salsa. The only other breakfast choice lately is corn flakes, fruit and yogurt. The fruit tends to be cut fancily, but generally isn’t that good. Well, the strawberries are okay, but the melons are lacking. If you’ve got the choice between the “beef short ribs” and the “red pasta”, I think the “beef short ribs” are better. I have no idea why they call it “beef short ribs” because it’s not. It’s basically pot…
If a pilot ever offers to let your cat ride in the cockpit, you should thank him. We had a very full flight to Chicago a few days ago; during boarding the flight attendants told me that a woman brought a cat in a box that was too big to fit under the seat in front of her. I told them to tell her that the cat had to ride in the cargo compartment. The woman apparently agreed, and I noticed the ramp crew was being very disagreeable about stowing the cat. I walked down the steps to figure out…
So why aren’t I flying? I’m annoyed that I had to come to New York yesterday just so I could sit around and do nothing. Well, I did a little more than nothing, but I didn’t get to fly. I rode JetBlue yesterday. I didn’t get an exit row, but I did get one of the new “even more legroom” seats which have 38″ of seat pitch. 38″ is way more than even I need. The flight left about 45 minutes late, then we were in a hold for another 15 minutes. In other words, a normal flight to JFK.…