A series of articles in which yet another pathetic cranky aging boomer tries to convince the world that things used to be better.
Last week I celebrated what would have been my 32nd anniversary with Ozark Air Lines. Well, perhaps “celebrate” is too strong a word. No corks were popped, no cakes decorated. The only thing I did to commemorate the occasion was watch the very same episode of “The Rockford Files” (“The Prisoner of Rosemont Hall”) that I had watched that Friday evening those many years ago as I packed for my very first trip. I also took some time to reflect on my expectations at the beginning of my career and how different things look now that that career has ended.
Had things stayed as they were when my life in the airline business began, in a few weeks the combination of my age and time worked would have made me eligible to retire with a relatively generous defined benefits pension when I turned 55.
Viewed by today’s standards that seems nearly outlandish, at least for the average working person, but this was the standard for the times. These were not gifts bestowed upon us, on the contrary these were benefits we fought and negotiated for, often at the expense of near-term compensation. I’m not complaining, just attempting to describe how things were.
For the vast majority of airline employees, especially for unionized workers like pilots, mechanics, agents and flight attendants (but not until the 1970s, when courts finally outlawed the conditions instituted by the airlines that were designed to keep the cabin crews young, attractive and female) the 32 year period prior to my career (1946 to 1978) went like this: You were hired on, and as your years accumulated, due to seniority, increasing demand and the resulting rapid expansion of commercial air travel and later the introduction of jet aircraft your working conditions and pay improved until one day you retired.
And airlines used to have a well-deserved reputation for promoting from within (a wise concept, because it is a business that is very different from most others) so it really was true that if you worked hard and applied yourself, you could rise to the limits of your abilities. (I’ve worked with a few people who obviously rose past the limits of their abilities, but that’s the subject of another column.)
I recently read “Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters” by Chesley B. Sullenberger, the captain who piloted US Airways flight 1549 to its safe landing in the Hudson River in January of 2009. As a former safety instructor and accident investigator I was very interested in that particular flight in Captain Sullenberger’s career, but as a former airline employee I was also intrigued by his very accurate and well-written description of his career ups and downs.
Like many of us, “Sully” hired on with a relatively small regional carrier, Pacific Southwest Airlines, also known at PSA. Like most of us in those days, he lived in the same city where he was based and drove to work. And like many of us with Ozark, Southern, North Central, Air West and numerous other companies, the names of which now exist only in history, his airline was bought by a larger carrier and everything changed. Not always for the worst.
For some, including myself, these changes brought new opportunities. But it also often resulted in a loss of pay and/or seniority (the coin of the realm in the airline business, a subject for yet another future column) forced people to either move or commute, and in most cases some elimination of jobs.
To compound these difficulties, thousands of us who have any pension benefits at all are looking at a fraction of what we were originally supposed to receive, due to nearly all carriers taking a trip (or two or three) though Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Court. Sully reflects ruefully on the changes he has experienced. I can’t speak for him, but my impression is he, like me, is not complaining, just explaining. To paraphrase the old automobile advertisement, it is obvious that we did not inherit our father’s airline career.
As many of you know, these conditions are no longer exclusive to the airline industry. We just arrived first. Yes, the business was more fun then. It was also more secure, as were most occupations. Many other countries in the rest of the industrialized world, including Europe and South America, have maintained or even improved upon the working conditions we once enjoyed, while ours have deteriorated. (Not that I’m trying to start a book club here, but for more on this subject I recommend “Raising the Global Floor: Dismantling the Myth That We Can’t Afford Good Working Conditions for Everyone” by Jody Heymann and Alison Earle.)
Chances are, as an air traveler these days each employee you come into contact with, from the reservations agent, to the skycap, to the gate agent to the flight attendants, have seen their lives altered, not for the better, in ways no one would have imagined 20 years ago. If they seem stressed, well, they probably are. They’ve been tasked to “do more with less” and “work smarter not harder” by upper management that to a great extent rotates in then out of their positions, almost always leaving having been richly rewarded, regardless of their performance.
But of course as these columns are meant to point out, it was a different world then. Passengers boarded airplanes with hardbound copies of the latest Stephen King or John Grisham novel and read while they enjoyed decent food and maybe a few cocktails. Now, whether tethered to the Internet or not, passengers slave over their laptops and reach for their cell phones as soon as they are told it is permissible with a speed that would put Steve McQueen in “Wanted: Dead or Alive” to shame. Of course, they can choose to take a break and rest, providing they can come up with the money for a pillow and blanket.
Ernest Hemingway once said, “Never mistake motion for action.” Don’t mistake it for progress either.
