Even the public's excitement over this new means of speeding coast to coast in sixteen hours, compared with three days of rail travel, was surpassed by the enthusiasm of American Airlines' employees. That carrier had just inaugurated fifteen-hour, coast-to-coast, fourteen-berth, sleeper flights between New York and Los Angeles. One of the three refueling stops was Dallas, where nightly the two transcontinental flights stopped within an hour of each other. Although these planes were standard DC-3 models, nevertheless they were regarded with such admiration and awe that overzealous employees would use their vacation time to take their families to Dallas. There they would wait at the airport for the supreme thrill of watching these sleeper planes land and take off during the middle of the night.
Contrast that naive enthusiasm with the public's acceptance of aviation today as just another form of transportation. Airports are jammed not with sightseers (although today you can watch aircraft movements without paying for the privilege), but with hundreds or even thousands of passengers hurrying through the terminals to or from their planes. Sleeper flights seem almost ludicrous today, when it is possible to jet from New York to California in only five hours. Indeed, the popularity of this multibillion dollar business has been partly responsible for reducing bus and rail service throughout the country. Now air schedules provide the only means of reaching many smaller cities and towns.
Air transportation, however, is not all fun and games. Before we dis-cuss job opportunities, we should briefly point out the principal ways you will find this industry differs from many others, and what it expects from its employees.
SAFETY
At the outset let's be honest and admit that despite the tremendous gains made in achieving safe operations, airplanes, like other forms of transportation, occasionally have accidents. Probably this will always be true, and if you are afraid of flying, you should think twice about a career in this field. It is possible to eliminate this fear, but if you do not think that you can, by all means seek another profession.
Although for the most part only flight personnel have to fly, there is always the chance you might be required to take one or more trips on business. Some airlines give certain groups of employees' familiarization trips so they can experience an actual flight. This can be important to personnel who work in reservations or at ticket counters and may have to answer questions calling for familiarity with the aircraft cabin and passenger handling onboard an aircraft. Furthermore, an employee who does not like flying would be like the proverbial "fish out of water" and would have difficulty mustering much enthusiasm either for his or her position or the company.
YOU MAY BE SUBJECT TO TRANSFER
Regardless of what your job may be, it is always possible that a job opening may be posted in another city, and you will be asked to fill it. Refusal could lead to dismissal or being passed over for any future pro-motion. Flight crews are more subject to transfers than other employees, although they usually bid for new assignments and transfers are their choice.
AVIATION INDUSTRY HAS ITS UPS AND DOWNS
In 1973 Arab countries cut off oil shipments, which resulted in a serious oil shortage and soaring prices for all petroleum products. This greatly increased fuel costs and caused severe financial problems for most airlines. Fares shot skyward as soon as it was possible to make revisions, and traffic plummeted while some employees were laid off or furloughed. Strikes can force employees to lose their jobs, some of them permanently. The unforeseen grounding of all or part of a company's airplane fleet for safety reasons can also prove disastrous for both the company and its personnel. Fortunately, such events are extremely infrequent, but there is always the outside chance that the totally unexpected can occur. We hope you won't encounter any such difficulties.
The airline business is known as a cyclical industry, one whose business goes up and down according to national economic conditions. Periods of prosperity alternate with unprofitable years, and the workforce expands and shrinks accordingly. If you seek real job security, find a position in a noncyclical area, where there is a constant demand for goods and services. This is true in government, education, law enforcement, waste removal, or the food and restaurant industry. Once you have sufficient seniority in an airline, you will probably survive during the lean years, but it will take time to get to that safety point.
LABOR UNIONS
In many airlines, particularly the major ones, unions represent large categories of employees. If you are looking forward to a position such as a pilot, flight engineer, flight attendant, mechanic, aircraft cleaner, ramp worker, or storekeeper, you may find that it is necessary to join the union representing that group of workers.
Most unions look out for the welfare of their members. Without unions to represent them and demand better wages, working conditions, and benefits, workers would not enjoy many of the favorable working conditions they have now. Unions have been instrumental in reducing the number of hours worked, obtaining higher pay, eliminating working hazards, requiring employers to handle grievances in a fair manner, and insisting on making advancement available to all employees.
On the whole, airlines have had good labor relations with their unions, and there have been few crippling strikes in recent years. Strikes are regrettable and hurt everyone because usually when an airline shuts down; almost all employees go off the payroll. Union leadership and management have become much less antagonistic toward each other and usually are able to settle their disputes amicably.
It is interesting to observe that United Airlines is employee-owned, and since many union members are part owners of the company, they are not pitted against the management but take part in management decisions. Thus, in 1995, the employees voted down a proposed merger with U.S. Air.
If you are now anti-union and believe you would not want to join one, even though it would mean turning down a job offer that you wanted very much, reconsider your position. It is true that in the case of a strike you might have to march on a picket line, or, if you insisted on working, have to cross the picket line amid taunts and jibes of "scab" from your fellow workers. However, this is not likely to happen. We mention this so that if the matter of union membership is mentioned during your job interview, you can consider in advance how you should respond to it.
