Originally Posted by
jk88usa
I'm assuming a lot of people on FT know about why there is a growing pilot shortage in the US, but I fail to see the point of QX pilots ragging on Tilden in the Seattle Times for failing to address it (if that turns out to be true).
I disagree - the reality is there is a pilot shortage, and while Alaska has fumbled its response to that, the real issue is the Virgin America purchase and the expansion of Horizon routes (i.e. Alaska brass has stated by the end of 2018 that Alaska will add another 30 city pairs from SFO mostly using Skywest and Horizon) How can Alaska do this when it cannot even cover the existing routes?
This all just makes the whole issue worse. This all falls on Brad Tilden and his inability to cope with reality. I am pissed as hell at Tilden and I think he simply exacerbated this problem badly. Alaska was not equipped to purchase Virgin America and greatly expand SFO. It is that simple. The purchase of Virgin Air has caused Alaska to lose its codeshare and frequent flyer tie ins with America. This is a huge loss. So while Tilden probably walks away with a huge paycheck related to this purchase the rest of us get screwed - and screwed again and again.
Tiden took a very good airline and wrecked it. Sure, he's bringing in a new market and customers, but Brad Tilden has completely screwed the rest of us. From the article it looks like Tilden is screwing his Horizon pilots as well. Brad Tilden is the problem.