Skip to main content

Southwest Airlines Community

United Airlines plans to hire and train 5,000 pilots, including some with no flying experience

jksobonya
Aviator A

“United Airlines says it will train 5,000 pilots this decade, including taking on applicants with no flying experience, and plans for half of them to be women or people of color.”

 

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/united-seeks-to-build-its-own-diverse-pipeline-of-pilots/?amp=... 


🤔 Call me crazy, but I don’t care about “diversity” when it comes to airline pilots - all that matters to me is whether or not they can fly from A to B and not crash into a building, a mountain, or the sea along the way.

 

One more reason to fly Southwest! 

 

—Jessica

5 REPLIES 5

Re: United Airlines plans to hire and train 5,000 pilots, including some with no flying experience

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

@jksobonya wrote:

“United Airlines says it will train 5,000 pilots this decade, including taking on applicants with no flying experience, and plans for half of them to be women or people of color.”

 

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/united-seeks-to-build-its-own-diverse-pipeline-of-pilots/?amp=... 


🤔Call me crazy, but I don’t care about “diversity” when it comes to airline pilots - all that matters to me is whether or not they can fly from A to B and not crash into a building, a mountain, or the sea along the way.

 

One more reason to fly Southwest! 

 

—Jessica


Are you saying it's better to fly Southwest because they aren't doing what United is doing, making an effort to hire a diverse workforce?  I think Southwest would argue that they too strive to have diverse employees so then where does that put you?

https://careers.southwestair.com/diversity

 

Perhaps diversity does not factor into your purchasing decisions, but I'm glad to see companies hire people from all backgrounds and am glad when people who traditionally have less of a role in a particular industry get involved in that industry.  It may not change purchasing decisions, but it does change humanity and our society overall for the better.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: United Airlines plans to hire and train 5,000 pilots, including some with no flying experience

jksobonya
Aviator A

@TheMiddleSeat wrote:


Are you saying it's better to fly Southwest because they aren't doing what United is doing, making an effort to hire a diverse workforce?  I think Southwest would argue that they too strive to have diverse employees so then where does that put you?

https://careers.southwestair.com/diversity

 

Perhaps diversity does not factor into your purchasing decisions, but I'm glad to see companies hire people from all backgrounds and am glad when people who traditionally have less of a role in a particular industry get involved in that industry.  It may not change purchasing decisions, but it does change humanity and our society overall for the better.

 

--TheMiddleSeat


There's nothing wrong with diversity when you are diverse for the right reasons. United seems to be trying too hard to show their "diversity" by purposely pointing out that they are hiring people with "no flying experience" and hiring women / people of color. Why does it matter? Why does it even need to be said that that's what they're doing? It shouldn't matter if a pilot is a woman or black or white or anything else. What matters is their flying experience as a pilot, not their gender or skin color.

 

--Jessica 

United Airlines plans to hire and train 5,000 pilots, including some with no flying experience

SWFlyer007
Aviator C

I'm with you on the fact it doesn't matter to me who flies the plane.  But it states they will train them, I'm sure they will have lots of flying experience once they start to pilot a plane.   But I always fly SWA anyway

Re: United Airlines plans to hire and train 5,000 pilots, including some with no flying experience

gsking
Aviator C

Exactly.   If United wants to spend money to train pilots, rather than selecting them from the "traditional" sources like the military,  that's their choice.   If the military tends to train white male pilots for whatever reason,  that's another discussion. 

 

I fly Southwest for their prices and flight experience.   If United wants to raise their prices even MORE to fund their flight school,  so be it.   I still won't fly them. 

Re: United Airlines plans to hire and train 5,000 pilots, including some with no flying experience

jksobonya
Aviator A

@SWFlyer007 wrote:

But I always fly SWA anyway


Yep! I can't even think of the last time I flew United. I think I did once, years ago, before I realized Southwest's awesomeness 😉 

 

--Jessica