Economic Storm Clouds

Shortly after my one year anniversary with Braniff International the rumblings began.  The old Captains were grumbling about the rapid expansion of the airline.  New guys like me thought the old guys were just grouchy... life was good.  We bought the house we currently live in August 1979 in anticipation of a glorious airline career.

My seniority number was 1721 and we now had over 2200 pilots... so that meant about 500 pilots below me on the seniority list.  Rumors of layoffs started to surface in the spring of 1980 and they began for real in about May.  They started with small numbers 25-30 pilots at a time.  I still felt pretty comfortable when I still had 400 below me.  I began seeking guidance and comfort from the old guys. 

The rule of thumb was:  "If you had one third of the pilots below you (seniority wise) you were safe from furlough." That formula worked before the airlines were deregulated... we hoped it still worked.

I had about 22% below me... but still they had to furlough 400 to get to me...

I was enjoying life and getting comfortable in my job and a huge pay raise was coming up in November of 1980.  Along with the pay raise came added the security of furlough pay.  They would have to pay me to lay me off.  I was looking forward to November of 1980.

Then came the rumor they were going to furlough 500 all at once...  I didn't believe it until I got my registered letter in the mail.  I was given 30 days notice.  August 31, 1980 would be my last day as an airline pilot. 

There was no big pay raise in November.  There was no furlough pay... the reason they furloughed 500 of us at once was probably to avoid paying us furlough pay... contracts work two ways...