The Dallas Morning News reported that a pilot has won a lawsuit against Bombardier Flexjet. The suit involved a contract dispute between the pilot and the fractional jet operator. The court ruled last week that the pilot's contract was "unenforceable," and that Flexjet "used deceptive practices in promising pilots promotions and training."According to the news article, Flexjet first sued the pilot back in 2005 for failing to repay a portion of his training costs when he left the company. The pilot's contract stipulated that he must repay training costs unless he remained with the company for at least 24 months. He left after 17 months.
The pilot filed a counter-suit, "arguing that Flexjet had falsely promised rapid promotions for new pilots and training that would help them get their official rating quickly on various types of corporate jets."
"These promises turned out to be lies," he said, especially the part about becoming a captain and earning more than $50,000 a year, well above the initial pay of $32,000 a year. "We were cheap labor to them."The pilot was awarded no damages in his counter-suit against Flexjet, and probably will have to bear his own legal costs. According to the Dallas Morning News article, the pilot has since gone to work for NetJets.
In an interview, [the pilot] said he thought it was particularly deceptive that the company emphasized to its customers that for safety reasons both captain and co-pilot would be fully rated on the planes flown. "I flew their planes for 17 months without my type rating," he said.
