I get that people are really worried about this situation with jobs moving abroad. And I do feel empathy. It's tit. But I feel like those two only complain because of their own situation and make it out to be the absolute worst one imaginable.
Let's put this whole thing into perspective, shall we?
Out of the supposedly 143000 families in peril, only a small percentage works directly in aviation. The others benefit from aviation but in their majority wouldn't benefit from any bailout or money injection into the airlines' pockets.
Out of the workers being employed in the aviation sector directly I would wager that ground staff and people working in the airports would see less of the money than others working directly for an airline. And within these airlines pilots are on top of the food chain, I would think.
Out of all the pilots Thomas might well be one of the more junior ones, hence earn less than his older colleagues. But he is also in a position where, if he were to lose his job, he would be easily hired somewhere else. A 60 year old pilot with a hefty wage might not get the same offers and isn't as attractive in the hiring process even when they're more qualified.
So far I would say that Thomas and Melanie are actually the lucky ones, seeing that Thomas is highly qualified and young enough to still get a foot in somewhere else even if he was fired. Other pilots for sure have family, older kids with roots firmly in one place in stuff like school or with friend groups established etc. Not to mention mortgage for a house and all that. So even within that privileged group of pilots he is one of the lucky ones.
And even within that pool of younger pilots Thomas is in the incredibly fortunate position to have a partner who works in a field where having to emigrate is not the end of the world job wise. I can imagine that this is not the case for most other people. They might be in a partnership where a move would mean having to sacrifice a good job. Looking for a new job somewhere else when you're not really wanting to move or have established yourself in your place of work already is something entirely different than what they face.
I don't want to at all minimize the fear that many must feel in the aviation industry, but yet again, like so many times before, Melanie and Thomas are really really lucky within that pool of people. And yet they are the loudest in complaining and whining. And I don't for one second believe that it is because they are "sticking up for others". It's all about what it means for them, how it affects them etc.
They cry about possibly not being able to live close to their parents while some of Thomas's colleagues would have to break to their older kids that they will have to uproot them from their life or even be in a long distance relationship with their kids and partners. Let alone people with shared custody or elderly parents they care for. The list goes on. Yet it's all "I won't be able to out a roof over my son's head". So dramatic.
It makes me less likely to empathise with the cause actually. I am trying to keep an open mind but those two and the way the petition is run really put me off supporting the cause in the slightest.