KingAirKiddo
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2002
- Posts
- 465
Heavy Set said:Clearly DAL will need to lower its costs in order to better compete with SWA, Jet Blue, AirTran and others. The DAL pilots will do their part and negotiate lower wages - and hopefully all other labor groups will contribute as well (including regional employees).
Nope, sorry...isn't going to happen, brother. We are NOT grossly overpaid in comparison to our peers at other regional carriers and will not give a freakin' cent (reference CMR, ASA, ACA, SKYW, AWAC, ExpressJet, Eagle). Comair may be at the top of the pile, but ACA (the next highest paid CRJ pilots) have payrates within 5% of what Comair pays. Everybody likes to throw Mesa and Chautauqua rates back at us--my contention is that our rates are not too high, THEIRS are TOO LOW. If matching the lowballing carriers is going to be the accepted norm, then Delta pilots should be flying the MD-88 for Spirit wages. What is the likelihood of that happening? I didn't think so...
Additionally, I am a bit perplexed by the mainline pilots who actually condone regional pilots (wholly owned or not) taking paycuts. THE SOLUTION TO THE RJ "PROBLEM" IS HIGHER PAY AT THE REGIONALS. THE MORE COSTLY IT IS FOR US TO OPERATE THESE PLANES, THE LESS ATTRACTIVE THEY ARE IN REPLACING MAINLINE SERVICE. Why can't some people get that through their heads?
I simply want to put in my time at my current regional airline employer and then move on to the majors someday like a good little soldier, but I'm not going to work for poverty level wages in the process (and certainly not while flying a jet for a profitable company). Go pick on some other group, such as the overpaid senior mainline flight attendants or better yet--MANAGEMENT.
Enjoy your weekend...
KAK