I know there are many hurdles to overcome with my ideas, but here goes anyway.
1. change the rest to "behind the door" rest.
2. eliminate all discipline for "sick calls".
3. requirements for crew meals or time off to get them ourselves regardless of how late we are.
4. make continous duty overnights illegal. I have no problem with red-eyes, but most I know do stand-ups so they can perform another job during the day.
5. Virtual basing. Or even a step better, national seniority. Rebecca Shaw should not have to fly to EWR from SEA on the red-eye to go to work. She should have hopped on her Q-400 in Horizon paint, right there in Sea-Tac. Eliminating or reducing commuting would help both company and pilots (F/A's too).
As for the pay. I think most would agree that it starts and stops with the level of pay on the wide bodies. Kinda hard to justify paying a Saab 340 capt the same as B-747 capt. The Saab guy is working harder, but the media attention will be the same for an incident in each. First year pay has almost been an institution in this industry. Age 65 has only prolonged a looming crisis coming in retirements. There just aren't that many willing to shell out almost $250,000 to Embry-Riddle for an education and training to get a job at a 121 carrier making less than $20,000 per year. It use to be justified when you knew that there was a light at the end of the tunnel with a few years at a major that paid really well. I do like how the media as finally decided to focus on what first year pay is rather than 777 capt pay and making us assume that all pilots made that. I flew with a kid last year that was making $1100 per month payments on his student loans with 15 years to pay it off. In 10 years, where are the "Regionals" going to recruit from? I know Kit Darby was a too optimistic for his own reasons, but I agreed with him on this. As for the military, who is going to get out early these days? I'd stay in and get my pension for sure before ever looking at the airlines.
