wheelsup said:
It's the union's job to keep the wages up. Yes I know pilots vote for contracts, but why vote themselves out of a job?
Yes it is the union’s job, but the line pilots are the ones directing the union in negotiations. The line pilots make their wishes known to their MEC, the MEC directs the negotiating committee what to go after, the negotiating committee brings back a Tentative Agreement to the MEC, if the MEC agrees that it meets the member’s needs that were voiced they send it out for member ratification, then the pilots vote on it.
The “union” isn’t some magic, mysterious force, it’s a group of line pilots who decide to make it their personal responsibility to help their fellow pilots in the traditions passed down by ALPA. Sometimes they do better than others (Comair versus Mesa) but the union doesn’t just “magically” keep wages up.
Vote themselves out of a job? Hardly. Go educate yourself on the effect that regional airline pilot pay has on CASM and how it affects overall profitability at a regional airline and let me know when you’re ready to debate it.
In fact, I don't think the lowering of wages is due to pilots accepting it. As a fact of life, there will always be people accepting $0.01 (or more) less per hour than the guy currently doing whatever it is he does. Bend over and smile is what I say, atleast you're flying

.
Thanks for proving my point… “Bend over and smile…”? Why don’t you call Phil Trenary, our President and CEO directly at 901-348-4100 and tell him your thoughts on airline pay. He’ll probably hire you on the spot and ask how many friends you can bring with you. This is
EXACTLY what the problem is – too many people willing to work for poverty-level wages making it harder for the rest of the pilots to keep the bar at a respectable level.
At least our new-hires know enough not to openly say this at work if they truly believe it – they’d quickly find themselves doing nothing but slinging the gear and running the radios for a
LONG, LONG TIME!
Originally posted by Jetops
Do you realy think a airline is going to pay you $100,000 dollars a year. Your first year out of flight school .
wow you must realy think that you are god gift to the avation world .
Hmmm… Did I say that I thought a pilot straight out of flight school should be paid $100,000? Ummm… No, I didn’t. What I
DID say was that a pilot straight out of flight school should
NOT have to work at a compensation level that is
BELOW THE MEDIAN POVERTY LEVEL as detailed by our Federal Government, nor should he or she qualify for food stamps. Stop putting words in my mouth and argue the points.
here some fact for you
In 2002, median annual earnings of airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers were $109,580. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $55,800. Over 25 percent earned more than $145,000.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Unfortunately, the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t separate Major Airline pay from Low Cost Carrier and Regional Airline pilot pay. Here are the
REAL compensation levels you should be comparing (Copyright Kit Darby’s AIR, Inc 2004 Pilot Salary Survey):
Major Airline Median Annual Earnings: $128,520 - 23% of pilot population
Low-Cost Carrier Median Annual Earnings: $96,260 - 9% of pilot population
Regional Airline Median Annual Earnings: $46,660 - 14% of pilot population
The other 54% of pilots fall into the charter, corporate, or flight instructor category.
Incidentally, the average Regional Pilot starting salary is $18,120 per year.
granted when your at a commuter you making less 30,000 per year when you start there . The pay equal out over the long run when your flying the 747/757/767 or airbus.
so when your making $109,580 dollars a year in the near future you were fairly paid .
So now that you understand that starting “commuter” pay is not “just less than 30,000 per year”, but less than $20,000 per year and puts that pilot in the poverty level, let’s do a quick “reality check” at your claim of “in the near future… when you’re flying the 747/757/767/Airbus”:
Take a good, hard look around at the industry; most of us have been at the corporate, charter, or regional level since the early to mid 90’s, an average of 10 – 15 years. There are 7,000+ pilots from the majors on furlough with more to come from USAirways in September. How likely do you think it is that any of us are going to make it into a major airline job in the next 5 years? The next decade maybe? That means we’re stuck here for another 5 – 10 years, and our average compensation is about $50,000. So now
HOPEFULLY you understand that pilot pay
for the vast majority of us won’t ever reach 6 figures “in the near future”.
Lequip, your friends at the regionals must be VERY senior. 6 figures just doesn’t happen here except to the top 2 or 3 percent of the seniority group and ONLY if they work 90+ hours a month. Just for comparison, here is the industry leader’s 50-seat CRJ Captain pay at 5, 10, and 15 years (Comair) flying an 80 hour line – bear in mind, the rest of us make about 5-7% less than this:
5 year Comair pay: $65.00 per hour, $5,200 per month, $62,400 per year
10 year Comair pay: $80.00 per hour, $6,400 per month, $76,800 per year
15 year Comair pay: $95.00 per hour, $7,600 per month, $90,200 per year
At Comair, no one sees $100 per hour until this coming June with 18+ years seniority and even then you’ll have to work 85+ hours per month to break 6 figures,
and that’s regional industry leading pay – the rest of us make less!
p.s. I’ll trade you – you can come make my $55k per year left seat CRJ paycheck flying 92 hours per month and I’ll go fly left seat at Blu making $90k+ at guarantee…

Yes, I know, two different types of operations and companies, but things aren’t all rosy over here, there are valid reasons for the griping, b*tching, and general gnashing of teeth…
To all: Bottom line - pilots in
all levels of the industry need to demand a fair wage for what they do. Some major airline pilots
may be overpaid, granted, but most regionals are
vastly underpaid and that needs to change. Starting F/O needs to be around $30,000, 10 year Captain (a 35-year old guy or gal with a family) needs to be 6 figures, and the regionals would STILL be profitable at those levels… just the facts.