pipejockey
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2003
- Posts
- 1,041
An AA gate agent at the top of the payscale (10 years) is at 21 bucks an hour. For a 40 hour work week that comes out to $3360. That is significantly more than a regional FO who has put in far more work and time and expense to pursue his profession. What does a gate agent have in their job, not a profession, that would justify them being paid more than any pilot, regardless of airline, seat, or equipment. Also the fuelers are earning $20 bucks an hour. Now if these gate agents and fuelers put in a few hours overtime they are paid about $1000 more than a regional FO does per month. A month of up to 5 leg days, about 50 legs a month, up to 16 hour duty days and 35 to 40 hour on duty a week. Now compare that to the 6 legs a month and 9 days on the job a widebody pilot works.
The pay structure in this industry is absurd, and it is high time to do something about it. The days of sitting 2 years in the right seat at most regionals and paying your dues then upgrading and moving on to a major after 5 years is over for most. The pay structure needs to be corrected for this change in a pilots career path. I mean after all, the pigs in management continue to transfer more and more flying to the regionals in order to save money, the least they can do is share a little of that savings by paying regional FO's a livable wage. Paying your dues for a couple years at low pay in the right seat of a regional is one thing, but ask some 10 year FO's at Eagle, Horizon, and Comair about that. How long should they have to continue "paying their dues" while earning less than gate agents and fuelers.
