USA Today -- Airline Employment

[Rottweiller]

Dude,
You must live in the middle of Nebraska not in Chicago. I work 2 jobs, my fiancee 2 jobs, no kids, cars old but paid off, 1000 square foot 50+ year old home.....yes, we save a little off the $100,000 we made last year but it is not a lot of money these days.

Do you think there is an executive out there telling his buddy..."man, I'd be perfectly happy if I got $1 million severance, why are you complaining that you are only getting $3 million" I THINK NOT! WTF is wrong with some of you people?

You must have one fantasic life style, that's all I can say. I may only be single and an Rj Capt in the west burbs of Chicago but I still manage to put some $$ away, new house 18 months ago, new car 2 years ago and fly my own 'spam can' around for fun.

Don't get me wrong, more money would be great but I don't see that happening any time soon so I make the best of what I have got. It's time to stop bashing the regionals for everything and perhaps turn the aggression to the LCC's who are willing to operate on very small % margins flooding the market with thousands of low cost seats. Legacy carriers who traditionally operated on higher profit margins and thus able to pay more can not do so now, and in a lot of cases have to put regionals on routes to show a presence who operate at lower costs just to keep up.

 

[StaySeated]

Oh boy, I have read some dumb sh1t on this board but this has to top most threads. Did I actually read someone say that "six figures" was satisfactory? Don't any of you "professionals" communicate with anyone outside of this ridiculous aviation community? You can make 100k making pizza, or landscaping, or appraising, or being a facking doorman!!!I know because three of my best friends do all of these things, one of them makes it all cash/clear (don't tell the irs).
This whole "I am doing what I love" crap is so old and naive I can just see the managers and attorneys that represent them wet themselves when they read it. I read the USA today and was disgusted. We have lost the battle and are about to lose the war. Anyone that is content with the current state of the industry and the future direction of labor in this debacle deserves everything the receive. Come on, someone give me a rah rah about how great this is and how great that might it be. We are screwed. Narrow body flying is gone. Embraer's and Bombardiers are coming and the pay is a fraction of what is was. I am not an economist, but I believe that 55K is less than 155K and if Johnny 737 capt. made 155K last year and I "might" make 55K in a few years flying the same route in an Emb 170 than we have not made much progress. Oh wait, jets are cool and I am cool if I fly a jet and you know what, jets are cool. Jesus facking christ are we screwed or what?

 

[tzpilot]

I don't care about the money. I'm in it because I love to fly. If I top out at 60 grand a year flying an RJ my whole life, then so be it. I just want to be part of this industry.

Hey Riddleman,

I used to think like that when I left Riddle. I suggest you frame that quote and look back on it 10 years from now and let us know if you still feel the same way. By the way, which campus did you graduate from?

 

[thruthemurk]

Not everyone out there believes in bending their company over just to line their own pockets. .

wow. This post hits a new low in ignorance.

"bending the company over??" You have been brainwashed.

massa, massa did I do a real good job, massa?? Whatever you feel good about throwin my way..I be realllll happy fo yo generosity.

 

[che_rivera]

Attn: Secks, Pilotyip, & Swafo



1.pinnacle Airways Crj Crashed In Missouri Killing 2 Crewmembers
2.corporate Airways J-31 Crashed In Missouri Killing Three Crew Members And 16 Passengers
3.747 Crashed In Halifax Killing All 7 Crewmembers

Perhaps, You Would Like To Tell Them You Would To Fly For Free.

 

[USMC319]

QUOTE: " It's time to stop bashing the regionals for everything and perhaps turn the aggression to the LCC's who are willing to operate on very small % margins flooding the market with thousands of low cost seats. "

That's a pretty shi!!y thing to say Rottweiller. Are you management at a regional? BTW, if you have been absent from the industry for the last few years, your post better describes the game-plan for most of the legacies, not the LCCs. Here is a fresh idea; how about we (labor) figure out a way to keep our collective pay and benefits at a reasonable value instead of "turning our aggression to the LCCs".

 

[BSkin]

Why argue amongst ourselves? It is the way it is now. How many different factors over the years can you blame it on. I went into the Navy pilot program with dreams of making 3-400,000 bucks someday with Delta, American, Northwest, TWA, or USAir. That didn't and won't happen. I, as well as I'm sure just about every other career pilot out there, am doing the best I can to get the most out of this career. Sorry legacy guys and people that still believe it could be that way. I'll take my low 6 figure income (in a few years) and be very happy with it. And for those people that think my attitude is part of the problem -- no, it's a product of the problem.

 

[FN FAL]

Attn: Secks, Pilotyip, & Swafo



1.pinnacle Airways Crj Crashed In Missouri Killing 2 Crewmembers
2.corporate Airways J-31 Crashed In Missouri Killing Three Crew Members And 16 Passengers
3.747 Crashed In Halifax Killing All 7 Crewmembers

Perhaps, You Would Like To Tell Them You Would To Fly For Free.

I understand the sentiment, but since none of these crashes has been ruled on yet, wouldn't it be fair to say that in a hypothetical sense that all three of these crashes COULD become ruled as pilot error?

And if in fact these crashes become ruled pilot error, I'm supposed to ask negligent pilots what about wages?

Sorry, you lost me in the translation. I would wait until an accident is ruled on before using it in correlation to something like this thread.

 

[RJP]

I sure hope that none of the "wow, i love to fly for as little as they'll pay me" guys are on their union negotiating committee!

When's the last time your dentist took a pay-cut? He can't kill 100 people with one mistake but he probably pulls home half a mil a year. Sure he went to school. But so did you!

You're responsible professionals, stop acting like a bunch of little kids at an airshow.

Wow. Neat. I'd do that for free.

 

[capt. megadeth]

"I don't care about the money. I'm in it because I love to fly. If I top out at 60 grand a year flying an RJ my whole life, then so be it. I just want to be part of this industry."

Riddleman sounds like the 20 something FO I flew with earlier this year who is still living at home sucking off of mom's ta ta's. Making $22,000 a year he says "It's fun!" Dumb $hit! Dude, you are a complete **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**ing idiot.

Rez,
Amen brotha! I agree with you 100%....it's no wonder salaries are going down the tubes!

 

[capt. megadeth]

"You must have one fantasic life style, that's all I can say. I may only be single and an Rj Capt in the west burbs of Chicago but I still manage to put some $$ away, new house 18 months ago, new car 2 years ago and fly my own 'spam can' around for fun."

If you call driving a 1998 Avenger and 1995 purple Geo Metro, working half of my airline days off at my 2nd job, living in a 1000 square foot house a fantastic lifestyle....good for you. I do put money away and have 401k and Roth IRA...no toys though. Me treating myself is an occasional $4 Starbucks. Yeah, I have one fantastic lifestyle. My point was not that I am on the verge of bankruptcy....my point was that we all should not settle for $100,000 a year flying around in a TIN CAN RESPONSIBLE FOR HUNDREDS OF LIVES! And if you do....you are a **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**ing dumba$$!

I am sorry....I had to vent!

 

[SWA/FO]

I don't work for free. I do quite well at SWA. I still like what I do. I am not on the negotiating committee at SWAPA. I do not wish to destroy this profession like so many other pilot groups have - I HAVE NEVER GIVEN MONEY BACK. You guys need to hold the line more save the profession!

 

[turn&pull]

I challenge anyone to find me a Dentist making 500K. Years ago that was possible if a dentist owned a few practices with other dentists working for him. 25 years ago a dentist would clear .50cents/dollar income. Now it is about .05 per dollar.

Same with Physicians...all over the country physicians are quitting and going into other lines of work. We have 2 working for our company who said they just couldn't make any money unless they went to work for Kaiser or something.

 

[Airpiraterob]

turn&pull,
ever considered a cosmetic dentist? the guys who put faces back together or install 'gold grilles' into your mouth..theyre important if you hope to have a good rap career. they cap your teeth and bond them together to give you a perfectly white Tony Robbins smile to hypnotize with. Those are they dentists that make the half mill.

age 60
-i can afford digital cable/Tivo W/HDtv
-an average yet decent house paid off (who needs 7 rooms)
-can go on vacation once a year
-can go visit family when i want to or need to.
-can enjoy a hobby.
-can afford food form the good grocery store...not Aldi's
this is the simple basic goal. (if you want more...ask yourself just why you need more)
how much money will get you this?
how much money are you trying to get at your job? is it more? and why do you desire that?

look at it this way. theres ALOT of people doing better than you are while making less than you do. no matter how frugal you may be (no heat...more sweaters) there WILL be someone doing more with less than you have.

my best friends dad. never made more than 50k a year. retiring next year with a nice house paid off and a Bass boat paid off...he will be able to do whatever he wants when retired and hes still married even........

so ask yourself....just what are you asking for? and what (if anything) iswrong about it? i'm not condonning the low rates and worthless payscales that may be in some of our futures...i'm just saying it's alright to get paid what youre worth, and attempt to be paid what you believe what you're worth, but its another thing entirelly to be asking for more just because its more than what youre getting now. by that reasoning its nothing short of being greedy. and morgan freeman and brad pitt saw what happened to that guy. he had all kinds of super expensive office space.(guess the movie) Sam Walton once said to a friend "nice office, expensive stuff....how much money does this make you?"

 

[SDF2BUF2MCO]

Airrob, I don't think a person should feel "guilty" for wanting to make a decent wage. Especially when it is a unique position that requires unique skills. Granted, flying is becoming more automated and will continue to do so. If $50K is going to be a decent salary for flyers then they need to lower the quals (which companies won't do right now because of an abundance of pilots), drop the college degree requirement, and/or provide for all the training from ground up. Make it like the military in that regard.

Maybe when companies start having a hard time finding pilots the lights will go on. Until then this trend will probably continue.

After a while the costs are what they are. I don't understand this race to be the cheapest. It reminds me of some poor girl in high school where the only way she could get the attention of the boys was to dress provocatively and be known as "easy". Think the business leaders would want people to fly their airline not because "we're the cheapest" but because people want/like to fly your airline. With these simplistic ideas I'm sure I'll never make it to the ivory tower.