miles otoole said:
So,
You're saying that most regional new hire F/Os are trust fund babies who don't know the value of money because their parents still pay all the bills? I think that's unrealistic and an unfair assumption. Most F/Os today struggle economically and will for a longer period of time than their predecessors 10 years ago when upgrades weren't 5 years +. Combine that with the fact that housing prices across the country have recently exploded and you'll see that F/Os today are much worse off than their predecessors.
Also, FWIW, a friend just finished her rotations (externships) as a VET at Ohio State and said every single person in her class except for two were over 30 and had huge loans that would take years to pay off.
What's your solution to increase pay across the industry?
Miles, it's too late. It's a lost cause, across the board.
Airline managements have the kiddies right where they want them. Dangle the jets keys in front of them. If you make a noise about better pay, and they threaten your jobs by moving them to another small jet sweatshop, and how quckly they knuckle under.
Look at the Comair pilots....they had the nads and took a stand at at time the market was good, and they still came away with basically no meaningfull improvement. They were days away from having the plug pulled, and they knew it. Delta and their cronies at the RAA were on a mission to prove that you couldn't win, and they succeeded.
Management is on to us. They KNOW that scope is everything. If you can't control your flying, you have ZERO pricing power. Quality of the operation means zero...look at Piedmont. The irony of CMR getting chased out of MCO by CHQ, and then having CHQ guys complain when someone else comes into MCO is laughable. The ONLY thing that matters is how cheap is the seat.
You can't buy that scope back now at ANY price.
The downward pressure won't stop there. You don't think that UPS, FedEx or SWA will maintain their premium forever, do you?
You know what? 90k is a nice sum...for a lawyer 3 years out of school. But do you want to be just schleping around 20 years to make that? Is that what you thought? 50k of flight training for Christ's sake! Maybe those FOs having a hard time paying back the loans should have taken a closer look. 90k is the best most pilots are going to do now...is THAT what you signed up for?
Anyone who gets in this business now is either stupid or has gamblers addiction.
Nu