Originally Posted by
sailingfun
I am not sure where some of the wild numbers being put out here come from. To match SWA in pay if you compare their 737 rate to ours at the amendable date of our contract will require about a 15 percent raise in direct pay rates. If you add the value of the DC contribution to the mix then the raise would only have to be around 9 percent. If we go to the company demanding SW compensation the company might just say no problem. Here is their total block hour cost per pilot. We will be glad to pay you that!!!
Hint, Their total block hour cost verses ours is not that far apart. We probably don't want to go there.
Misdirection BS. You can't just compare the rates. They get paid a whole bunch more units of those rates... 105 per month on average (reserves too). And they get that working an average of 12 days per month. How many "credit hours" does the average Delta pilot get paid each month? How many days does he/she work? What about reserves? How many break the 70 hour reserve guarantee? (SWA's reserve guarantee is 90.)
The bottom line is how your W-2 ends up. THAT is what determines your standard of living on a day to day basis. The average SWA pilot can afford a much nicer home than the average Delta pilot. He can afford to send his kids to better schools. He has a decent retirement plan... especially considering that he didn't have to start from scratch halfway through his career like a lot of us did. Those are the things that matter. The rest is just misdirection BS. Why would you do that?