Originally Posted by
Scoop
Slow,
All true, but little consolation for a lot of our junior guys. We are stagnating. Guys off the top don't really help guys on the bottom too much if we don't hire and grow.
For example, and I do realize that this is exaggerated, but it makes the point. If the top 25% leave the 2nd quartile is now mostly the top (huge benefit). The third quartile moves up to mostly the 2nd (large benefit) but the bottom 25% are pretty much still the bottom, albeit now reaching up to 33% on the list (marginal to zero benefit).
Granted UAL and AMR are worse but every Pilot hired after about 1999 would be making more if they instead went to Southwest, FDX, Jet Blue, Virgin (mostly), Atlas, and who knows who else.
I am hoping our next contract will change that and who knows what the future holds, but as of now every Pilot hired after around 1999 at the worlds biggest airline would have been better off going to a lot of other airlines. I would think this would be a concern for all DAL Pilots - realizing that guys would have been better off going to LCC's.
This is why the junior guys fixate on Scope.
Scoop
I flew with a 777A on reserve a couple trips ago. SWA FO's make as much or more than him. Gear slingers on a 135 seat jet make more that a polar route flying, risk mitigating, 270 seat international captain at the worlds (2nd) largest airline.
I guess the same holds true for the 400 seat jet 747 reserve captains.