Originally Posted by
drummerguy
food for thought age 65 may have prevented airlines from having to hire in 2007 and 2008 but it actually may have killed the regional airline model, clearly an unintended consequence.
Something that I don't understand, It made good sense to raise 60 to 65 five years ago for the mainlines. In doing so they didn't have to hire and train but they kept their most expensive pilots at the top end of the pay scale. Why is it that regionals feel that senior pilots are overpaid and prefer to keep the school house running with new cheap labor. I understand that people at the bottom of the pay scale cost a lot less than people at the top but running the school house 24/7 365 days out of the year certainly costs a lot as well.
I've said this numerous times on here. We need to get rid of longevity scales. The top pay scale needs to be the only pay scale. This would solve most of our problems. You could start over at the bottom without losing your house or going on food stamps. I don't even have a problem with starting over on vacation time. I feel an Airbus 320 first officer new hire should make the exact same as an Airbus 320 first officer on 12 year pay. They are doing the exact same job. This would stop giving start-up carriers huge advantages on cost. It would prevent regionals from just shutting down when the group gets senior. At the legacy carriers, every captain is at max pay. They only need to fix the first officer scale. It wouldn't even be that hard to do. At the regional level, it would be a little tougher. A national seniority list will never happen. This is the next best thing.