Exactly!, It is not the passengers fault, it is greedy management that while they raise their compensation by %60+ per year ask the pilots for concessions or stagnation.

There is enough profit in the ticket and bag fees today to pay the pilots well even at the regional level and still show profit, heck some Regional are showing %6 in margins and that is really high.

If a regional can't show profits paying the pilots well (pilot cost is less than %1 of the ticket cost the passenger pays) then the business model and the contracts it accepts to fly are the problems not the cost of pilot pay. The cost for pilots is at a much lower level than acceptable already and should be at least %3-5 of the ticket.

Regional pilots are paid below minimum wage dividing the pay by the duty time and the airline industry is the only one getting away with it.

We not only need a new minimum wage law in pay per hour ($10) but also a minimum wage per month or per year for a full time employee and no one should be allowed to pay less than that for full time employees. If you work 60 hours a week instead of 40 like pilot do it should be paid a min of 1.5 of full time pay. Every hour you are not allowed/prevented to go home (on overnights etc.) and you are at the disposal of the company should be compensated in some way and not only by the ridiculous low per diem.

The times of slaves was supposed to be gone and in the past but it is alive and a reality in the US. Places like Great lakes should be closed and never be allowed to exist again.

It is time for greedy Regional managements to pay.