Originally Posted by
madeinUSA
A 75 hour guarantee for 350 hours On Duty. And yes I think a wide body captain hauling in over $300,000 per flight should be getting paid over 500/hr. We have just accepted low pay as the norm.
I'm not arguing pay rates with you - I agree they should all be higher.
You claimed (as many do) that we only get paid when the door is shut or more accurately - when we are blocked out. That is not a true statement.
My other side point was that pilots have always had their pay based on flight hours (which are NEVER as high as duty hours). Even if a WB Captain made $500/hour, he'd still be getting paid for his flight hours rather than his duty hours. I doubt he would be complaining, though, do you? (well, maybe - he is a pilot after all
)
To an airline, pilot pay is basically a fixed cost - give or take a little. Even if you felt they were paying you fairly, they have an average figure in mind per pilot. If you wanted your compensation based on 350 monthly duty hours, your hourly pay would not be as high (regardless of whether you felt the rate was fair or not). In the end, it's very likely your pay at the end of most months would be very similar regardless of how it was calculated.