I can remember this subject from years ago, but the majority had agreed that compensation isn't compensation if it's perdiem...i.e. what a company is supposed to use to make up for you being on the road...I received about $1,100 from my company when I was gone for a week to Europe, but that sure wasn't compensation...it was payment for me buying breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a week and living out of my suitcase.

When it comes to the soft money, I'm all for it...but it isn't what's expected for the "average" pilot who just flies their schedule. I know my old airline has been hiring like crazy right now, and average lines are built to 70-75 hours...when I left 5 years ago lines were constantly built into the 80's and I credited above 90 for months on end...max I credited was somewhere between 110-120 hours for a single month, and on a captain paycheck that was huge...but even at $56/hr, I wasn't going to push much past $65k that year.

When I got out of the biz and started a job that paid a salary of $56k, it was amazing how small those paychecks actually were. No more $3,300 captain paychecks anymore...Make nearly $90k now, and still don't see checks that large. Maybe one day.