Originally Posted by
DegeReguard
Quote:
Originally Posted by Delta1067
Yup, very short sighted on their part. They are mostly made up of the entitlement generation so there ya have it.
FO pay should be roughly 70% of Captain Pay. That way both FO and Captain can eat and pay their bills....
but the Captain has more responsibility, and liability and puts their good name, record, and certificates on the line much more not to mention is supposed to be more experienced and knowledgeable in order to make decisions, with that "more experience and responsibility" should come higher pay.
"Lets pay everyone the same thing regardless of the job they do"
-First Officer Joe Stallin and Flight Attentant Karal Marks.
No but seriously, while it does suck to be a low paid fo especially when making lateral moves, ****ting on captains who spent the last 6-10 years in the right seat with that same ****ty pay busting their asses to earn their seats and higher pay is not right, and you're lowering everyone's top end right along with it. Lets be real, that isn't how capitalism works though I won't make the old Ayn Rand style "if the captain isn't paid more than the FO, what motivation does the FO have to be captain?" comment.
There's just so much wrong with this kind of thinking.
Captains and FOs have the same training. They have the same type ratings. They have the same ATP certificates. The physical safety of both is equally at risk. Both have an equal responsibility for the safety of the passengers (FOs can kill everyone on board just the same as a captain can).
Captains put their good name and record on the line much more than FOs? How is that?? FOs put their records and certificates on the line just the same. So often both the captain AND the FO get fired and/or violated for incidents and accidents.
I realized a long time ago that captains do not earn their seats, as you suggest. If that was true, then how do you explain some regional captains upgrading in 18 months while others don't make it to the left seat for 8 years? Did the 8 year FO perform so poorly that it took him nearly 5 times longer to earn what the other guy did? It's simply a matter of luck and timing when someone is able to upgrade.
The pay scale disparity is completely asinine. You mentioned capitalism as if it's a factor; free market capitalism is no where to be found in unionized airline pilot pay scales. Companies hand over a certain amount of money to the whole pilot group, and unions divide up the money in a very artificial, anti free-market type of system.