Originally Posted by ryane946
I think regional pay is fine as long as you are young and you only spend about 5 years there at max. I am 22 and I plan to be at a regional in under 6 months. By the time I am 27 that means I would potentially make $65,000 a year. That's plently for me at 27!
For people who think regional pay is low, think of it as your "starting job" as everyone else in the non-aviation world does.
EXAMPLES:
Baseball players in the minor leagues (Less than $1000 a month)
Airline management that starts out as CSR's or flight attendents. (Low pay)
Store managers that start out as minimum wage clerks. (Minimum wage)
ETC...
I mean, I have an aerospace engineering degree and I am making the same as a CFII as many of my friends in the industry. My work is fewer hours, easier, and I downright LOVE my job.
My point is you need to "learn to walk before you can learn to fly." A few years at a regional is ok if the result is a major airline career at $150-$200K a year later on in my career. As long as all flying does not switch to regionals, this is ok.
This is where USAir took the right course on making the EMB-190 a mainline jet.
This is where Mesa took the WRONG course. Anything 75+ or so belongs at a major. No more 90-100 seat jets at regionals.
You hit the nail on the head there...the majors long term ideal plan is for ALL flying to be performed by subcontractors like mesa...each major would have 5 or 6 subs and could play them off against each other, almost totally removing the power of the strike.
If you think you will EVER get to a major, to say nothing of 5 years down the road (LMAO) ...the mainline guys need to grab their scope by the b@lls ...they should be flying everything >50 seats (which includes MY airplane).
MESA didn't take the wrong course...they're making money hand over fist, and in case you didn't get the word pilot welfare is not on mesa's agenda in any way, shape, or form. The AWA ALPA guys went wrong by letting their company outsource airplanes the size of DC-9's and F-100's. It's gotta start at mainline and those boyz gotta realize it...
BTW, the kind of manager who starts out as a CSR is a chump..he'll be a middle manager (maybe) his whole life and not have much to show for it...the big-time airline managers whom everybody loves to hate don't come from the CSRs or the ramp, they are high-end B-school grads with a whole different perspective on life...