Originally Posted by DAL 88 Driver

I like the out of the box thinking, Jerry. But I don't think TAFB would ever fly, as that would include being paid full rates while sleeping in the hotel. What would make sense to me would be getting paid our hourly rate during the entire time we are on duty, just like pretty much every other hourly worker known to man.

Just playing around with some numbers...

Let's say the average duty day is 8 hours. Let's say the MD-88/90 Captain rate is $200/hour. If the average MD-88/90 Captain works 16 days per month, that would be $307,200 for the year.

The current contract 2015 rate for MD-88/89 Captain is $205.56. If the average MD-88/90 Captain is paid for 1,100 hours in a year (including vacation, sick, etc.), that translates to $226,116.

Back in 2004 (last year of C2K rates), I'm guessing the average Captain was getting paid for something in the neighborhood of 1,000 hours per year. The rate was approx. $240... so that translates to $240K annually. Adjusted for inflation, that would be $308K in 2015.

Conclusion: We could leave our pay rates essentially as they are today and have full restoration of our W2 buying power by adjusting the way we are paid to match the way just about every other hourly worker in this country is paid.

Just some food for thought...