It must be nice to be completely disillusioned and living in your own reality. Why stop at $100k? I think all pilots should make a gazillion dollars a year because that's what doctors and astronauts make!

You look at those profits like they've been happening for the last decade. These are the facts: Profits on the legacy side are a new thing and will continue to stay high as long as gas prices stay low. What do you think will happen if oil shoots up to $100/barrel again? If you've read those reports, most of the airlines are just barely breaking even on fares. In the 3rd quarter alone, Delta Airlines brought in over $11B in revenue but only had a $357M profit. This is considering low fuel costs, a high demand for leisure travel, and a busy and uneventful summer travel season. What happens during hurricanes/snow storms, lack of demand due to localized recessions or other microeconomic forces, and, GASP, the thing that more pilots subscribe to (ironically), unabated capitalism (i.e. competition from ULCCs new or otherwise, international carriers, etc)? In order to keep up with booming competition overseas, they will have to modernize their fleets. How much do you think it's going to cost to replace all the MD88s, 757, 767, and 747s? You'd be out of your mind if you think any management would agree to (safe estimate) doubling their labor costs overnight.