PBS is a concession. Every airline that has PBS had it forced on them in bankruptcy. I think that just about covers PBS.
You're advocating for taking a pay cut every year. If my $ buys me less as a 12 year CA than it did the first year I upgraded, that's a pay cut, and not a contract I’m going to advocate for.
High hourly rates are designed by management to distract short-sighted pilots from the big picture. If you want to brag about a # on a forum in some machismo ‘unit measuring contest’, go for the hourly rate. That’s what’s going on it
this thread. There's a reason AA is willing to offer industry leading hourly rates to their pilots (in a cost neutral contract, BTW) - and it ain't because they want their pilots to cost more than the competition.
We should be focused on how much $ ends up in our pocket at the end of the day, not the hourly rate.
- UPS has an 81 hour min guarantee. That's a 12% increase right there compared to Spirit’s 72 hour guarantee, with no change in the hourly rate.
- Southwest has a 5:15 min day (the rough equivalent of when you convert their 6.5 'trips for pay' to hourly rates). That's a 17% increase over Spirit's 4.5 hour min duty period, again, with no change in the hourly rate.
It may sound better on this forum to say “Spirit’s top CA rate is $239/hr, and 2nd year FO is $93/hr” than to say “Spirit’s top CA rate is $185/hr, and 2nd year FO is $72/hr”, but those #’s are the exact same with the proper work rules at the lower rate (UPS and Southwest).
Oh, and PBS is a concession.
Credit to Joey for the new signature