Originally Posted by
NineGturn
Exactly right! By eliminating competition for jobs for all but entry level new hire positions, airlines have effectively eliminated the forces of free market competition for all pilot jobs allowing them to keep wages artificially low across the board.
It still amazes me when Delta pilots come in here bragging about their new contracts. It's as if they truly believe they are well paid just because they make more than some other airlines. 200k per year after a 20-30 year career investment is not that much money really.
Well, when you think about the difficulty of the "job" and realize most people do it because it's easy money and a lot more fun than a real job (ie sitting at a desk for 50-80 hours a week, staring at a computer, going to meetings, etc), and one that at some levels doesn't require even a college degree, making 6 figures, especially 200+ to "work" 15 days a month (including deadheads and other creative ways to credit more flying than actually accomplished), is quite a bit given the relatively low time spent actually working. People leave 6 figure real jobs to fly regionals. There's a reason for that.