Originally Posted by fosters

I have to laugh as this thread, and the associated responses. I would love to be making $75k as a first year FO in an RJ but that %$#@ ain't gonna happen.

Asking "what are we worth" and "what will the market bear" are two different questions, although they are connected. We are worth exactly what the market will bear, no more, no less.

Unfortunately, the unions have created these lopsided pay scales that threw the new guys under the bus and rewarded the 20 year senior guys with not only the best schedules but also a tremendous pay advantage. Let's think for a second, who are the people that generally sit on the union? The junior or senior people? That's a rhetorical question, so don't bother answering.

Someone else posted this and I fully agree - pay shouldn't be based on a 12 to 18 year scale, if anything it should top out in 5 years AT MOST. That would allow the free market economy to do a better job at determining pilot pay at the airline level.