Originally Posted by
HuggyU2
Because... as is pointed out regularly on these forums... it is something in the contract gained at the expense of something else of value.
Looking briefly at a few online sources, while restaurants in Guam are more expensive, that's not really an indicator of "cost of living" for residents. However, Bay Area housing costs appear to be far and well above anything in Guam.
Saying "if you want Guam, then bid it" is akin to those that say there shouldn't be anything in the contract to better help commuters: "if you don't want to commute, then move to a domicile".
Whatever... no dog in this fight. I just find it interesting that United's Guam gets paid so much to go there. If they got rid of it, people would still bid it, so it cost the pilot group as a whole "something" to have it.
It's not a COLA. It"s a Foreign Base Allowance (FBA). It's not solely intended to counter cost of living, it's also a means of mitigating all the inequities involved with living on the other freakin side of the world. Even if Bay Area housing costs really were higher (they're not) you still would have to deal with not being able to put any of your kids in public school unless you were OK with raising them as complete imbeciles. Monthly utility bills can run into 4 digits and gas and food are ludicrous. See if you think $3000 even comes close to fair compensation when you've been sweltering in your house for two weeks after a typhoon without power or water. Historically, GUM was a junior base and the FBA was also used to incentivize staffing. Obviously things have changed somewhat but keep in mind that the 5-hr min day was sacrificed there in exchange for the FBA.
Speaking of Guam - why was it not mentioned as a 777 destination?