Originally Posted by
KC135
Huh? F9 top captain pay is $270/hr. You can make that year 3 or 4 at UAL? I don't think he will recoup the pay cut taken unless you can get to a widebody CA seat in 10 years. Also while it's nearly impossible to predict the future, it's worth a moment to take at look at UAL's profit margin and debt on their balance sheet compared to the LCC's for long term stability. (F9 is still private unfortunately)
You are sniping from the cheap seats on that one. This is a job and maximizing dollars in the your bank account is all that matters. United has way more international exposure and a more varied fleet. You will be more senior on a narrowbody fleet quicker at a legacy vs a LCC with only one fleet. Uniteds debt is inline with other large corporations who are paying historically low rates on that debt. We are slowly investing in new aircraft. Currently under 4 yr upgrade, potentially last 10 year's of his career as a widebody captain, better ltd, better medical, better retirement, ... The profit margin is great for companies who can cherry pick routes but there is a finite number of those routes that make sense. All those plane orders at LCC's only work if they can find a route to put it on. I doubt the business model scales until a swa or JetBlue does it better.