I actually thought about this issue - that they didn't necessarily "raise" the bar...they just stayed put while others lowered the bar farther - this is a good point. As far as the Legacy carriers, no - I wasn't there. That said, I would imagine that economics being what they are they did not pay any more than they had to at the time. Juan Trippe and Howard Hughes were not great friends of labor - they benefited from regulation and the pilots benefited from a strong union. Fact of the matter is this - name ANY start-up business that offers an industry leading wage from day one when competing against numerous rivals, in ANY industry. It simply doesn't happen. Most airlines business models are similiar, with the exception of Skybus. They compete on price and service, routes, and time convienience. No one airline is going to change the technology of this business and be able to keep it propriatary so it is, in essence, purely a commodity.