Originally Posted by
Excargodog
Lots of factors but among them is the ridiculous first year wages at some of the ULCCs. There was a long discussion on this subject on a Frontier thread back when their negotiations were going on. The pilot group didn't wish to "waste" any "negotiating capital" on bringing newbie's on board. So what did the first year FO wages end up?
$58 an hour for Frontier
$57 for Spirit
$78 for JetBlue
Actually, trend is for the COMPANY to argue for higher new-hire pay, with the union trying to link that to higher across-the-board pay. The majors know that new-hire pay can be a selection criteria for pilots changing jobs.