Originally Posted by
woog315
Do you really believe your argument makes any sense at all, or are you just being obstinate? The only professions that make more on average than pilots at our level are doctors and lawyers. The most important income driver for pilots at an airline with a reasonable contract (both abx and ati currently have reasonable contracts) is growth. ATI seems to get that, while ABX clearly doesn’t.
If you think you deserve to have a line on your paycheck for when you’re getting drunk at the hotel bar and crying about how poorly management treats you, maybe you should consider a job that doesn’t require travel. It’s part of the territory.
Some holes in your Swiss Cheese:
1) "Reasonable Contract"- Reasonable compared to what ? Your last regional, corporate 24/7 on call, or bottom feeder Acmi gig ? Do you really think ABX 2009 concessionary contract is reasonable compared to K4 or Omni break away 2016/17 CBA's ? With a 20% shortfall in hourly rate ?
Yes, I know about JRM/REA provisions, but the ~ $30 - $50K ABX shortfall across the spectrum of "normal" flying is a lot of extra days/schedule disruptions to get there.
As for ATI, they got improvements, but still fall short of K4, and Omni. Yes, a top ATI Captain base salary is within ~ 5% of K4 counterpart, but they're (ATI) is working 16 more days per year. K4 pilot working 16 open flying days per year would likely make ~ 12 - 15% more than ATI counterpart for working the same number of days. That would be like ordering a pizza, having the delivery driver eat 12 - 15% of your pizza, and expect you to be a happy customer.
2) Growth = Income Gain. No argument there, except it is management, not the pilot group, who calls the shots on expansion. Recall that a few years ago, Delta and Southwest pilot groups voted down company's initial offer, and negotiated an improved TA2. During, and after that interim period, did either airline curtail or freeze their hiring or growth plans ? At the other end, from the early 80's forward there have been countless examples of pilot groups making concessions, yet their companies still filed bankruptcy, or went out of business. Point being that managements will do what they're going to do wrt expansion irregardless of how generous or stingy their pilot contact is.
3) Hotel Soft Time- Much of the airline world outside of Acmi does (sort of) pay you for hotel soft time. Ever hear of Trip Rigs, Minimum Pay Per Duty Period (MPDP), or Minimum Pay Per Day (MPD) ? Certainly helps with those low block/ high TAFB lines.