Originally Posted by
Worldguy
Typically the reason a company prefers the signing bonus approach instead of "retro" pay, i think, is because they do not want to have to go back and revise the previous quarters or years financial statements. The signing bonus lets them show the costs at the time that the cost occurred, at contract signing, rather than submit a bunch of revised financials. I am not sure why so many people think it is a concession.
Your statement suggesting retro pay requires going back and restating financials is simply not true. Don't believe everything a airline exec might tell you.
A signing bonus may not be a concession, but it doesn’t compare at all with retro pay. Most pilots make the mistake of simply comparing the size of the signing bonus check vs the size of the retro check.
What they miss is the % increase for every pay raise for the rest of their career does not get the benefit of those years you worked without getting a retro pay raise. The compounding of those years without a pay raise adds up.
I’m not dissing the Astar TA in any way, btw. Just trying to explain the difference. Congratulations to you guys on your TA