SkyHigh,

I do agree with much of what you put out. At the beginning of this thread guys were bouncing other professions starting salaries and hours worked vs regional pay. Then guys who have done the office jobs chimed in and said they were glad to give up the office for the cockpit for 1/2 of what they made or less. They complained about 70 hour work weeks etc. When an airline guy adds all the time he spends not getting paid while "on the job" (ie crew lounge, commuting, RON in a hotel) then the hours may be similiar, just less stressful. As long as guys have the atitude that less $$ is OK because the stress level is not the same then wages will never improve. In the regionals constant cut-throat bidding war to win the majors feeder contracts the only negotiable cost is labor and it seems to continually be sent lower on the guise that we will lay you off if we lose this contract. The pilots are continually buying this crap from mgmt. I say stand your ground even if it costs your job. Let's face it, there are lot of other things people can do and make $20-$30k. It's been said here that flying seems to be becoming more of a poorly paid hobby to many. They make just enough to keep the hobby afloat. I 100% agree with that as many here says they will do anything to stay flying and away from corporate America and I guess that includes continued pay/benefit cuts. When one is single and starting out they can eat Ramen noodles, drink Old Mil Light, and have three roommates in an apt with few problems while they build time and make $20k. But when one gets older and has a family that salary no longer cuts it. It is great that regional guys build the time to eventually apply to the majors but they must not see what is happening at the majors right now means more time for them at the regionals and at the lower pay they most eagerly initially accepted. The glory of the majors is not really there anymore. The legacy's are either in bankruptcy or have been and will not be hiring for years to come except one,CAL. So that's one hiring and five not (AA,DAL,UAL,NW,USAir). Now everyone's praising the LCC's as gods when five years ago people were totally discounting them. Well JB has put out that they are only hiring for the E190's right now and the starting is about $37k. They are also reducing their Airbus monthly bids until the holiday season. All that was in a letter to their pilots. A gal in the People Dept at SW just called a friend of mine yesterday and said that they are no longer interviewing those without the type because they need to fill classes now and cannot wait for them to get the type. She only called him because he had a friend with great conections there that was pulling for him. That's another $8k that must now be spent on the opportunity to get an interview. BTW, that's about 15-20% of your 2-3 yr regional guys salary. FedEx is about a one yr process right now from scheduling a meet and greet to class up and at UPS one needs deep inside connections to get an interview. What I'm saying is that the majors are not the low hanging fruit that they once were and with few jobs open right now you will be stuck at your regional job for longer than you thought. So before you think that low wage is only acceptable because its temporary think twice, because it may not be. Good luck.