Originally Posted by
CincoDeMayo
Say what? "Easily expendable/replaced" is not what you have when you have pilots getting overnight raises to attract pilots, its just the opposite. Open your eyes, the industry is setting up for contracts that will be the best since pre 2001. This is because pilots are not easily replaced, you think there would even be talk of 67/68 if those retiring were so easy to replace at cheap rates?
In 2000, UAL inked a deal that put the Airbus rate of a maxed out captain in year four of the CBA at ≈$253/HR. Today, that number would be, adjusted for inflation, a little over $400/hr. Some airline pilots might see that number, but they won't be working for Spirit/JetBlue/Frontier. I hope we see actual gains but I've been around long enough to expect to keep working this job for less compensation year over year. We have our work cut out for us to get back to what we gave away.
And to the easily replaced, I think so. Spirit pilots are self trained. The Airbus was designed for 0 time new hires. Add a few more sims, actual systems class and voila! A pilot is born.