10M is about $37k per captian, not including the ones that upgrade post-incentivization. Not only is $37k not nearly enough money, its only a small part of what people say is discouraging them from taking the upgrade in the first place.
Junior captains (assuming reserve) make $183,000 per year. Maximum. JB can run around bragging about how that one guy made so much blah blah blah, but people making the decision to upgrade aren't going to make one dollar more than $183k. In this environment? Absolutley shameful. No pickups on reserve. Low pay rate. Low guarantee. A line holding first officer is capable of making more. Easily. So what the hell is $37k going to do? I am REALLY curious to know what kind of money it would take to fix our upgrade problem overnight. (if money was the solution) Reserve rule changes? $100k/yr retention bonus? Top of scale pay for everybody, or more? When the decision is between be an severely underpaid captain here or go to United and upgrade year two @$350/hr....If pay is the problem the solution is clear.
But again, money doesnt seem to be what people ask for when they say they dont want to upgrade.
In my honest opinion? Our senior pilots are treated like kings, and our junior pilots like rats. From pay, to work rules, to the 10 guys that get turn lines, to getting a weekend off..I'm NOT going to sit here and disparage our senior pilots, what they've gone through to be senior here, or sugest that they're worth any less that being treated like kings. Our senior pilots are treated REALLY well. Its awesome, and they've earned every bit of what they have. But when a junior pilot looks around and KNOWS that the company is capable of treating pilots well, with respect, with pay, with decent QOL and work rules, but for some reason just doesnt want to treat YOU the same way... Better off just leaving. Not just for Legacies, but for LCCs too. I know too many people that work for Spirit, Delta, United and Southwest. I know damn well that despite being junior they dont get treated so dramatically different from how the senior guys get treated. You wear the uniform you get treated well. How it should be.
When the company breaks the rules with reseve assignments it's the junior pilots being screwed.
When the company limits vacation in certain months its the junior guys getting screwed.
Its professional airline pilots making $85/hr
Its zero schedule flexibility.
It's a long list.
High seniority means you should be treated well, but low seniority doesnt mean you should be treated poorly. Fix the disparity between what senior and junior pilots experience here and we'll fix our upgrade problem.