Originally Posted by ficone

Rhino -

So you're saying you want regional CA pay capped at $25/hr? According to the APC profiles, that is the lowest 1st yr FO pay at US Air. I think DAL and UAL are $50/hr for the first year pay. Regardless, the answer is yes. The CA at a regional should not make more than an FO at a major.

You were making about the the same as an 8-yr regional CA by the time you left the military for wherever you are now, and obviously weren't "too comfortable" to stay in. Quite the opposite. Financially, the military can be very comfortable. In fact, many choose not to leave the military in this day and age due to not wanting to leave the comfort factor, so I really do understand.

Even if it's your intent to use the regionals as a stepping stone to the majors, circumstances out of your control may leave you at the regional level for upwards of 10 years before you are even competitive to be hired by a major airline. Then, are you lucky enough that the majors are hiring at that time? Maybe, maybe not. You probably would be if we stopped giving jet flying to the regional level. As stated in my earlier post, anything over 70 seats should be mainline and at mainline wages.

You're against "spreading the wealth," but seem you'd rather blame others for the degradation of the industry? Seem to be of opposite philosophies and pretty ballsy for someone in their 2nd year of the 121 world. You may have paid your dues elsewhere, but stop acting like you've paid them in the airlines. Wow, and I guess you have. See, this is the problem. We've made it too good at the regional level, so now you can make statements like this as if you know everything there is to know because you've been "flying for the airlines." News flash, you should have been flying routes in and out of small airfields to service the major airlines, not the way the current system is set up. Regionals have no business flying into places like NYC, ATL, ORD, LAX, etc. This has created the airspace nightmare we have today. Regionals should only connect service to smaller hubs. The largest glass B airspace should be reserved for larger airplanes. And I have paid my dues. Trust me, my flying experiences really have been far more challenging in the military than you believe.

Plus, I just don't think your logic is good. It's the regional pilots who are causing the problem by taking a low wage job? But, they are also getting too comfortable because wages are too high? So the solution is for them to accept a job that caps out at little more than what regional FOs make now? Doesn't compute. Yes it does. The way you want it, and really, it's what we have today, is that a company like COMAIR (just as an example guys, there are many out there) can continue to grow larger and larger. Eventually, as is the case today, they reach a point where they have actually become a national (if not major) sized carrier. They do it for lower wages and end up taking jobs away from mainline carriers. In the end, it has hurt the profession as a whole. It should be a stepping stone, not a career goal as I stated earlier. And there is nothing wrong with a guy who wants to stay as a profession, it should just be capped in wages.

I don't like to see mainline jobs go away either, but it's happened, and there's little chance of ever going back. So I think we need to fight for better wages at all levels, not put caps on anyone.