Originally Posted by
PastV1
OK, for the new guys here......
1) How does a higher pay rate for the 777 improve my retirement? Many people max. out their high 5 in the MD/Airbus and even the Boeing.
Ans. Not sure when you got here but your A-Fund retirement is based on your high 5 of the last 15 with a cap of 260K. Ever wonder where that cap started at? Ummmm... Try
170K (Again, bold for your guys not using all of you college educated brains!)
If you assume ( and you know what happens when you assume) that the 260K cap will never increase your lost. So, lets look back at what the cap used to be and "Guess"
that it will increase in the future.
So an increased 777 rate will improve your retirement!
2) Since I don't have a crystal ball, explain to me why you think we will all be flying 777's someday. Maybe the air freight market has matured. Maybe we will be flying smaller planes intra-Asia and just using the 777 for a few key long haul routes.
Ans: At some point the 11 will have to be retired (MD-10's probably sooner). Or at least there are very few left to buy to increase our fleet should we need more of them. The logical replacement would be the 777. Boeing will eventually open up a P to F mod line for the older "100' 777's. Meaning that at some point the 11 will retire and we will be in 777's with a common type to fly to NRT or to STL like we do now in the 11/10.
3) I (we) already played that game with the VEBA deal.
Ans: Do you get VEBA also?
1) I do assume that the 260k cap will increase. I also assume that all pay rates will increase, so the Airbus and MD crews will still get their high 5.
2) I don't think we will be flying 777's in the domestic market except for a very few exceptions. Where we do fly them in Conus, they will replace multiple smaller airplanes and cause a reduction in crew force. I'm not a believer in perpetual growth within a finite system. Sorry.
3) CBA 27.H.7.B2 makes me think...NOT. The way I read and understand it, we are paying 50 cents/hour for those that reached the age of 53 before January 1, 2007. I'll probably have to work to 65 to get my high 5 and then will go straight to medicare and never see a return on my contributions (other than the warm fuzzy I get from knowing I helped out another pilot.)