Originally Posted by
aviatorhi
However you wanna look at it, the bottom line comes down to the fact that I make a great wage at a company where I like working, it's not substandard, it's part of the job.
I think it's great that you thoroughly enjoy your line of work, however, be very careful when you blatantly say you make a great wage. Being very young and without a family to raise, $30 an hour still sounds mediocre (way short of great), however, when you throw in how much you spent on flight training, how hard you work and in what type of conditions, and then top that off with a family of 3 or 4 to feed, $30 an hour starts to look like slave labor. Give it time, and never stop striving for better.
As a regional FO back in 2002, with an average of 16 days off, I made $37 an hour. Throw in inflationary adjustments and one can clearly see the scale has been sliding way down...... Sad.
BTW: per diem is not part of your salary or wages so it should never be included in what you make. It exists because it has to, not because your employer wants to pay you extra.
Fly safe and be careful with those crosswinds
