Originally Posted by
Flyby1206
The best thing that could happen to this profession is getting rid of the longevity pay scale and make it so pilots could switch jobs with no penalty or paycut. Portability with each job would allow a pilot to leave a company for whatever reason (base closure, company cutting pay, benefits, etc) which would force the company to take a closer look at what it takes to retain pilots.
Forcing a minimum pay (whether it is the union or government) only forces the company to stay at the capacity level that can support that minimum pay(limited to no growth, only shrinkage).
Its a scary thing to think about, but if we operated closer to the rest of the real world in terms of getting compensated based on the free market and our performance then maybe it would be a good thing?
I agree. The airlines love the fact that pilots can't use their experience to move to a growing airline with pay guarantees.
A thought....
The FAA could improve safety by having Class A, B, C airline transport certificates just like commercial trucking. Example...
1500 min flight time for FO
5000 min flight time for a Class C license (eg. 100,000 lbs max) for PIC
10000 min flight time for a Class B license (eg. 200,000 lbs max) for PIC
15000 min flight time for Class A license (eg. over 200,000 lbs) for PIC
It would act like a national (experience) seniority list.