Originally Posted by STILL GROUNDED

Here is the big thing, enrollments are down, pilot pools are down. If you needed an ATP to apply the company would have to pay more because they would not attract enough applicants if they didn't. More by how much? Who knows. But when a kid can buy a seat in an airliner for $80,000 the message the airline receives is that they could practically charge for the job and the pilot would work for nothing. And most of the time they are right. Johnathan Orienstien once said if his classes are full he is paying too much and as much of a jack ass as that makes him sound, he's right. The ATP to apply forced by the pilots in the contract is an interesting therory at the least.