I was talking to a TSA person last week in my local airport. I had arrived on a flight and had to wait for someone else to arrive on a different flight an hour and a half later. She saw my CREW tag and was saying how she wishes she was a pilot because pilots are paid "very well" and "get to travel to lots of cool places". I told her she she made more than a starting airline pilot and she said "No, we aren't!" She said the starting pay is a probationary period, then goes to around $37K. I explained that first year FO pay was around $18K at a regional, and after 2 1/2 years I was making high 30's to low 40's. I also told her that I have been furloughed for a year now, so I was making around $18K again (on UI), but that will run out soon. She was amazed and questioned how airlines could pay so little, and why anyone would go through all the trouble to be a pilot with such a crappy pay scale and crappy QOL (after explaining daily life as a regional pilot. Got me thinking...I don't really know why we do it I could sit on a stool and watch bags go by on a screen and not worry about check rides, recurrent, medical, etc...and still make as much as I did on third year pay!