Originally Posted by
acl65pilot
88;
I would love to educate the public. To do that, you need to show them what you do. What you go though, and what is at stake. Even then most do not care.
Most expect their doctors to make a lot of money. Most assume you do to. Gaining sympathy from people saving for five year to go see Mickey could give to hoots it you make 140K versus 200K. They think you like their doctor are well paid and leave it at that.
Education would fix a lot, but who would be listening? People see you as a means to a end. Many are shocked at what I make, but then they move on to how expensive tickets are. That my friend is where the re-education needs to come. Reset consumer expectation on what the price of our service is. Then you can get paid what they think you already make. That is accomplished by higher prices on restricted capacity. Not all can fly, and that needs to be understood by both us and the public.
The public doesn't really want to know what we make. I don't think public education is going to change their opinion or help us get what we think we deserve. Do you really think the public is going to support 777/747 wages of $300-400K/year? Do you really think they care if their DC9 F/O is "ONLY" making $80K/year when the average American is only making $45K/year? Setting higher barriers for entry (like lots of other professionals - doctors, lawyers, etc.) will certainly raise wages because their will be less pilots, lower supply and higher demand - that will certainly help. Reducing capacity (through company failures, consolidation, etc.) has certainly helped with profitability. While everyone would like to get back to C2K it doesn't do us much good if the industry doesn't support it and we go back into bankruptcy and only get those wages for a couple of years (I never saw a penny of C2K - furloughed!!!).
One of the things nobody talks about was the concept of paying guys $200K+ back in 2001 for guys to sit around and only fly one trip/month (I ran into a number of those guys who were 767 captains flying one trip/month on reserve). While everyone envies the SWA rates we need to remember everyone one of those guys earns that money by flying a lot. I remember seeing a study that said the average SWA pilot flies 60-65 hours/month while back then the average Legacy pilot was only flying 40-45 hours/month. I know that we are flying a lot more now than we did then (much more productive) but that is where it's going to stay. I do know that we should come up with a rate so that everyone (DC F/O to 777/747 Capt) makes a good wage based on crediting
70 hours/month. That is all 15-20% of the company that is on reserve can count on. I am also tired of counting on my per diem making up a significant portion (5-10%) of my paycheck when it should be used to pay for my travel expenses on the road.