Originally Posted by
LR2205
Yeah but the thing is that in reality, everything else is not the same. Pilot A who will take the job for $19 an hour is probably not as good a pilot as pilot B (not to mention not as smart for accepting the job for $19/hr in the first place). Maybe the airlines should find a way to measure pilot skill as a whole rather than just judging from the number of hours in a logbook.
Of course the pilot who would take a job for $19 per hour is probably not as experienced or safe as the pilot who won't work for less than $50. I say probably because there are tons of super experienced pilots willing to work for nothing so they can put food on the table.
The point is as far legal qualifications they could both be hired and an airline won't pay more than someone is willing to work for. It's econmics. As long as there are pilots, no matter their experience level, willing to work for a low rate then there is no motivation for an airline to pay more. Supply=demand, and there is a big supply of discount pilots. Why would an airline pay pilots more when so many are ok with working for less. It's not smart business on their part to pay more as long as applications are coming in. Until pilots, individually and as a whole, quit accepting jobs at low pay rates then those jobs won't pay more.
It is not complicated, now if this bill had also added a minimum wage specifically for pilots then this would maybe be a slightly different story. It would have to be pretty high to matter though