Originally Posted by
fosters
I don't think the airlines would have us sitting that much, because they will only make money off of us if we are flying. The less they fly us, the more we cost them to do less work.
The problem with salary is that it is often convenient from a scheduling point of view for airlines to leave you sitting...as long as they get 8 hous of flying (or close to it) out of you they don't give a crap if your duty day is 9 or 16 hours. You have to get paid for duty somehow, or it will get abused and you end up sitting, wasting your time for free. Pilots who get paid to sit actually sit a lot less because it costs money and provides no return.