Originally Posted by
Pineapple Guy
Thanks for showing up just to put words in my mouth.
NO, I am NOT saying that at all, but then again you knew that.
What I AM saying, is you show me a perennially profitable carrier, and I'll show you one that pays above industry average wages. It's not that labor subsidizes bad management, its that you can't get blood out of a turnip. And two quarters of profits doesn't turn a turnip into a pot of gold.
Really?
Let me do some figuring...... (MATH ALERT!)
Let's see... Southwest last year posted profits - again. It was their 37 year of profits in a row. I'm going to be generous and say that they have had "above industry average wages" for the past 12 years. Although, if my memory serves me correctly, in 1998 their pay was still way below what everyone else was paying. But, for the sake of simple math, it took SWA 25 years to get to the point where they paid their pilots above industry average wages. Or, if you want to compare apples to apples and match words to words, it took 25 years of profitability for SWA's turnip to have enough blood in it to get their pilots pay to above average.
Geeze. With your logic and my generous math, when Delta has 24 1/2 more years of profitability, if they follow the SWA model - which is the only perennially profitable passenger carrier I can think of, only then should I expect above industry average wages. Great.
If I were management, I would view a thought process like this one, coming from a pilot from my airline, to be the real pot of gold. I hope it doesn't spread.
