Originally Posted by
kc135driver
Uh, no, apparently you aren't able to grasp basic math-
7th year F/O Narrowbody
VX $82
UA $86
JB $98
AMR $99
DL $108
SW $139
7th year Capt Narrowbody
VX $127
UA $130
JB $149
AMR $155
DL $162
SW $201
All taken from APC.
So congratulations, you are within 4% of one bankrupt carrier who is operating under a contract 8+ years old and AT LEAST 16% behind the next on the list (JB).
You obviously believe in VX, great, I hope it all works out, I sincerely do. In the meantime I think your position is pretty arrogant. Perhaps before you come on here and insult others with how smart you are and how stupid everyone else you need to realize that most of us have actually been living this nightmare for a long long time.
As you know, the industry is littered with the carcasses of failed low-cost carriers who all paid their employees a fraction of the industry average. To think your somehow better due to this distinction is pretty pathetic IMO. Whats worse is to not see the effect it has on our profession is very very naive.
Don't worry, your time will come, just like Skybus did.
KC
Skybus lasted all of nine months. I think we are well past the Skybus comparisons. Nice try though. Perhaps your time will come as well, just like Eastern.
I have been living the nightmare as well. Furloughed 3 times, spent years on foodstamps, taken pay cuts from unemployment to get a job with an ALPA carrier. In fact if I was still at my very first ALPA job, I would have just stopped qualifying for foodstamps in February. I drank the kool-aid of the mainline crowd in the early 2000s of not flying RJs because it is stealing mainline jobs. I remained on a BE-1900 for years to support the wishes of the mainline guys, only to get burned when nobody else supported "the cause". Believe me, I have lived it. So I am smart enough to not get fooled again by the "raise the bar" argument posted by the mindless fools on this and other sites.
On that note - here is a year by year look the new VX rates compared to A320 rates at JetBlue, Spirit, USAirways East, USAirways West, United, Delta and Frontier. Funny how you left out the A320 rates at union carriers like USairways, Spirit and Frontier. American and Southwest do not fly A320s and Southwest is considered one of the "bad guys" by people in the thread who hate start-ups. This includes yrs 1-10 for captains, and 1-7 for FOs. The last column is what percentage VX pays compared to the average of the other seven airlines for the A320. I think when you include ALL the carriers that fly the A320, not just handpick a few the highest paying of all carriers across the board regardless of equipment, the math works out just fine, thank you very much.
Captain Rates
YR VX JB NK US-E US-W UA F9 DL Avg VX%
1 105 138 65 25 121 123 111 154 105 100.0
2 110 140 97 113 123 124 112 155 123 89.4
3 115 142 104 114 124 126 117 157 126 91.2
4 120 143 108 115 126 127 124 158 129 93.0
5 123 145 116 116 127 128 133 159 132 93.1
6 126 147 118 117 129 129 136 160 134 94.0
7 129 149 120 118 130 130 138 162 135 95.5
8 130 151 134 119 132 131 141 163 139 93.5
9 131 153 136 120 133 132 144 164 140 93.5
10 133 155 138 122 135 134 146 166 142 93.6
First Officer Rates
YR VX JB NK US-E US-W UA F9 DL Avg VX%
1 44 47 39 25 39 33 37 56 39 112.8
2 60 69 61 57 61 52 64 83 64 93.7
3 70 81 66 62 68 75 73 97 75 93.3
4 75 88 71 73 75 80 77 100 81 92.6
5 78 92 76 75 83 82 82 102 85 91.7
6 81 96 79 77 85 84 84 105 87 93.1
7 84 98 81 79 86 86 85 108 89 94.3
PS - In case you need some help with your math, half of 139 is NOT 82, and half of 201 is NOT 127. So even in your handpicked comparison of a few of the highest paid carriers, VX pilots are not doing anyone's job for "half the pay". Another example of people following mindless rhetoric instead of looking at things for themselves.