Disclaimer: I am being serious!!!!

Tell your reps. I have been asked a lot about this with the election cycle. It is something that has a lot of support. Questions that each pilot needs to ask themselves are:
1) Are you willing to have a lower top pay that what we could get with our current formula?
2) If so what is your limit?
3) if not what how much are you willing to fight to get this?
4) What type of pay scale do you want? Senior guys are always going to want a bump to compensate for the experience, and junior guys are going to want to get to the top asap?

Point of these questions is, it is easy to state I want A, but the reality is what are you willing to do to get A. By no means am I inferring cost neutral. Far from it. What I am stating is that say we could get a 744/777 rate at 300 an hr, but to do one pay scale for CA's the max the company would go is 240 an hr which mind you is not much of a bump of the 2012 rates, is that acceptable, or do you expect everyone to get paid the 777 rate no matter what?
If we do get the max rate for all A positions, what part of the contract are you willing not get achieve the gains in that you want? Again not cost neutral, but not the gains that we all want?

Just serious questions that the group needs to answer so that the reps have the desires and agenda of the group down. (Again, I mean this)

The Bus FTCM will be all of the former SMAC, SOPA was a good thing because you never had to learn new "techniques" going from aircraft to aircraft..it just made it very simple. Glad I still have vol 2 with color...it will all work out after about 10 years.:D

DL did have FOQA, I think it left when the ASAP was pulled...but there is about 2 1/2 -3 years of info available, and they will be reviewing some of it. Just make sure when you have overspeeds to write them up, because they will show up in the FOQA;)

Like I posted a few minutes ago, I think it's a great idea.

Here are some ideas why it might work:

Retirement isn't based on your top end pay anymore. I think that drove a lot of contract negotiations to maximize the top end pay, so the retirement was high as well. We all know what's happened to our pensions.

It would make more sense to have higher pay in the beginning and middle of our career than the end, so that the 401(k) investment has more time to compound.

The direction of airlines overall seems to be more, smaller aircraft (think B757s crossing the pond vs. B747s 10-20 years ago). Therefore, we should focus less on pay per seat. Honestly, it is the same effort flying a B757 across the ocean as B747. Just less people. If we keep focusing on pay per pax seat, we are giving ourselves a paycut.

It allows senior pilots to keep flying a smaller airplane if they want. Junior folks might end up on bigger airplane than they might fly now. Putting new hires in the 7ER shows that people new to Delta could handle it.

Of course, this benefits junior people more than senior people, as senior pay would stagnate while junior pay would increase. A simple way would be to average out the payrates for equipment - for example:

2nd year FO pay, ranges from $99-$72 an hour. avg: $84.20
12 year CA pay, ranges from $201-$145 an hour. avg: $171.10

Would a our 12-year, B747 Captains be willing to take a $30 an hour paycut to essentially give the DC-9 Captains a $26 an hour raise?

Not a 77/74 capt...but it would better rephrased as, would you accept no pay raise in leiu of better medical insurance for retirement...

Agreed. I've met a few international guy that have said, "I would fly domestic MD-88 if we had the old pay scales. I fly the ER because I can't afford not to."

We all know that the argument of size, speed, & efficiency = profit is flawed and as outdated as the 1930's. So perhaps our pay based on those things is outdated as well. If you think about it, it actually encourages the company to buy smaller airplanes.

I just wonder what the training savings to the company would be. With 12 different airplane pay scales we have now, I think it would be substantial.

My guess is the guys at the top of the list would not go for it, unless they were somehow pay protected.

I agree, we are no longer focused on FAE (Final Average Earnings) I also agree that a bigger bump earlier in your career will make your retirement savings go up exponentially over a 20, 30 or 40 year career here.

I like the fact that you took the time to type this out, people need to see it in plain English. There are many that are CA's and they do not want to take the hit, but FO's would because it only helps their picture.

It is a question that needs to be answered by this group. It along with Scope, Scheduling improvements, retirement improvements, displacement protections, communing language that improves our contractual language, International override, Pilot Health issues and Workman's Comp being defined for overseas incidents, death and or disability for disease being caught overseas should go above and beyond simple disability, SC assignment, vacation credit, yellow slip requests for reservists, per diem, family pass benefits to include in-laws, pass bennies on furlough for your family, and pay restoration, just to name a few of the issues that are concerns to the pilots I have talked to.

Guys the list is long, and we all need to educate ourselves now on the issues so that we can give our LEC Reps informed, educated direction for our 2012 opener.

I know I have been listening.

I have 16 years left (assuming I stay till 65... bwaaa haaaa) And I'll wager I NEVER see the rates in my seat that we had in C2K) Nevermind adjusted for inflation... Those days are gone children...

Are there any other architects on this board? If there are .. please send me a PM.

Maybe once we hit 20 years of service we could get medical insurance for free and when we hit age 60 they could give us a room at a local nursing home facility and a travelling home health nurse to go with us on our trips.

84 on standby for flt 1465 LAX - HNL this morning. 11 Hk's. 18 open seats. I need to get to my Fresno State - Hawaii game.....

Say bye bye to Mr. S2.

BD