That's what I'm remembering too, scambo. It was somewhere in that time period... definitely after I got here. I remember they made a big deal about the fact that the B-scale was finally gone. I wish I had saved all the ALPA stuff from back then, because I'm pretty sure they put that in writing somewhere.

Contract 96 was a concessionary contract (2% paycuts plus Sunshine). Leo the CEO took over 01Sep97. The Spring 1998 MEC meeting was the famous "a contract is a contract" meeting.

Exactly when in 1998 would management have agreed to eliminate the B-scale?

I gotta agree with Slowplay on this one. As a 1988 hire I spent, almost exactly to the day, 4 years on the "official" B-Scale. I remember in my interviews being asked if I had a problem with it..... At the time of the interview I didn't because I was not on property.....

It went away with the '92 contract. There have been a few other payrates called a B-Scale (Delta Express come to mind) but the official contractual pre-merger Delta B-Scale ended in '92.

Denny

Hey, look, I'm not trying to argue with you. It sounds like you're probably technically correct. I just remember that, when I first got here, we definitely referred to the first few years as a B scale and I'm pretty sure the pay rates were much lower in the first few years and then jumped substantially up at some point (maybe 3 to 5 years?) to more "normal" rates. Then I remember everybody being excited (and I'm pretty sure I remember some official communications) when it was announced that we had finally eliminated this "B Scale." But that was like 13 years ago and the alzheimers is kicking in now ... or maybe I just dreamed the whole thing up!

Denny and Slowplay are correct. Scambo and DAL88 are not. I was hired in 1989 onto the B-Scale and IIRC, it was eliminated (at Delta) on 12/31/92. I'll let Slow dig out the 1990 contract that confirms the exact date, but that is my recollection. It was definitely prior to the 1996 contract.

The formatting won't stick with this, but here is the table for PWA Section 3.E.1 from the August, 1990 contract for 2 man aircraft. Note the change of percentage pay (B-scale reduction) on September 1, 1992. 3 man aircraft (L1011, B727) received the increase to 1980 contract percentages as well.

Year 9/1/90 9/1/92
2 45% 45%
3 54% 54%
4 55% 63.1%
5 57% 64.1%
6 65.2% 65.2%
7 66% 66%
8 67.0% 67%
9 67.2% 67.2%
10 67.6% 67.6%
11 67.7% 67.7%
12 67.8% 67.8%

These same payscale percentages are reflected in the 01 January 1999 payrate table. C2K established year one pay and increased the percentages of year 2 and 3 pay. It also established a greatly increased "entry level pilot" pay and a 400 hour probation period vice the previous calendar year.

So you don't remember anything about us having a substantially lower pay scale in the 1998 time frame for the first few years (maybe year 1 through 3, 4, or 5?) and then it jumped up to a normal progression with the rest of the rates... and then we eliminated that and the year 2 through 4 or 5 rates jumped up substantially to match the normal progression of the subsequent year rates? I know I didn't dream this. Whether it was technically called a B scale, I don't know for sure. I know that's what everyone I knew called it.

In any case, none of this changes the point (which I'm sure Slow was hoping to bury) that all of us have been on a de facto B scale for the past HALF DECADE.

Just curious, what was the payscale you operated under at TWA in 1997 versus the payscale that you operated under at Delta in 1999?

Interesting.

As far as I know, the percentage of F/O pay to Capt pay did not change when we took our pay cuts, right? So the percentages in our current contract should be roughly the same as they were in C2K, right? Well, here's what I get for today's percentages, using the 2011 MD-88 pay rates:

Year
2 - 53.5%
3 - 62.1%
4 - 63.1%
5 - 64.1%
6 - 65.2%
7 - 66.5%

So maybe it was a 3 year B scale? (or whatever you want to call it)

Alright Alright..........I'll switch to Jack while they replenish the stock

Home from the CQ wars, employed for another year........idiots