I tried commenting, but my rather innocuous response got me a mod warning, so here it is again, mellow style:

His information is not particularly accurate. It, in no way, describes the activities of trunk carriers, local service carriers, the civil aeronautics board or the CAA/FAA accurately.

Nu

Hindsight is 20/20, but nostalgia is exceedingly myopic and almost blind.

Good point about remembering history. George Santayana's implies we not only learn the correct history, but also to apply the correct lessons in avoiding the same mistakes.

Agreed. For those interested in the history of commercial aviation in the US, with a detailed discussion of business practices, ethics, and how deregulation came about, pick up a copy of "Hard Landing" by Thomas Petzinger, Jr., a Wall Street Journal reporter and winner of the Gerald Loeb Prize, the highest award in business and financial journalism.

It, along with "Flying the Line (both 1 and 2) are perhaps the 3 best books on the history of US commercial aviation, and give you both the labor and management perspective.

Base pilot pay should be $1 p/h, per pax seat behind the door. Then step raises from there. Per diem for all time away from base is pretty standard, but I would like to see the national minimum wage applied to "on duty" time from sign in till clocking out. It doesn[t seem correct to be getting the same $2 per hour per diem, regardless if I'm sitting in the hotel room, or out preflighting the plane.

Re-regulation isn't going to help in this economy.... but it also wouldn't hurt either... so, when times do turn around, is it better to be regulated or not? I think most people know the answer to that one.... The pendulum has swung about as far right as it can, from a position of about as far left back in the late 60's early 70's... it's time to start drifting it back towards the middle.