Interesting, I fly the 170 and don't make anywhere remotely close to the average $119,000. I am nowhere remotely close to even breaking $100,000. I wonder who that 170 captain in the picture works for. The media sucks.

 

Man I flew for 2 years for a combined income of....51,000 pre tax! I must have been at the wrong airline!

 

14th year in the airline biz. All big jets. Never worked for a commuter. I will make 84K this yr. not including the per diem which is indexed to the 1997 cost of living. ****.

 

Hmm. When I left my [very very cruddy] regional I pulled down $90k my last year. That's not millionaire money, but it's pretty good scratch, and more than I'll make at a legacy for the next 3-5 years. I hasten to add that I was at said [very very cruddy] regional WAY too long and except for pay, the lifestyle was abysmal.

I think the "point" is that regional pay scales aren't uniformly as bad as most major pilots think. More importantly, however, is that I don't think many pilots appreciate just how little the average working stiff (non-pilot) really earns and how hard they have to work to get it. Offhand, I think I remember being told that the average DUAL income family only makes around $60k/yr.

I'm all for more pay, particularly when the airlines are raking in money (ahem). But lets be realistic about the response we'll get when asking the general flying public to feel sorry about our "poor pay".

 

Well said and very true!

FWIW, From wikipedia,

"In 2007, the median annual household income rose 1.3% to $50,233.00."

Further it says that the top 20% of wages in the United States earn $91,700 or more, the large majority of which came from two incomes.

So, as a Captain at a regional you were right at the top 20% of incomes in the United States.

Household income in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Median income for the US is around 50K. That makes us above average wage earners in the US. I fear that this article is a precursor to the Obama administrations attempt to take over more sectors of the economy. We will be lumped in with executives and medical specialists as overpaid and greedy. He will limit pay as part of a TARP like bailout package for certain favored carriers. The government will then own those carriers.

Don't think it could happen? Just ask the people at GM, Chase, Citi, and BofA. Think just because we have a union that O will give us a sweetheart deal like the UAW? Just look up how much the UAW has given the Dems over the years vs ALPA. Follow the money!

Thanks to Pitts for posting the above links and stats. His post beat mine on the time line but reinforces my point. We are already the enemy in the eyes of this government. It is only a matter of time before they come after us.

 

Its funny, I read the forbes article this morning and the pay scale wasn't accurate. There is lot of misconception in the general public on how much pilots earn. The public thinks that pilots are paid these high lavish salaries and then you tell them what most pilots make they don't believe you.

Sadly, I completely agree with the previous post. I don't see a lot of positive coming in the near future.

 

How about responding to Forbes with a well-written letter to the editor?

Yeah, that takes work, but how else is the magazine going to correct the perception that it's a six-week course and then you're raking in the dough?

 

So what's the "median" for these average wage earners in terms of training required, proficiency standards required, level of expertise required, aptitudes required, responsibility required, and risks that can end their "average" careers at any time?

What about those doctors and lawyers? Outrageous! They should be making $50K just like the average Joe, right?

 

I can't speak for GM, but I can assure you that there are thousands of employees @ Chase, Citi, and BofA who received raises after the TARP, as well as after the public flogging of those who make good $ in the financial industry.

The outrage was only over the group that marketed sold these 'toxic assets', often not even understanding how the underlying asset was valued (credit default swaps being the most well-known example). It was like a game of musical chairs - when the music stopped, some large banks no longer had a chair in the game anymore. Those folks, and those receiving 'retention bonuses' after they left the company were the two most glaring examples. But the rest of the individual employees @ banks not let go are not suffering too much.

These jobs are available to pilots, who are generally well educated and of above average intelligence. Other than CEO, I didn't see a single job title in Forbes that was related to finance ranked higher than 'pilot' (medicine, on the other hand . . . ) If you would prefer to be in the banking industry, by all means, go right ahead and do it. Asking a pilot how great it would be to be a banker is no different than asking a banker what it's like to be a pilot. Both jobs look great on the other side of the fence, where the grass always seems to be greener.