The pay at the regionals has always been lousy but I would say I'm worth at bare minimum $30k a year. $40k would be better. It's funny to think that I could work at the local marina docking and fueling boats for about $25K a year. When I go to the regionals I will make $18k a year. Holy smokes! Yes sir, it's time for a change at the regionals. Need to ante up on the pay there, Mr. fat airline manager!

30-40k a year sounds about right for an F/O
CAs should double the salary of an F/O - 60-80k

Wow, I made almost $30,000 10 years ago fresh out of college as a 2ndLt.

I now make over $100,000 according to the propaganda published in my statement of military compensation (I only see about 80 of that), which means my 1200 TT and 800 PIC time in a Hornet means I need a regional job for a year or two to qualify for the major's, probably more unless I can get a guard or reserve job to bump up my PIC time quicker than waiting for the upgrade at a regional. Don't get me wrong, military flying was fun, but it sure ain't easy. I paid my dues once already, whether it was studying for a flight as a student, or living in a tent in the middle of the desert with no a/c and flying 6 hour missions on 2 hours sleep. I sure as $hit ain't looking forward to making $20,000 a year to start. You can do that at McDonalds or 7-11 with no college degree and no experience.

If I had it my way, I'd be able to get a job flying that would be able to at least match my base pay right now, and match my current standard of living the second year. Do I expect that to happen? No. But I sure wouldn't turn it down if it was offered.

The regional pay was lousy the first time I was in this business in the early 90s and its still lousy today.

Why? An entry-level engineering grad will make $60-80K the day he starts...a few years later as an engineering group leader he will make $110-130K. And his job cannot even be quantified in terms of gross revenue production...

So rick, what do you suggest then?

As long as people are willing to work at the current pay rates, what incentive do airlines have to pay any more? Employee compensation is generally based on the laws of supply and demand---the more in-demand a skill is, and the less people there are able to provide it, the higher the wages will be. The goal of most corporations is to pay employees just enough to keep them from quitting. As long as there are qualified people out there with a dream of flying for the airlines, it would be stupid (from the CEOs point-of-view) to grant any significant pay raises. I personally think regional FOs should start off around 25-30K, and then go up to about 40K for year two, but that would cut into executive bonuses and no airline executive would go for that unless there were first a serious reduction in the number of applicants. Just my two cents' worth.

Wow, Marine propaganda is WAY better than the Air Force's. They had my official statement of military compensation at a little over 50k ($50,441.58 to be exact) as a non flying, run of the mill, ground pounding, grunt, E4.

My guess is that he is an O-3 or O-4...and flight pay helps. I was making the same on AD w/ BAH.

Yeah, I know he brought home a lot more than I did on E4 pay. I was just pointing out the hilarity in my PSMC (Military compensation report). They have me listed at that 50k mark. How much of that was take home? About $2600 per month (x12=about 31k per year).