I apologize if this has been brought up before or may sound cliché... But I've been thinking.

If they would add 25 cents to the total cost of a ticket per passenger per hour of flight, and give it to the F/O, or even split it between the captain and the F/O, this would help bring the F/O above the poverty line. This would add up to like 700 extra dollars per month (On a 37 seater with seats filled) if it were just going to the F/O... No one would complain about the quarter either.

Why hasn't this been considered?

 

b/c its impractical, trashy to do, and your hat must be on your head not held out for pax to toss quarters in like your name s Toll Booth Willy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!JK!! The first two reasons I know , have never stopped the airlines before but they are pretty stuck on this hat thing

 

Because you are already willing to take the job at the poverty level. Simple supply and demand.

 

If I could just get everyone in the United States to give me $0.01 I would be a multi-thousandaire. I think it's a great idea and it wouldn't hurt anyone to do it. Just go to makemerichb!tch.com and start giving...

 

Here is why this won't work:

Ticket prices need to be low. Costs needs to be even lower in order to juice any profit margin out that can be gotten.

Raising ticket price is against this logic. Its reduces the competitive edge for that company = less money for the company (not you).

If the ticket prices could be raised, even a cent, the profit gained wouldn't go to you. It is the airline's ticket, their seat, their airplane, their route, their contract, their name, etc. You are seat meat - instantly replaceable by the next guy in line.

Pilots are LABOR. We don't feel that way, but they do. The "Salaries/Wages" line item needs to be as low as it can be. Regardless of how low it goes, people still sign up. If it weren't for the unions, F/O pay would rival that of a 16 year old flipping burgers and pilots would still sign up - I promise you they would.

Once again, it sucks, but it is just the way it is. Unions are a double edged sword, but you can thank them profusely for the fact that your pay is even $22/hour. The market supply of pilots could drive that way lower if it was allowed to.

 

Yep, that's why it needs to be put in as regulation.. Like a "security fee" or something... Throw it into the "Passenger Safety Act" as the "Crewmember Safety Fee"... That way the airline wouldn't be able to co-opt that extra money for executive bonuses AND it wouldn't give any one airline an competitive advantage...

 

how about this? we are labor, a completely normal business expense! how about they charge enough to make a profit and include that normal cost of operation (including fair pay rates) in their price. cmon, forget the fees, charge what it costs to cover your expenses.

 

I know there are some people out there who would fly a regional for $8.50 an hr just for "experience"....heck they would fly a 777 for $8.50 and hr if they had the chance!

 

They could, but why would they? They have furloughed FO's and thousands of CFI's all eager to come (back) to work for the current pay scale.

The only possible solution is either a long-term pilot shortage (not going to happen due to industry cycles) or a national pilot guild/union.

The national union (or coalition of unions) would have to have set payscale requirements for all aircraft types, as well as set payscales for general aviation, corporate, CFI, etc. Entry level pilots would not pay dues until they got a turbine job, or somesuch.

You could join the union as an apprentice the day you got your CPL, and there would be an incentive to work only at jobs which met the union pay standard. The incentive to participate at the entry level would be that airlines would preferentially hire union members...journeymen from other airlines, then apprentices off the street.

If you were sure that you never wanted to work at an airline, you could blow off the union, and do GA on your own. It would be kind of like the two kinds of plumbers...Union Plumbers and Turd Chasers.

You could assemble a coalition of unions pretty easily, and probably agree on a minimum pay scale which would become applicable for each pilot group at their next contract. The hard part would be that each local union would have to negotiate control over the hiring process, at least to the extent that non-union pilots would only be hired as a last resort. Many companies would resist this provision to the death. Actually it would be GOOD for the airlines...higher payscales would attract higher quality pilots, and they would have a better selection of applicants to choose from.

But now is the time to do it, with so many major contracts due.

 

The answer is that this is already being done, only, that quarter is being short-stopped by the airline to repay themselves for the high costs of training you to fly the airplane you are now flying.