The time value of money is what is not considered...$200 an hr at 55 years old is no where near as much as $100 an hour at 30 years old. They need to bring the salary scale back down to earth, we all do the same job, why is there such gaps in pay. This career is a dead end because only the ones lucky enough to have proper timing and age on their side, ever become really successful.

 

You are incorrect, we do NOT do the same job. RJ pilots continuing to assert that their job is the same as a 4 man crew on a 10 day trip all over the world does not make it so.

 

Funny, I think you just described yourself....... As long as we all don't get displaced soon.

 

You mean to say we all don't take the responsibility for safely flying an airplane from Point A to Point B and having its contents arrive (be it passengers or cargo) unscathed at the arrival point?

The destinations and the aircraft type might be wildly different, and certain locales offer challenges others do not...but the task of driving the airplane safely is pretty much the same no matter what you're flying or where in the world you are flying it.

It doesn't take a superior airman to fly internationally...all it takes is an International Procedures Course and somebody having their head screwed on straight.

 

A buddy of mine who happens to fly 777s on trips like you describe is the first to admit that his job is easier than mine flying 4-6 legs per day up down the east coast. He barely stays current with landings.

I begrudge him nothing. But let's try to cut the mysticism of the widebody life.

I have no doubt that long-haul has many challenges. Fatigue is real. I get it. But I used to work for a large European carrier and sat on the jumpseat of one of our MD-11s from ZRH-ATL and for the whole flight wondered when it was going to get tough. The whole flight was less time than a normal duty day for us. During that time they did one take-off and one landing. One of each checklist. Not 6 of each. They did their fuel checks and nav checks. And ate breakfast. Then lunch. Then they took some breaks and watched a movie. Then they landed in ATL and went to the hotel.

If flying long-haul was as challanging as some folks make it out to be, those senior guys would be fighting to get RJs on the list at their companies so they could fly the easy RJ trips.

I guess that's not happening, is it?

 

True, but that doesn't mean I don't fight for what I think is right.

 

The thing you have to remember is that regional unions are fighting an uphill battle that started in the basement. The entire idea of a regional from mainline management's point of view was to save $$$. Everything at the regional can be cheaper. New ground crews, even in the hubs that haven't been around for 15-20 years. New crew members who they can pay very little cause they are building off "commuter" contracts. New gate agents who again haven't been in the job for the long haul and depend on them for a retirement. The regionals have replaced a whole bunch of career-type jobs with temporary ones. Why are they temporary? Because when a regional workforce gets too pushy and expensive guess what? They are contract labor, you can just have someone else fill the contract. As long as each carrier (like Delta) has many regional partners, we will never even come close to closing the gap in work rules and pay between us and mainline. And even if we do, we will simply be replaced by another cheaper regional. The only way we would be able to change this is to have a base contract (that is very respectable) for each mainlines regional partners, or, only have one regional for each mainline carrier, guaranteed. If we are ever going to see any stability and descent improvement, this is what we all should be fighting for.

 

Yes, you could.

IBT has been decertified, or in is the process of being decertified, at multiple regionals.

RAH pilots are extremely fed up with the poor representation we have received.

If ever there was a time to pry us away from Hoffa, it is now!

 

True that....

 

No, I said that we don't do the same job.