Air Berlin is trying to bring the Southwest Effect to transatlantic flying. NAI is a whole different animal.

I've averaged 105 hrs credit/mo ytd. My numbers include pay, profit sharing, 401k DC & perdiem. Extrapolated over the course of a year I'll easily crack $215k total comp this year. I live in base and get at least 1 Greenslip a month. Last month I blocked 62 hours and credited 105.5. We are SHORT narrow body guys, it'll only get worse (or better depending on your view).

You had me at "topless"!;)

Like our Denver based friends?

To clarify, I never said anyone on here was supporting it, I said they were ok with it, meaning they voted for it. They let this camel in the tent and maybe they would have voted differently had they known the consequences, but you know hindsight is 20/20. Regardless, they voted for a b scale so they could get a pay raise. The irony I see is that they were ok with that because they were the ones who benefited at the expense of the next generation of pilots who've languished in regional hell, but obviously opposed to the next scheme that threatens them and lashing out against someone who supports it. Glass houses, man.
Regional guys are just doing what's always been done, taking that crap job for the experience to try to make the jump to that coveted mainline job. However nobody told them it was gonna take far longer than it previously had, and just when you start to get your head above water, you've become too expensive, and your flying gets shifted to somebody whose a little cheaper, forcing you to either leave the career or start back at the poverty line at the next bottom feeder. Now, imagine if United suddenly decided to outsource all their airbuses. Operated by Spirit Airlines doing business as United Plus! Can you imagine the outrage of the senior captains when United furloughs them and offers them preferential hiring at Spirit for first year pay? Come fly your same airplane for a fraction of your former pay and be an FO for a new captain half your age. Far fetched yes, but this has been happening over and over at the regionals. To make matters worse they get told by pompous asses its their fault by taking these jobs and perpetuating the race to the bottom.
Now when a new scheme comes along, you shouldn't really be surprised by some regional guys supporting it when it's certainly better than what they've been dealt. It will benefit me, so screw the mainline guys, what have they done for me? That's the same kind of thinking that created the regional shell game. Now as I said before, I certainly DO NOT support NAI. It is another scheme to get cheap labor and anyone who supports it is being rather short sighted in my opinion. It's foolish to think this is a good thing, just wish the mainline guys who allowed the regional circus to happen could have seen the results of their mistakes prior to their unfortunate votes.

What I said was 'if the laws change' (quoted above for reference). Several congressmen want more freedoms of air travel (for more 'competition' and lower prices for the public). If 9th freedom is granted, it would allow, for example, 'Viet Nam Air' or say 'Arik Air' to fly domestically in the US. (Both ok companies with FAA acceptable MX, not picking on anyone, just pulled them out of the hat). At first Delta would love to subcontract with them because it would be cheaper than contracting with a US regional. This would put US regional carriers at such a cost disadvantage, wages would go down or they would go out of business. Eventually no Americans could justify the cost of flight training for the low pay, and no Americans would sign up. Eventually it would catch on with main line flying, and the US legacies would be forced to lower wages to compete with any airline in the world who could get a permit to operate in the US.
And that would spell the end of the american airline industry, as the foreign (sometimes government owned) carriers would then undercut each other to gain market share. No American company could pay a living wage and be able to compete.

This is really far fetched, of course, but 'if the laws changed' I believe it would be the eventual outcome like so many other US industries.

How's that for laying it out for you?:D

I'm sorry, I guess I missed the part where anyone was forced to take a flying job. :confused:

I'm a little puzzled by folks who blame everyone but themselves for taking the job.

There were no guarantees. Just because things haven't panned out like they were supposed to, does that mean it's someone else's fault? :confused:

Do foreign airlines really want to operate city to city in the US? The business is already cut-throat and margins notoriously small. I think they simply want to be able to pick up and drop off as they hopscotch across the country from gateway city to gateway city. IF that is the case, why not simply require them to use US crews when flying domestically. They wouldn't be flying the BOS-PIT routes anyway.

In a word.... absolutely! Your "cut throat margins" are easily beat by third world wages, at not just the crew but support. Think Turkish air allowed to fly Istanbul to NY and then on to LA as they can now and not haul pax between the two american cities. If they could throw on pax and make more $ who wouldn't. Now think of an airline based in Jamaica, but crewed with contractors from anywhere in the world allowed to fly point to point anywhere in the US on subsidized 737's. Allow cabotage and it will happen in the US before the ink is dry.

None of them would want to serve all cities, just the lucrative markets. But North America is a very lucrative aviation market.

There not cut-throat margins anymore. Enplanements are down profits are up, with the canceled flights due to crews, companies are just increasing the fares. A pilot shortage is actually good for an airliner it allows them to increase their margins without another company coming in to take the market share, due to the limited resource. Allegiant is having this problem currently there are quite a few markets that they want to get in but the pilot training bottle neck is prohibiting them.