apparently as of now 21 (24%) of the voters think so.....

I came from a long stretch in the Part 135 world. You wouldn't have and never will hear me complain about pay and benefits I agreed to work for. It is dues paying for the vast majority such as yourself. As for those furloughed from other airlines, I agree, they've paid their dues and deserve a spot above you on the F.O. list.

That's a huge problem. Regionals are simply not meant to be career destinations. The selfish lifers take an excessive piece of the pie. This is the primary cause of low entry level wages. The company sets the size of the pie, the senior pilots get to divy it up at the expense of the newbies.

If you're unhappy about this, quit the airline business today! If and when you get to your dream job, you're going to learn that the senior bubbas have it made.

Save yourself from a few decades of unhappiness. Quit now. Take the cubicle job.

The better answer should be, NO, we shouldn't flatten the pay scales. We should raise the pay for our regional partners.

Fact is, regionals are a career destination for many. A friend retired from NWA on DC-9s flying what...regional routes that are now at regionals.

GF

I dont think it should be even but defiantly flattened out. This will give you better earnings over the long haul. Earn more earlier in your career will allow for more compounding interest. We should all hope for 4 year caps(with cola increases and contract raises) but at reasonable wages. If we had it by the 2 or worst case 3 year of your career you would be making at least 50k no matter the seat you are better off in the long run even if you don't get that nice 85k at year 7.

FO pay should be roughly 70% of Captain Pay. That way both FO and Captain can eat and pay their bills....

but the Captain has more responsibility, and liability and puts their good name, record, and certificates on the line much more not to mention is supposed to be more experienced and knowledgeable in order to make decisions, with that "more experience and responsibility" should come higher pay.

"Lets pay everyone the same thing regardless of the job they do"
-First Officer Joe Stallin and Flight Attentant Karal Marks.

No but seriously, while it does suck to be a low paid fo especially when making lateral moves, ****ting on captains who spent the last 6-10 years in the right seat with that same ****ty pay busting their asses to earn their seats and higher pay is not right, and you're lowering everyone's top end right along with it. Lets be real, that isn't how capitalism works though I won't make the old Ayn Rand style "if the captain isn't paid more than the FO, what motivation does the FO have to be captain?" comment.

Why do regional CAs deserve 70k plus?

The question shouldn't be whether they subsidize FOs by taking a pay cut.

Regional CAs should be punished for not moving on.

Or we could continue to give them money: 401k 12.5% of the first 125% of yearly pay...

I don't think entitlement generation as much as I feel it's a lead weight of guys who screwed up so bad they are stuck in those seats.

As far as responsibility, violations come in pairs, and I've had to save many hapless lifers from getting ME violated.

There's just so much wrong with this kind of thinking.

Captains and FOs have the same training. They have the same type ratings. They have the same ATP certificates. The physical safety of both is equally at risk. Both have an equal responsibility for the safety of the passengers (FOs can kill everyone on board just the same as a captain can).

Captains put their good name and record on the line much more than FOs? How is that?? FOs put their records and certificates on the line just the same. So often both the captain AND the FO get fired and/or violated for incidents and accidents.

I realized a long time ago that captains do not earn their seats, as you suggest. If that was true, then how do you explain some regional captains upgrading in 18 months while others don't make it to the left seat for 8 years? Did the 8 year FO perform so poorly that it took him nearly 5 times longer to earn what the other guy did? It's simply a matter of luck and timing when someone is able to upgrade.

The pay scale disparity is completely asinine. You mentioned capitalism as if it's a factor; free market capitalism is no where to be found in unionized airline pilot pay scales. Companies hand over a certain amount of money to the whole pilot group, and unions divide up the money in a very artificial, anti free-market type of system.