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Should Regional Airlines Flatten Pay Scales

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Regional Regional Airlines
View Poll Results: Should Regional Airlines Flatten Pay Scales
Yes, and I am a Regional Airline Captain
10
6.02%
Yes, and I am a Regional Airline First Officer
39
23.49%
Yes, and I am a Prospective Regional Airline Pilot
7
4.22%
Yes, and I am a Major Airline Pilot
11
6.63%
Yes, and I am a Non Airline Pro Pilot
6
3.61%
No, and I am a Regional Airline Captain
29
17.47%
No, and I am a Regional Airline First Officer
36
21.69%
No, and I am a Prospective Regional Airline Pilot
1
0.60%
No, and I am a Major Airline Pilot
22
13.25%
No, and I am a Non Airline Pro Pilot
5
3.01%
Voters: 166. You may not vote on this poll

Should Regional Airlines Flatten Pay Scales

Old 08-25-2014, 09:33 AM
  #1  
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Default Should Regional Airlines Flatten Pay Scales

Read before voting. Identities are hidden in the poll.

Everyone tends to agree that regional airline FO's should be paid more money at regional airlines, even airline management. But how far would the regional pilot group as a whole be willing to go? I suppose the answer to this question might have something to do with whether you believe a regional airline is a place you can make a career at or whether you believe its 'up and out' only.

Even if your regional airline had the best intentions towards its pilots, they don't get to set the ticket prices. They are constrained by the pot of money given to them by their parent airline. And your airline management doesn't even decide how the money is divided up, the pilots do.

Get a bigger pot of money you say from the parent airline? Be careful because if you ask for too much, other regional airlines will fly right in under the radar and underbid you because they can afford to do so with newly found pilot concession money. Some call this type of pilot affliction SJS.

So could you support a flattened pay scale where Captains and FO's make the same amount of money? Where only years of service pays higher? Where size of equipment doesn't matter and is determined by mainline pilot scope provisions? Potentially, it could look like this- a pay scale that starts at $40,000/yr and tops out in year 10 at $80,000/yr, regardless of seat. That's a $4000 per year raise.

What are some of the benefits you ask? What if you have to start over at a new regional airline because you want to move, or you hate the company, or the company goes out of business, etc... think about how much easier it would be to do just that. Right now, you are screwed, it's HARD to leave after the first year. And think about this, the company is now more on the hook to make the place better otherwise they will have to deal with FO attrition and all the training costs of that attrition when pilots decide airline B is slightly better. All of the sudden they have a vested interest in keeping pilots happy if they know pilots have other better options and do not have to take such a massive pay hit to keep them from leaving. Pilots become less of a slave to the company.

The poll question is "Should Regional Airlines Flatten Pay Scales".
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Old 08-25-2014, 09:58 AM
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Why should a Captain be paid the same as an FO? Maybe not such a large gap but more responsibility and accountability requires more bacon. Get over it Envoy is done and you'll probably have to make a lateral move.
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Old 08-25-2014, 10:00 AM
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Originally Posted by AluminumFoil View Post
Why should a Captain be paid the same as an FO? Maybe not such a large gap but more responsibility and accountability requires more bacon. Get over it Envoy is done and you'll probably have to make a lateral move.
I don't work for Envoy. And welcome to Airline Pilot Central forums.
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Old 08-25-2014, 10:02 AM
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Originally Posted by tom11011 View Post
Read before voting. Identities are hidden in the poll.

Everyone tends to agree that regional airline FO's should be paid more money at regional airlines, even airline management. But how far would the regional pilot group as a whole be willing to go? I suppose the answer to this question might have something to do with whether you believe a regional airline is a place you can make a career at or whether you believe its 'up and out' only.

Even if your regional airline had the best intentions towards its pilots, they don't get to set the ticket prices. They are constrained by the pot of money given to them by their parent airline. And your airline management doesn't even decide how the money is divided up, the pilots do.

Get a bigger pot of money you say from the parent airline? Be careful because if you ask for too much, other regional airlines will fly right in under the radar and underbid you because they can afford to do so with newly found pilot concession money. Some call this type of pilot affliction SJS.

So could you support a flattened pay scale where Captains and FO's make the same amount of money? Where only years of service pays higher? Where size of equipment doesn't matter and is determined by mainline pilot scope provisions? Potentially, it could look like this- a pay scale that starts at $40,000/yr and tops out in year 10 at $80,000/yr, regardless of seat. That's a $4000 per year raise.

What are some of the benefits you ask? What if you have to start over at a new regional airline because you want to move, or you hate the company, or the company goes out of business, etc... think about how much easier it would be to do just that. Right now, you are screwed, it's HARD to leave after the first year. And think about this, the company is now more on the hook to make the place better otherwise they will have to deal with FO attrition and all the training costs of that attrition when pilots decide airline B is slightly better. All of the sudden they have a vested interest in keeping pilots happy if they know pilots have other better options and do not have to take such a massive pay hit to keep them from leaving. Pilots become less of a slave to the company.

The poll question is "Should Regional Airlines Flatten Pay Scales".
Yep, and then do telephone interviews.
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Old 08-25-2014, 10:11 AM
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Didn't you do a similar poll last month?
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Old 08-25-2014, 10:12 AM
  #6  
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Is that why captains get paid more? Then why do legacy first officers get paid more than regional captains? Technically the former has less responsibility than the latter.
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Old 08-25-2014, 10:20 AM
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Originally Posted by Riverside View Post
Didn't you do a similar poll last month?
I've done 6 previous polls prior to this one, although maybe similar, none of them asked this question.
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Old 08-25-2014, 10:54 AM
  #8  
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I could see flattening out the scales for longevity (18 year scales?? hello lifers doing your negotiating), but not from seat to seat.
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Old 08-25-2014, 11:07 AM
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LOL at all the regional FOs that think they should be paid the same as a CA
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Old 08-25-2014, 04:08 PM
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Originally Posted by tunes View Post
LOL at all the regional FOs that think they should be paid the same as a CA
Yup, very short sighted on their part. They are mostly made up of the entitlement generation so there ya have it.
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