Originally Posted by ShyGuy

One longevity list. Bottom of the list for bidding schedules and vacation, but longevity for pay. Get paid for the experience you bring. Since people like to compare pilots to doctors, the AMA spells out the strict requirements of newhire Doctors that companies must hire. Make it the same. Companies can only go so long by hiring bottom barrel for experience before they are forced to hire guys throughout the experience spectrum. This pill would have been easiest to swallow for the legacies in 2010-2013 when virtually every pilot was topped at the 12 yr scale anyway.

But alas it'll never happen.

Originally Posted by Brand X

The public doesn't care about the plight of the regional pilot, they just want a cheap ticket and not die in the process.

If the regional flying goes back to the majors, what are you going to do with all the regional pilots, seeing as more than a few are not qualified for a major and/or not major material?

Originally Posted by Chuck D

There has been increased media coverage lately of the chasm between QOL/pay at majors vs regionals. I don't think it even covers the whole story or goes far enough, but I think there's also a significant aspect of regional life that has been overlooked - let's call it "regional churn".

There's almost no point to life as a regional FO. Yep, that's a sobering claim. The primary point is to spend as little time as possible as a regional FO in order to upgrade, gain turbine PIC and move on to a major... or skip the upgrade and catch a rare direct opportunity. Stagnation as a regional FO is a career death sentence and likely costs a large percentage of future earnings, opportunity to save for retirement, etc. $20-$40/hr does not pay many bills.

I can think of dozens of FOs at my airline who are on their 2nd, 3rd or even 4th regional airline, through stagnation or the company shutting down. I can think of more who have left this regional for another one, weighing the pros and cons of yet another year at $20/hr and once again slotting in at the bottom of a seniority list.

From management's perspective, there's nothing wrong with this. It keeps labor cheap and the churn occurs cyclically with new contracts, adding or dropping aircraft, etc. Just business...

From the prospective of the profession, this has caused many high quality pilots to leave the industry all together and has significantly damaged the careers of many many others.

Thoughts and comments? How does this become a story the media can latch on to in a way that can benefit us all?

Originally Posted by skypilot35

So you're saying it's a hopeless endeavor and we should all just shut up and color?

Originally Posted by tom11011

Let's have a look at the bigger picture.

Everything that is happening today at the regional level is coming to the majors too. Collectively since you are willing to accept poor treatment now, you are going to have to accept it later as well. They already know you will.

You will never have what the current crop of major airline pilots have. They never had to accept the sub standard treatment many regional pilot groups are ok with today. They never had to chase a carrot like you do. Heck, many of them never even worked at a regional. They left the military and were welcomed to the club with open arms.

You are not a member of the club. If you are willing to chase the carrot now, you are going to have to chase it forever.

Originally Posted by Delta1067

How about not taking the job if you aren't happy with the compensation package?

Originally Posted by galaxy flyer

This...as the old joke goes. "Will you have sex with for a million dollars?" "Yes, then how 'bout for 10 bucks?" Girl answers, "what kind of girl do you think I am?" Punch line, "we already established that, it's now about the price". RJ pilots have said they"ll fly for these wages, why should companies pay more just to fly a bigger plane?

GF