I was literally thinking about this earlier today, its as if you stole the thoughts from my head. The 50 seater jets will be going away eventually, and replaced with these 76 seater "regional" jets. Now 4 legs would be equal to 304 passengers carried daily, assuming a full flight each leg of course. Compare that to the previous 200 passengers carried daily. One argument for the large pay disparity has always been the smaller size of the aircraft, and the lesser amount of passengers carried. How then is it rationalized that pilots should carry more passengers in larger aircraft for the same, or less pay (see recent concessionary contracts)?

With the internet, and social media, why aren't we doing more and standing up for ourselves? How hard would it be to start some sort of grass roots movement? Teachers can shut down schools, and UNION construction workers can disrupt my commute by shutting down construction projects if they don't get their yearly raises. A guy driving a very complex vibratory asphalt compactor makes more than some new regional captains, and most work seasonally.

 

There are literally tens of thousands of <25 year olds chomping at the bit, to live in crash pad for 20+ days a month, fly a 121 jet, that are ready, willing, and able to work for cheap. They justify it with the rationale that it will just be a temporary "stepping stone" for them, because the stars in there eyes of making it to a major airline someday blind them to stark reality that tens of thousands of others have experienced.

This pool of labor will continue to undermine and devalue the efforts of the rest of the industry to raise compensation, not just at thier specific place of employ, but industry wide.

 

Exactly. You should see some of these guy in my crashpad, sit around playing Nintendo wearing stupid looking white sunglasses (in the house) talking bout girls (but never with any) saying how in couple years they be at Delta too. I just smile and walk away at how ignorant the 25-year olds in Georgia are.

 

Reality is that you are brainless... Pilots have much more power than you think...The only thing holding them back in the U.S is the lack of organization...If everyone was to walk off the job for even one day- It would literally shut down America....This is what needs to happen...As far as Doctors and Lawyers, I know plenty of idiots in law and medicine so please do not even go there...

 

Interesting, I see the $2.168 billion profit which takes the PAX Revenue of $12,899 (Mainline PAX Rev) + $3,197 (Regional PAX Rev) + $471 (Cargo) + $1,955 (Other Rev) totaling $18,522 in revenue. Minus expenses totaling $16,336 you get the $2.168 billion profit. Regional revenue results in 19% of total operating revenue.

So what you're saying is that the regional operating revenue $3,197 minus the CPA's $1,157 is all profit, but what you fail to acknowledge is that mainline covers all of the other costs of doing business. Without mainline, regional operators would not exist. ACA/Indy died quickly, and XJT tried an LCC with 50 seaters that died quickly as well.

 

Really, so you agree that UAX covers 94% of the operating income on 19% operating revenue?

 

Regional revenue minus regional operating costs is where that number comes from. The reason regionals blow away every other part of the operation, is because they operate in markets that the regionals have a monopoly over. You will find that mainline is competing in high capacity routes where competition is fierce, and margins are thin.

For instance, I just pulled up a fare from United.com for ORD to LAX, Cost $249. I pulled a fare from ORD to ATW, cost $939. Regionals are absolute cash cows.

 

That's beside the point. See it's not about me, it's about you. Imagine if the RJ's were at mainline. If you found out you were flying the lowest paid jet, but making 94% of the profits, you would demand fair compensation. This is what the senior guys fear, and the reason that flying was given away. As a result, the senior pilots, instead of empowering the junior folks, got to deposit that money into their own accounts. Does that make sense?

 

Seriously? The job is easy relative to what? Repetition and focused professional training is what makes professionals professionals. We make the job look easy. Just because the surgeon who makes his 546th appendectomy look easy, doesn't mean that performing an appendectomy is easy. An airline pilot shooting his 546th ILS can probably do it in his sleep, but that does NOT make it "easy".

BTW, your attitude is management's wet dream, as they can make their case by quoting idiotic statements like yours in their continued attack on our profession.

 

Crash an RJ = people die.
Crash a 737 = people die.

Mess up someone's burger order = mild inconvenience.

I fail to see the correlation...