I can never understand this thought process. I was with SkyWest and i would fly with Captains who would say they are not going to move on to majors because they are 40+ and have good seniority and pay etc.. im with United now and i dont want to come off as an a**hole im just trying to get my point across that not only is pay better only 2 years in but EVERYTHING is better. In training they take you out pretty much every night during indoc. They feed you good meals on the plane. You get picked up in teslas and mercedes. Your retirement is amazing (an extra 16% in your 401k no matter if you contribute or not) the hotels for the most part are great and in amazing locations. My seniority after 2 years will let me hold anything from 787 reserve to 40 percent 737 or airbus. Anyway my point is dont get sucked into QOL and pay at the regionals if your younger than 55 IMHO.

 

EXACTLY.

Sure, it's the same job, sort of.

But the career is waaaaaaaay different.

Never mind that the senior RJ CA for the most part is maxed out on the pay scale if all he's gonna do is fly the line. Versus the year 2/3 NB FO that's going to see major in creases in pay (AHEM, 401 also).

And for Christ's sake, assuming the chance IS THERE to move on, who wants to bag drag/cram themselves into ANY RJ and going up and down 3-4-5-6 times day and going home from a 4 day feeling (less like thanks to 117) crap?

I know.........I know.........SOMEONE is gonna chime in with "well, I'm a senior CA and I'm home every night and I make a million dollars a year flying day turns/out and backs/locals".

Sure, we ALL KNOW those guys. But they're simply NOT the majority, by any means.

AGAIN, this is all predicated on having the ability/choice to move on versus those that simply rationalize/justify why they won't.

 

Most of us that are stuck as lifers are well aware that the worst day at a major is still better than the best day at a regional. You just get to a point where you must accept that you're most likely not going to move up and simply deal with it. Some folks might rationalize it by bragging about how good they have it or not commuting or whatever, but we're keenly aware that we're missing out big time. My only question is, why does it bother some people so much? If someone is a loser lifer at xyz regional, how does that negatively affect you? Ignore the fools and take advantage that there's simply less competition for you to move onto a real career.

 

I mean your right I can't argue with that. But if you have a degree and your qualified I don't see why you would come to the conclusion that it won't happen.

 

More responsibility = more pay. It really is just that simple.

 

The unions are what let the regional airlines get away with lowballing their pilots for all of those years.

 

Kids and family.

Everybody knows that even a 55 y/o will probably be better off going to a legacy considering career compensation, and that his QOL at the end will be better to. But if you have young kids, taking a few years out from life to commute to reserve in LGA/JFK/EWR you'll miss the best family years.

Plenty of money and time off won't matter when the kids are 16. Well they'll appreciate the money but why would teenagers want to hang out with pops, especially since he wasn't around when they were little?

 

More responsibility? Or just more souls on board? Not buying it. They go to work, they fly, they go home. Their skills are the same. The only difference is the size of the equipment (hence more souls on board) and the pay. It's not like the planes get harder to fly the more you move up.

 

So a guy who flies a Caravan should be paid the same as the guy who flies a 747?

 

No... it's harder to fly a Caravan.