"Currently the top pay in inflation based dollars at ups is almost the same as it was in 1998."

This is true. We do start getting COL adjustments later in the contract to make up for inflation, though. The F/O's, however, did get a pretty good raise on the last contract. Which they totally deserved, by the way.

Right, I guess your pay rates have nothing to do with the pre-911 contracts that were negotiated by the "legacies" that the freight dogs love to bash?

Sure would be nice if a freight guy or two admitted on here that they had some luck too. FDX/UPS had pre-911 contracts that were pretty good, but behind UAL/DAL, but when it came time to renegotiate, their companies were raking in the profits while legacies were all going bankrupt. Now they were no longer "airline" pilots as far as pattern bargaining goes. More power to them in getting their deal, but memories are pretty short if freight guys don't think that legacy airline contracts are what led to their current pay, work rules and especially vacation. For the FDX crowd, do you guys really think that Fred would have paid you your current rates and given up trips touching vacation if the precedent had not been set by airlines? You're crazy if you don't thing that FDX/UPS contract negotiators used airline contracts leverage pre-911, but wisely chose to not be "airline pilots" in recent times.

Enjoy all your toys, time off and day flying, but a little humility and recognition of how you reached your prosperity would be refreshing.

By "you" I mean all the cargo guys who smuggly comment about how much they deserve their great deal without comment about how they have gotten their "deals" in previous years

ok..i said you guys set the bar..for a while....flying tigers pilots were the highest paid airline pilots in the world for many years.....i guess you should thank the FTL pilots then......back to the cargo forum for us lowly fr8dogs..

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ain't it amazing how our expectations have gone down so much!

My point exactly. How many ex-cargo-current-pax guys are kicking themselves in the arse? Second year wide body at Freds place makes more than...Ah the list is too long.

I don't feel sorry for those that left FDX for passenger jobs, that's for sure. They complained all the way into their pax jobs how bad night flying is. Yet we all know the real reason anybody left UPS or FDX in the past 10 years, it was to chase the juicy Terminal-walking airline pilot lifestyle.

Which is better? Cargo or Pax? Neither!

Corporate!

All kidding aside- who gives a rip what you make as long as it pays the bills and you're happy?!?

I can guarantee that I make more per flight hour than every pilot on these boards that is unionized. The flip side is that I don't have anywhere near as big an annual salary. The flip side to that is I doubt that very many of you spent 258 days at home on the couch in the past 12 months while enjoying the benefits of a salaried position.

Do what makes you happy and meets your financial needs. Who gives a rip what other people think? I don't need to explain my motivations to accept/deny a particular job to anybody except for myself (and my family). Beyond that I could care less what others think.

Remember things come and go in cycles. Today's rose might be tomorrows dog (and vice versa).

Don't get cocky, Just because things seem rosy here, doesn't mean it will always be so. Live the Dream, enjoy it, but be humble because someday it might be your turn. Been there done that and don't want another T-Shirt

The best part about that is the APC pay scale calc only goes up to 285. LOL Times a changen.