Anyone know what a senior major CA earned in 1977?
Anyone know what a 12 Wide Body CA earned in 1977? I believe it was about $125K per year. Anyone have any documentation like the pay rates from a major contract in 1977?

The reason I am asking is when I teach P2P (CAL ALPA) I state it is my belief that in 1977 a Major senior Captain made around $125,000 and if you run that into an inflation calculator (depending on which one you use) it works out to a little over $430,000 in 2007 dollars.

If you look at the mega contracts (pre concessionary) at UAL and DAL they didn't even make up the difference and those contracts are now approaching ten years old.

We as a profession have a long way to go!

Suggestion for the Moderators - Why not do some research and calculations and post a pay scale page of what an average 1977 pay rates (majors) would be today adjusted for inflation? Part two make up a chart for Major CEO's cira 1977 and then adjusted for inflation in todays dollars vs what they actually make today?

I feel sick..............

Problem is you wouldnt just have to raise the pilots pay.... you would have to raise everyones pay..... FA's, dispatchers, mechanics, rampers, etc..... none of those groups which are unionized are going to stand by and watch pilots get a HUGE pay raise without demanding the same for themselves... now that $60 bucks a ticket ( which looks good but doesnt address all the issues ) probably becomes $200 or $250.... maybe more when you factor in all of the OTHER costs of salaries.... what YOU get paid is only a small portion of what it cost to have an employee on the books. The flying public would revolt.....

im with SAAB.... it does make you feel a bit sick......

That's where the problem lies. The price of an airline ticket has not risen since 1978. In most cases they have decreased. Until the price of a ticket rises with inflation, I think wages are doomed to follow suit. Management will always correlate the two in whichever way they want to spin it.

LCC's suck.

I dunno there is one LCC that I know of that flies 73's and they make more than your 777 Ca's.................

I think that Otto's point is that LCC's contributed very greatly to the demise of the pilot pay standard.

but theyve found a way to keep ticket prices low while raising the bar, yes i know they lowered it first but at least theyve come back to reality.

Well, SWA didnt "raise any bar", they just didnt drop faaaaaaaaar below like EVERY OTHER MAJOR AIRLINE