I think what he was trying to say was "Poor poor me. I had to take a 42% pay cut".

Your reference to the 100% pay cut times 2 puts it into perspective.

I think he still made my point.

We all saw tough financial times. One would do well to not forget those tough times and live within their means. And save for the inevitable rainy day. Some will, some won't.

I think you nailed it.

What people need to think about on occasion is that these good times won't last forever. Let's talk 42% paycut. Is it a possibility in a future downturn? Absolutely. Even before any pay concessions.

For some, just reducing our flying hours down to contractual maximum while there are furloughees will be a healthy paycut. I'm hoping that those flying greater than 82 hours are familiar with Section 5-B-1-a-(1) of the contract. Personally, in spite of being a huge slacker, I fly more than 82 hrs on a regular basis because my wife's a workaholic and if I wasn't working, I'd just be getting in trouble. Throw in a couple of downgrades due to surpluses and one can quickly get to >42% paycut before any concessionary negotiations on the contract. Going from WB to NB alone is a >20% paycut.
How many are prepared for that? I banked ~60% of gross last year without trying, but I'd definitely notice the pay difference as a 72hr guppy FO and would cut expenses.

This economic expansion is getting way long in the tooth and will eventually end. When it does, passenger air traffic will decline and United will likely park a lot of our oldest equipment (777s, 756s) in order to adjust the fleet to reduced demand.

Nailed it again ... Head on.

PS: A true slacker bids low 70s and drops from there. Throw in an occasional Type 3 trade/schedule adjustment and life is good.

Just saying ...:D

The company may place a lower value on some work rules, but they don't care as long as the total labor cost is neutral in their calculations for maximum profitability. We're all just widgets; the company doesn't care if there are 6000 pilots or 12000 pilots, just as long as profit is maximized. In fact, for overall reliability, the company would almost certainly prefer to have more pilots but the total cost of pilots is more than just hourly pay; our benefits package skews the company toward minimizing the number of pilots on property.

And as far as work rules go, some pilots place a very high value on some work rules while others place zero value on some work rules. The perfect example is reserve rules. How much value are reserve rules to senior lineholders?

The low 70s bid + drops to ~50 is my strategy for the next economic downturn.

99% of normal people who work do it to make a living and earn money. Why would pilots be any different?

I’m picking up your slack, I get an 80 hr line and turn it into 100 hours or more. 90 hrs is a bad month. Make money while you can!

A lot of pilots were very vocal in how THEY would retire at 60, irrespective of the change to 65.
How many actually did that?

At least this guy wasn't kidding anyone that he would stay until forced out at 65.