BMEP100

Wow, some guys got it rough. Uh, ever talk to a ramper or catering truck diver about their wages and where they live?

worstpilotever

Yeah, I was a ramper for a regional making minimum wage for 5 years while I went to college and learned how to fly. I know exactly how much they make. I also know they get to be home with their family every night.

I busted my tail working multiple jobs and getting an education so I would be competitive for a job down the road. I have all the respect for the guys and gals working the ramp and customer service, but that doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy the fruits of my labor.

BMEP100

Well alright then. Maybe you could give a couple a ride home to East Oakland every night and save them an hour and half commuting on public trans...to be with their family. Or.....maybe bid to where you can hold turns and afford a Tesla.

Btw, I was SFO based as a 727 S/O. Lived in Santa Rosa and rode the bus when my wife needed the VW.

worstpilotever

And do you still ride the bus when the wife needs the VW? Or did you buy another car when you could afford it because you set yourself up in life to be able to do so?

Probe

Guam always had a stipend. Before the merger, it was 1100 dollars. For some reason it went to 3000 (2000 after tax) after the merger. What I heard was that it is not only expensive, but CAL always had a hard time staffing the base. New hires went there. You had to agree to go there if you were hired.

LCAL guys: is this correct or not?

Want to be make big money in SFO but not live there? Be a UAL pilot and commute to Vegas, Reno, or Tahoe. If you look on google maps, Guam doesn't have a Tahoe a couple of hundred miles away. Or a couple of thousand.

JoePatroni

I don't remember ever hearing of a staffing problem, if a new hire agreed to go there they went right to second year pay.

rp2pilot

It's called the "free market" .. SFO is a very junior base because living in CA costs far more then other states, driving to SFO is challenging, and commuting in is difficult. Provide an economic incentive to live there and the base will become more senior .. then all the junior captains will be *****ing that they keep getting more junior. It never ends, somebody always feels like they're not getting their "fair share".

robthree

It doesn't matter if YOU chose a base that has lower cost of living than SFO or EWR. The company is going to put a certain number of pilots in that domicile. Some may chose it. Many will not.

Somebody will have to deal with SFO rents. Somebody will have to deal with SFO crash pads. Somebody will have to pay the rate SFO hotels charge. And those costs are much higher than any other domicile has to deal with.

A stipend will make SFO more senior. That means your domicile will become more junior. You'll hold a line sooner. You'll get a widebody seat sooner. You'll get your Captaincy sooner.

XHooker

"Agreed to go there" meant going or finding another employer. It went junior in my new hire class (757s then) and I remember a guy commuting there from FL on the JS because he couldn't hold captain stateside. Yes, FL is Florida. It's probably more senior now than it's ever been.

XHooker

As long as we're cherry picking, how about Manhattan, which is about the same distance from EWR as Union Square is from SFO, Santa Monica, which is even closer to LAX, and downtown DC, right across the river from DCA? All of us who actually live in those domiciles either bite the bullet and accept the cost or move further away where it's more affordable. SFO has those same options.

A stipend on the mainland would be a nightmare. First, it's rife for abuse because if it's significant, some commuters will claim crashpads as residences to collect, creating an enforcement nightmare for both the company and union. OTOH, if you don't make residency a condition of the stipend, SFO will be even more flooded with commuters than it already is, making it more senior, costing the pilots who actually live there seniority... a double whammy of higher costs and lower pay.