MXDUDE

I don't care what the public thinks of me. I don't think Doctors, Attorneys, and lets say Airline mgt really care what the public thinks of their pay and benefits. I'm sure Jeff takes that $930,000 base annual pay rate with a smile on his face, and sleeps just fine at night. He says he's worth it.

HSLD

When you don't have one, you forget how to spell it

1257

Thank you. More guys need to think that way.
Unfortunately some pilots seem to constantly bring up the "what will the public think?" misconception.
Kind of makes you think some of these guys became pilots to impress people.....just saying.

The only thing, only thing, that matters re: the public is, will they hit UAL's "buy ticket" button at a given price?
That's it. How do we affect that? How do our relations with mgmt. affect that? How did summer 2K affect that? Exactly.

Notice none of that had to do with who's on who's side or who likes who.
But some pilots just have to be liked/respected, otherwise their little ego support job/system goes away....
Mgmt. is laughing at our immature need for image/respect/admiration. Makes me ill to think how some of us are being played.

It's time we fight, and fight hard, for the contract we deserve from a company that is in much better health than it was pre-9/11.
For those of you that would like to review Contract 2000 or missed it in the other thread;
2000 Agreement - UAL CORP /DE/ - 3-16-2001

Considering what passengers think of us, in doing that, is counter-productive. And mgmt. knows that very well.
Prepare for the "we're sorry for our employee's bad behavior, we're trying" commercials to make you worry about public opinion.
These are all very predictable mgmt. "order of breaking the pilot group" behavioral steps.

EWRflyr

Don't underestimate Jeff. His actual annual base pay is $975,000 as of October 1, 2010. Wouldn't want to leave a Lexus in the company coffers or anything.

EWRflyr

One of the problems with the article (I'm not sure which side the writer falls to be honest) is the 80 and 90 hour monthly schedule figures he used from Jay's quote. I'm sure there is more to the quote than that, but the average passenger will see 80-90 hours A MONTH???? They'll think "I have to work 40 hours a week plus a part time job just to make ends meet!" They don't comprehend what it takes to get to that 80-90 hour figure as it relates to time on the road for the average (not 747/777) pilot. The time away from home, sitting between flights not getting paid, etc. As a result I don't think the article will garner any sympathy. Not that I care what the traveling public thinks of my pay except when I sit next to someone who comments about the six-figure income I have yet to make in my career and then correct them.

And remember the company propaganda is right out of the play book and all ATA airlines follow it. Remember when the Whitlow rule/letter/interpretation came down? The ATA said the "onerous rule" of giving reserves 9 hours of rest between call blocks would bankrupt the airlines because of the huge increases in staffing. Didn't see that happen. Now they are saying any FT/DT rest requirements will add $20 billion+ over 10 years to their costs while the FAA and labor unions have said it is not even close to that. They are going to fight anything that increases their costs one cent because they don't want to pay for it. Look at NextGen. They want it badly for flight efficiency and money savings (i.e. fuel) but they want the government to pay to equip the planes to operate in a system that the airlines will directly benefit from.

oldmako

Whenever someone opens their pie hole and starts yammering on about an 80 hour month I shut them up with the following...

Ask them how many hours per month their car is parked at their place of employment. It's usually around 150-170 hours per mo as most folks have 40 hr/week jobs.

Then tell them how many hours YOUR car is parked at the airport. This argument usually shuts them up pretty quick if you are a junior puke like me and end up with 350+ TAFB. If that doesn't work, you can ask them if they EVER go to work and just sit on their ass without getting paid (ie pulling papers in ops, preflight, long sits between flights etc etc.) Beacon off means pay off. Ask if they are ever required to just sit at work for 2-3 hours and NOT get paid? The hourly rate doesn't mean squat when taken out of context.

Unless they are in a sales related field this usually works as well.

To paraphrase Rhett Butler, F-em. I don't care what they think. Walk a mile in these shoes b!tch!

It was a very expensive license to obtain, and so was college. PAY ME.
I ate $hit for years building time and flying junk before I could even APPLY to work here. PAY ME
It's a very expensive plane requiring highly specialized training. PAY ME.
I work weekends and holidays with no overtime. PAY ME.
I don't care what fuel costs, that's not my problem and with record load factors you can PAY ME.
Thunderstorms, Winter ops, all weather all the time with your ass in back. PAY ME.
No (stolen) pension. PAY ME.
Fail a medical for something trivial and lose license? PAY ME.
Truckers and City Bus drivers make more than me. PAY ME.
$5Billion in ancillary revenues and $9B in the bank?? PAY ME.
Glenn and Jlo (and the rest) got theirs in spades, PAY ME.
Hell, Tague didn't even make the varsity team and got 11.8 million. PAY ME.
Getting your synergy on at my expense? PAY ME.

James needs his coin.

Daytripper

I'm with James. 1+

MXDUDE

Perfect!!!!! It's amazing how many pilots don't get this....

Beaver Hunter

To echo the fear of public perception.
Who the #%^* cares about the public perception of what I make.
Those who do are doomed to fail.

dosbo

Exactly

Lawyers don't care what the public perception is of them. Why should we? If I have delivered my passsengers alive, the plane can be reused and I don't have to talk to the Fed's, then I have done my job and should be compensated appropriately for safegarding 100+ lives and tens of millions of dollars of equipment.