AboveMins

Really? I've seen it plenty, not at an interview per se. Having ridden mainline jumpseats for over a decade, it sometimes seems like the more senior folks think we are lesser aviators for some reason. You don't see it as much from the newer folks though. Just an observation, and no skin off my back... I couldn't care less what a mainline pilot thinks of us regional folks. At the end of a trip, I set the brake, and worry about the important things in life... My kids and family.

ORDinary

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing

Workers' Wages Sink as 'Domestic Outsourcing' Grows - NBC News

Airbum

I can't tell if this is a troll or a honest question.

The reason regionals are paid less is that they are contract carriers. They don't own the flying. Any one of them is free to start their own airline I would imagine. Their sole purpose is lower wages and increase profits for the mainline company. This is done by whipsawing contracts. IMO the mainline pilots mistakenly gave up scope.

Pilots only get what the union can negotiate from mgt. If the flying can be easily moved to another company then the threat of labor unrest carries little water. Thus lower wages.

I would imagine the major airlines would prefer to have every pilot work at a regional and have no employees themselves, just contract labor. Why have any union with ability to cause problems.

sweetholyjesus

Airlines love unions. They're easily fooled (see pensions, scope, SJS) plus it takes years for unions to be able to strike thanks to the RLA. Because apparently we are too important to the economy to be able to fight for the wages we deserve. Airlines can stall for years after a contract expires, while they fool the mediators with the false pretense of "good faith negotiating".

Fortunately there are so many jobs these days that people can fight with their feet. Although I still can't understand how airlines like Mesa and Gojet are still filling classes in today's market.

Adlerdriver

Because it's an unregulated free market. Do you think there are stockbrokers, carpenters, truck drivers, insert whatever job, that make more or less than someone else who does the same job employed by a different company? You get paid what you (or your union) has negotiated with your employer. That's all the "sense" it has to make.

I agree in many cases you're essentially doing the same job. It's your option to accept the situation, get your employer to charge more for their sub-contract with the mainline and pay you more, get a bigger cut of what's being paid now or take your services elsewhere.

You see the market forces acting on the RJ airlines now with bonus and pay increasing in order to attract pilots. So, it's not a stagnant situation. But the fact is that no one is "owed" a certain level of compensation simply because another company pays their workers who do that same job more.

kevbo

Pilots are in love with their image and rich parents/military subsidize them for many years. It is not an economical career otherwise. Like the minimum wage, it doesn't need to be raised because nobody can actually make a living on it.

Adlerdriver

I'm not sure what axe you're grinding but.......what?

I haven't taken a dime from my parents since I was 18. Referrring to military service as a government subsidy is both ignorant and insulting not to mention petty.

There are plenty of former military folks and pure civilians receiving no money from government sources or their parents who make a fine living as professional pilots. If you chose another path resulting in huge debt, low wages or both, take your whine fest somewhere else and maybe think a bit before you post.

tomgoodman

But Adler, joining the military is so "yesterday"! They make you march and do stuff you don't want to do and wear dorky hats and get up early.... Like, no way, Dude!

AboveMins

Bruh... Gimme my mint chip chai mochachino with three pumps and two squirts, and leave the baby killing to someone who isn't man enough to sport a man-bun and get mani-pedis twice a week.


(Sarcasm)

Knobcrk1

That's my point, how do you negotiate when you're brainwashed into thinking you're in the "minors". You can't. Alpa is partly to blame in perpetuating this mentality. It's amazing how even in this market, places like Mesa and Skywest pass subpar contracts with big pay gaps with the majors. Management can pay more, but they don't have to when we're voting in these agreements justifying them somehow.