Originally Posted by jelloy683

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...727702,00.html

International Departures


For captain Brian Murray, the memory of the way pilots and crew were treated during the airline bankruptcies of the 1980s still stings. "Planes were parked. Crews were out and had to find their own way home," says the former Piedmont Airlines pilot. "We were bringing people home in the cockpit and in the back of the cabin." After 23 years of flying mainline American carriers, Murray, 54, says he became "tired of watching senior management march through the airline and leave with huge golden parachutes."





So in July 2004 he jumped too, from U.S. Airways to Dubai-based Emirates. His new company provides him with a freshly pressed uniform and a chauffeur-driven car to each flight. Murray has twice the vacation time (42 days), guaranteed annual raises and a benefits package that has lured more than 100 U.S. pilots to Emirates over the past four years. One-third of the 23 former U.S. Airways pilots at Emirates had the option to return when the airline recalled them from furlough after the cuts in 2004. Only one did. "It's just not worth it," Murray says. "Employees have been beaten down to the lowest common denominator, where the salary, benefits and career path are so miserable--so uncertain." And maybe it's also because the guys who once ruled the U.S. skies now have a different status at the legacy carriers--employee.
That sentiment--a common one among the more than 10,000 U.S. airline pilots put on furlough between late 2001 and 2006--has led to what many airline experts call a major shortage of pilots willing to work for U.S. carriers. Bankruptcies, pay cuts, frozen pensions, eroded job security and increases in monthly flight hours have pushed some pilots out of the industry. Others have simply picked up and followed the best jobs overseas. Emirates, for example, expects to hire 540 pilots this year. Half the applicants are Americans, compared with just 7% of its current pilots. The result is a massive shift of talent and experience from U.S. carriers into the international market.

Originally Posted by SAABaroowski

I second this notion

Originally Posted by SAABaroowski

yes, I understand that, however not every job is working in a steel mill, or a farm. I have a buddy that works for a marketing firm in Manhattan, makes well over $100,000.00 and also loves his job. If he loses that job he will find another making close to that. Think about what it takes to make six figures in the airline world.

Hard Labor blows, but Airline flying is hard on your personal life, along with a million other negative things, point is we have a huge responsibility up there, a very unstable career ahead of us, I just think the the money needs to start to climb, or many people including myself will say, "the hell with this". I don't know how much I am willing to sacrifice to make it to a major, probably a lot, I am just afraid of the cost.......personal life finances etc.......

Originally Posted by BoilerUP

Your options are simple, saab...move out of Gotham or get a better paying job. Sounds like you are quite content around NYC so that limits your options.

Those rose-colored lenses wearing off is a sum***** for a regional FO, isn't it?

Originally Posted by SAABaroowski

Well, again I don't pay anything to live where I live, but the salary of airline pilots needs to go up universally, not just to those who live in the Northeast/Westcoast etc.......

Originally Posted by CaribPilot

Some of you guys need to take a ride through one of my old neighborhoods and see how a large part of this country lives.
I agree with the notion that we are underpaid, but some folks raise families on our pay. Me personally I say man up and make it work. Flame away.