Newsstand - Airlines: Some Costs They Can't - And Shouldn't - Cut (Pilot low pay)

Here was an interesting article that I read on pilots and their pay.

http://traffic.outbrain.com/network/postfr.jsp?agent=blog_JS_rec&post=http%3A%2F%2Fseekingalpha.com%2Farticle%2F170 295-airlines-some-costs-they-can-t-and-shouldn-t-cut&rfdid=71618584&req_id=76c4035fd8e34982fad659b736e2ba27&type=ALT_def&key=ee72c9b66e912e743036e1e28fd6a3f9&version=5.0.0&idx=&doc_title=Airlines%3A%20Some%20Costs%20They%20Can% 27t%20-%20And%20Shouldn%27t%20-%20Cut&doc_author=Robert%20Herbst&doc_id=70360919&aurl=http%3A%2F%2Fseekingalpha.com%2Farticle%2F170 295-airlines-some-costs-they-can-t-and-shouldn-t-cut%3Fsource%3Dobx&purl=&surl=&stitle=&surl2=&stitle2=&surl3=&stitle3=&pc_id=5128&obref=obnetwork

I hope the link works. Basically the gist of the article is that pilot pay is decreasing attracting crappier pilots with less experience in charge of a $300m jet and hundreds of lives, is this a worrying trend or will computers take care of it?

I always thought the American airline companies sucked for the most part, and they do in terms of service, just go to any foreign airline and the food at the bare minimum has to be better. But as my mom said as we flew some Air New Zealand flights, "for once the american airlines are a lot better" as we shook and bounced around in the air and on the runway. Although the mountains may have played a small part in that, the landing sucked, felt like we were going to fly off the runway still. My mom has been in those turbojets and she says the experience was as bad or worse, and we were in the size of a Southwest jet(sorry I don't know size of planes)

What does everyone think, especially the frequent flyers? Do well compensated pilots make a difference?

From the comments:

“When I fly, I always take Delta… That’s because they pay their pilots the most money… You don’t want to fly with unhappy pilots.”

Johnny Carson, Tonight Show monologue, 1981

I’m seeing this in many industries where companies are accepting lower performing employees in exchange for bargain salaries.
The airline industry started with off-shoring customer service which frustrated and angered its customer base, no one wants to spend more time on the phone let alone quadruple. I would think all airlines would want the brightest and best in the cockpit, but if they can get away with minimum wage pilot salaries, who knows maybe your neighbors kid will be upfront at the controls. :eek:

Then would airplanes just be like the bus companies nowadays, where fares as low as $1(plus .50 and other stuff...) or just 10 dollars walk in fare for a 2 hour car ride. However safety and bus drivers may be questionable.

I feel said for my friend that's an aviation major. He loves flying, but there is really nothing available for him to enable him to pay off students loans and the military is out of the question for him.

This is one reason (rational or not) that I avoid regional/feeder airlines. The CO Express Buffalo crash being a case in point.

I have absolutely no problem with pilots being well paid.

The airlines are going to part time help in reservations..have cut max pay not quite in half, but close. You can have benefits - if you want to pay for them. Now at least one airline has flight attendants threatening to strike and I haven't seen anything from ALPA that indicates they are doing more for the pilots, but probably less. One of the airlines in Hawaii had cockpit crew that fell asleep and Delta/NW has pilots that for some reason overshot their destination. 0n laptops? Asleep? We'll probably never see a truthful answer.

There are no psychics in my family but if I could see the future I'd say it's probably headed for worse rather than better.

Usually, pilot contracts are collectively bargained.

Safety doesn't really have anything to do with how much a pilot is paid. All the pilots flying meet or exceed the exact same safety regulations passed down by the FAA.

Does making $30,000 a year make someone suicidal or homicidal? Does making $100,000 a year make you behave in a more safe manner? The training is the same. The safety regulations are the same across the board.

Pilots aren't going to magically have 20,000 flight hours when they're ready to be a commercial pilot. You have to start somewhere. And whereever the pilot starts, they have to meet the exact same training and safety regulations and pass the same tests.