Originally Posted by
hjohnson
No one should be expected to work for free. When I travel for work, my clock stars when I lock my front door, and the clock stops when I walk into my hotel room at the other end of the flight. Expecting FAs or Pilots to do labour for free is barnyard droppings.
I'll borrow a line from the Beatles: "You don't know how lucky you are, boy"
There are many companies that do not compensate their staff for the time spent traveling. Especially not salaried staff. Things I have experienced in the past include being booked by the company onto a red eye YVR-YYZ flight in Y and expected to come to the office upon arrival, having the company booking engine set to pick the cheapest flight combination usually with very long connection times or being told to take a train from London to Toronto, then take the Pearson Express to YYZ and fly from there to YUL in order to save $150 on ticket price. All that while carrying a tool case and a spare part case...
Now I'm in the same situation as you are and it feels really refreshing.
Originally Posted by
Wigg
It's not that simple. My understanding is that the hourly rates are adjusted upwards so that the total compensation (in my simple terms of hours flown X adjusted hourly rate) equals fair compensation. I do not know the exact numbers. I think over time this has been overlooked. I do agree with more and more delays, this compensation model may not be appropriate, but good luck to anyone suggesting a lower hourly wage in return for getting paid for more hours.
The "rates adjusted upwards" or fixed yearly salary "calculated to include incurred overtime" is the usual copout used by companies to justify not paying their staff for all the time spent working. Expecting the staff to work without compensation is not unique to airline world and while it is certainly inappropriate, it is basically legal in Canada. As far as taking a lower, but realistic hourly rate in exchange for all time spent working being paid, this might actually yield higher overall income than the current model. That's the reason why is it not done at the first place.