Yes it's horrible but I can't think of any other job where you get an automatic 36% pay raise on your first year anniversary. Also, what other job requires additional training where the company has to spend tens of thousands of dollars to train you after you're hired? Starting first year regional pay should be about $50k in my opinion but we won't see that any time soon.
No offense, but I hardly call a 36% raise a benefit when you start out making poverty level wages. That benefit should be there form day 1. If they want you to be a professional, they should treat you as a professional.
Many jobs require additional training, most even pay for it. My company specifically, and many others will pay for your masters as wall as any professional development or conferences that will increase my ability to make them money. This is a benefit to you, but should be in addition to a livable wage, not in place of.
Hotels are awesome by the way, Hilton, Wyndham, Hyatt, Marriott, etc. The pay does suck but it's more like $26k and QOL was great for me on reserve before I got the boot.
Ok, so your airline put you up in nice hotels, they dont all though. And that is who you are competing against, when it comes times for the major to renegotiate your contract, they will look for concessions, which will be taken out of you somehow.
I hope you are not counting per diem in that 26k either, that doesn't count. It is money to reimburse you for expenses of being on the road and all other expenses related to being a pilot.
I flew with a lot of captains who are "stuck" making $105k working less than half the month. Does that really sound so bad to you? I guess it is terrible if you could be making 200k at a major but it's quiet nice if you compare it to a nonflying job. It's not easy to make six figures outside of aviation, nor is it that easy in aviation either these days.
It is not hard to make six figures either. And as Doug says, 100k sounds like a ton of money, but it doesn't buy you a mansion with a Porsche. It buys you a reasonably comfortable life, maybe a new Jetta and a nice 3 bed 2 bath with a yard house depending where you live. That is great and nothing to complain about, but don't justify the terrible pay early on with the 100k later. If you have a kid or two, 100k will squeak you by, atleast in the North East.
Look I dont want to argue about the benefits of being a pilot. Being a pilot is cool, you have a great office, you get to do something you love and generally speaking, you can leave your work at work. However, it seems many pilots let the love of flying blind them to the fact that management will screw you at any turn. They don't care about you, your family or your future. They care about one thing, profits, it is what keeps them employed and they care about #1. Some managers are worse than others obviously, some even seem to have a shred of compassion for the working class, but most will fire you in an instant if it means hitting their next quarterly projections. You don't matter to them, only investors matter. You can be replaced.
They will do just enough to keep you coming to work. They know there are 100 applicants waiting to take your job, making less to fly more. Which is the whole problem. Which goes back to my original statement, pilots are their own worst enemies. Major pilots are fighting to keep scope, fighting to get pay and benefits back to even a fraction of what they once were. Regional pilots are scraping and clawing for more pay and more flying, which hurts the Majors pilots struggle. Then every year there is a crop of new pilots fresh from universities and pilot mills, laden with 65-150k in debt willing to work for less than McDonald wages because being a pilot is cool, it's always been their dream and worst of all...I need the hours to get to the majors.
Pilots, degrading their own profession one person at a time.
