Wings,
Like so many others on the board, you missed the point of my post... never sure it if is being deliberately obtuse or benign oversight.
You are living in the past of aviation workers' glory days... a time before de-regulation which carried on in terms of contracts 20 years ago. It was fun while it lasted for those who worked it then, but now it is a competitive market and no longer the "cost-plus" fare standards established by the CAB. Yes, those so-called "Greyhound carriers" are now firmly established as part of that market environment and they are not going away, so that's the new reality.
My point of referring my personal experiences was that even though I was working on my second professional job and earned my bachelors degree, I was still making less (not to mention vacation time, pensions, overtime, etc.) than the guy mashing bags. While you have suggested that I was comparing myself to the topped-out ramp agent, let's not forget that I was not being paid to attend college for those four years either, and in fact, it was costing the price of modest new car every year for this privilege. I would have loved to have made $10/hour to attend college, but that was my choice and my sacrifice with the expectation of a higher paying job later based upon market conditions.
Those who started in this business 20+ years ago had a windfall of economic prosperity due to regulation and their unions' abilities to negotiate higher wages in a non-competitive environment. Unfortunately, that is a non-sequitur in terms of higher costs of your desired goods and services today. As I said, I can see why US Air found itself in the beginning of financial trouble 20 years ago with its labor contracts as if the company was operating within a non-competitive environment, but now without the protections of the CAB or an oligopoly of legacy carriers with like contractual obligations keeping fares higher than what the new carriers could offer at a lower rate.
So Instructs Jester.
