Bear96 said:
I doubt it when you consider total compensation including:
-- Benefits (i.e., insurance)
-- Work rules (i.e., # of hours actually worked over a year vs. # of hours paid)
-- Defined benefit pensions
-- Quality of life issues such as length of layovers, quality of hotels, reserve rules
Bear, I don't know about pilots, but I know that comparing flight attendant pay, work rules, etc., I would not say that those of us at the legacies are better off than our LCC counterparts today.
My friends who are still flying at AA are talking constantly about 4-5 hours of sleep on a layover being the norm rather than the exception these days because of the way the company schedules the inbound and outbound flights and the location of layover hotels and the transportation to and from.
I just saw a Frontier bid sheet yesterday. I did not find a single layover in the bid sheet that was less than 14 hours block to block, and most were in the 15-20 hour range with some being over 24 hours (almost unheard of at AA anymore, even on International trips). My friend at Frontier had a trip recently where she got fed by the company 4 times in one day (just the way the trip legs worked out). At AA even on a 14-hour DFW-NRT leg, flight attendants get nothing to eat that they don't provide themselves unless there is a left over passenger meal.
At Frontier, if you are re-assigned (or junior manned as it's called at some airlines), it can be only once a month for a total of 1 day. You have to be released no later than 24 hours after your scheduled end of trip. At AA, as long as you haven't gone over the FAA 6-day max, they can keep reassigning you with no problem.
Have you looked at the SWA TA for flight attendants. At AA the top of scale is around $42/hr through 2008 with a per diem of $1.50/hr. (The f/a contract can be re-opened in 2006, but given AA's history of dragging out negotiations for at least 3 years, it will probably be 2009 before the f/as get a new contract.) Beginning in June, 2007 (last year of the new contract) top of scale for SW f/as will be over $50/hr. Their per diem is $2.10 hr. And, on the per diem they have a "me too" clause with the pilots.
AA flight attendants can be scheduled up to 13 or 14 hours now. The new contract for SW retains a 10.5 hr
scheduled duty day. If the day goes over 12.5 hours on duty
for any reason, the f/a is paid double time for that day. If the day goes over 16 hours for any reason, the f/a is paid triple time for the day.
I'm having a hard time seeing a better quality of life and work rules for the legacies right now. And, the worst part is that I doubt that the concessions are over at UAL, U, or AA. The management can't see anything else to do--certainly giving up their own salaries, perks, and golden parachutes is not on the table. I think its kind of funny that the majors all used to point at SW when saying that they needed to get costs (English translation: pilot and f/a pay) in line with Southwest. Now it's America West and JetBlue. Given the total UAL route system, how much competing do you actually do with those two airlines? But, I wouldn't be surprised if they are the standard the company will use when they come back to you for more concessions. It's what U is doing right now.