I am not an AA pilot but Some things to remember as you see all the crap your company is going to be putting out in their BK PR campaign:
Pilots ONLY get paid when the aircraft is moving. They do NOT get paid for preflight, boarding, post flight, checking weather, getting fuel, between flights during the day, weather delays on the gate, or maint delays.
We are normally "on duty" about 12 hours to get paid for about 7(or less). On duty refers to being responsible for the aircraft and all the things I listed above. That is the same as telling a gate agent they HAVE to be at work and working but they will only get paid for the time they are actually boarding passengers, or driving the jet way to or away from the aircraft. Or a mechanic that he only gets paid when he is actually turning a wrench Nothing else.
On a normal 4 day trip you will be gone from home and "At work" for 72 hours. We receive per diem (food expense)for the 72 hours, industry average is about 2 bucks an hour, well below the "govt. rates" . However as far as pay for the work you do while gone for the 72 hours on a 4 day trip a pilot will be paid for 16 to 20 hours.(Only the flight time) So for 4 days of work, they got just a hair over 2 days of pay at 8 hours a day for a gate agent or other employee.
In a normal month I am gone from home about 17 to 20 days a month. And when I say gone I mean "several states away from home" gone. That is 17 to 20 hotel stays a month, every month. At the end of the month after those 17 to 20 nights away from family and home I will get a paycheck for 78 to 85 hours, depending on the trips flown that month.
Pilots are limited to 1000 hours a year by the FAR's in flight time (with slight variations) That equates to 83 hours a month max. And can only fly 30 hours in any seven day period per the FAR's. So it is impossible for a pilot to make more than 30 hours of pay in any one week, with the exception that dead heading (riding in the back) does not count as part of the 30.
Additionally pilots must attend recurrent training every six months, or in the case of the new methods, 3 days once a year in classroom and SImulators with unpaid home internet classes every other month. This is normally in addition to the 17 to 20 days away from home per month.
Pilots must have a medical evaluation every 6 months and if over 40 years of age an EKG once a year. This is paid out of the pilots pocket, but it is tax deductible. In my case where I live it equals $380 a year. If I fail a medical I am out of a job.
To the poster that is all wound up about the ice machine thing at hotels, well it is a minor thing in the contract and is probably one of those "get it if we can" items. But remember the Pilots and flight attendants literally spend more time sleeping in hotel beds than they do in their own beds at home. Next month instead of going to and from home everyday go stay at a hotel for 17 nights during the month. I bet you will be wanting to request a room that is not beside the ice maker also.
Not trying to start a fight, we have seen this before, and the company will use the publics lack of knowledge about how pilots and flight attendants are paid and their travel schedule to make them the "evil" ones.
