Weasil:
There is a glaring, often willfully distorted gap in the pilot salary numbers quoted above, at least it is conveniently forgotten by most media hacks. I've known about one newspaper writer who is a pilot. He wrote for a newspaper and published a book about the horrible in-flight attack on the Fedex pilots years ago. Based upon his articles, there is a vast chasm between his understanding of aviation and that of many other newspaper journalists.
First of all, you might already or should realize that the US media often intentionally misrepresent pilot salaries in a fundamental way, at least in many cases.
They quote Captains' average salaries, often provided by mgmt. These figures often include per diem, spent quickly on short, airport 'meals', if they can be described as such.....a delectable, mushy, soggy (half-eaten with a refreshing, watery Pepsi after the long preflight c0ckpit flows and checklists are complete) dinner. Perhaps a Taco Bell burrito, or a small $7.00 sandwich. But the media says "average pilot salary", instead of describing monthly pay only for the pilot in the LEFT seat.
Do the media choose to forget the basic, well-known reality that half of the pilots, those who work in the right seats of these 30-69-seat jets, (often because of seniority {not related to qualifications and experience}),are not Captains, and their US monthly salaries-whether in a union contract or not-often 'allow' them to qualify to use government-issued food coupons, in order to feed a wife and/or baby at home? How about maybe $1900 US/month....BEFORE taxes?
This addresses nothing about the uncovered dental and medical expenses.
Is this portrayal not an accurate depiction of the shockingly typical, infamous situation here-in stark contrast to the figures quoted by the often woefully ignorant and uninformed media "professionals"?