Originally Posted by
rodney rude
I admittedly don't have much knowledge of the pilot market and why there are E3s being thrown around like smarties.
This statement right here is exactly why the Spirit MEC did what they did. A lack of knowledge breeds fear of the unknown, and the MEC's reaction is completely rational. But here's the fundamental difference between the slew of concessionary contracts being voted on in Aus. Every airline that takes E3s, except Spirit, has either raised pay, or their pilot group has voted down subpar offers from management. Frontier raised first year pay, Spirit won't be far behind regardless of if they have E3s or not.
With the exception of Skywest, every airline here is also a closed shop. That means you're either in the union, or you're unemployed, unlike Aus.
While it would be a fair statement to say "every Australian pilot that heads over delays contract improvements", it's a tough argument to quantify. The number of us is a drop in the ocean compared to the movement of American pilots. Just this year's hiring alone is more than there are Australian airline pilots on the planet, give or take. This is especially true when there are hundreds of cancelled flights due lack of crews, and pay increases seem to be the order of the day.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not having a shot at you, but the way the US works is hard to grasp when compared to how small and depressed the Australian industry is by comparison.