The ordinary man in the street already believes many airline employees are overpaid, from mechanics to pilots. They have little sympathy with pay increase demands from people already making good money, when they are held to 2-3% increases on salaries less than half of yours. Demands like this only serve to convince your passengers of how out of touch you are with the real world.
The ordinary man in the street thinks
everybody is overpaid except himself. Lawyers, Surveyors, Estate Agents, Salesmen etc etc
The market rate for the job has gone up whether the man in the street likes it or not. Experienced pilots are few and far between and so the rate goes up.
Here in Europe most airlines are reporting record profits. Most of the airlines in the USA are still in Chapter 11 so why is this? Why can't they make profit whilst EU airlines can?
With management in all industries taking more and more of the profit it's time to increase our share.