Im in the mood to play devils advocate here so please bear with me.
The fact that our training costs so much is not necessarily a reason to demand a high salary but some form of tax relief on the training. The fact that we work antisocial ours in not unique to our profession. The fact that we have a responsibility to the travelling public is not exclusive to pilots. Train, tube & bus drivers do a similar job, albeit without the training. But hey look there are people flying in our airspace with non European licences getting similar salaries. I don't know how much it costs to train a train driver but the recent accident spate prooves its a hazardoud profession also.
We as pilots is our own worst enemies. Unless we are able to forge a european pilots council, whereby all 757 drivers are paid the same, all 767 drivers are paid the same etc etc etc, and companies are allowed to then offer their own benfit package there will always be someone who will do your job for less. I have seen pilots who are desoarate for their first job, join midland and start whingeing like F*** within 3 months of being there, suddenly forgetting their time in the q waiting for that first opportunity.
i believe that pilots deserve a reasonable standatd of living. I believe that pilots should be paid a salary significantly above average and there should be annual increments to account for experience. But should a 757/767 pilot at BA be paid anymore than a n RJ pilot based in Birmingham for example. Market forces will determin the answer to that and eventually the equation comes down to what is the lowest level of experienece we are prepared to fill that vacancy with and what pathetic figure can we get away with paying him/her?
Its a toughie which is why you have to find a job u r happy with and accept the renumeration.
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