loop de loop - my padawan;-)
Patches, first, I hope we fly together as having seen morale at the lowest point in over 15 years here I would love to sit next to someone like you who is happy to be here.
The current growth rate is not 10% - with all the aircraft orders that have been announced over the last couple of years the projected growth rate is below what it has been for the last 6 years. That means the following figures are optimistic.
If you get no bypass pay you will have to work for another 3 years to break even on what you would have earned at 55 with RA55. So have a think about that. When you are 55 you have 3 years less Gross earnings. Sure, now you can work another 3 years to catch up to where you should have been....and that means 3 years less of that pesky retirement thing. You are effectively working for free for three years!
As loopdeloop alludes to, any slowdown, of even 1-2% of growth rate, will increase the number of years you work just to break even on what the rest of us should have at 55. If the percentage growth rate slows to the levels it was from the mid 90s until early 2000s then you will end up working into your 60s to have career earnings as much as your 3 month senior colleagues earned up to 55.
So yes you get the opportunity to work to 65 - and earn as much over your career as the B scalers do by 55. Still, if you are like the zoologist, flying a shiny new jet will more than make up for any monetary loss - but just don't expect the 85% bonus that he gets!
ACMS/Cpt underpants et al,
More than half the captains are B and C scale - its a senior vs junior issue. I may be a bit different but I see my rights here no differently than I did 15 years ago. Yes I have more stripes but that doesn't make me any smarter or better looking (beer does though!) or more righteous or more deserving of corporate latitude . I can still remember many of my A scale colleagues in the early 90s complaining about the 'long sleeve shirters with cufflinks' complaining about how expensive ferraris had become - whats changed....we, their incumbents, wear short sleeve shirts and complain about how our salaries were cut but we still earn 20+% more than our FOs will when they upgrade!
Everyone, company included, thought B scales would have caught up with A scales by now. I still remember our current GMA (and the zoologist) talking about never having a B scale CN - but that was in 2001. So as I keep reiterating, its not my fault there are B scales nor is is B scales fault that A scales haven't had a payrise - its our employer who has created this quagmire of different CoS!
CX - its just a job!