Bruce Wayne:
Unfortunately the media and the travelling public don't really five a t0ss as long as ticket prices stay bargain low.
The low cost tickets... But are we carrying more passenger with less pilots than before yes or not? Low cost tickets should mean low pilot salaries?
Flying idle:
As a non pilot, I have difficulty understanding how a UK airline Captain can be earning £100,000+ per year & junior first officers maybe a third of that, yet the OP states that some American pilots earn $17,000 per year.
Here is a real issue: A new F/O should have the possibility to work on his knowledge, procedures, aircraft systems instead of working in an other unrelated field. Here is one aspect of the safety issue right?