Originally Posted by
hunterboy
We work pretty hard for not much money in the great scheme of things.
Hunterboy, I'm not having a dig at you as I'm sure I've skewed your comment slightly out of context but to be fair, we're not exactly on the breadline working our fingers to the bone. I suppose it's all a case of perspective. How great is the great scheme of things? Everyone else I know who earns comparable money spends most of their waking hours tied to the job, stress levels through the roof and never really having a 'day off'. Year 1 DEPs in BA are in the top 7% of earners in the country even if they do the bare minimum, top 5% if they do a couple of days' overtime every other month. Captains with 20 years' service are top 2-3%. The phone doesn't ring on days-off, and from a personal perspective I walk away from an aeroplane and don't even think about work until I turn up for my next shift.
I speak to people from outside aviation and the effort/reward ratio is staggering. Seriously, go out and see what jobs attract a STARTING salary right at the bottom of the stack of £56,500 plus over £10,000 in extras. Also see whether those jobs have a guaranteed increase every year for the rest of your career, and then more often than not an annual pay rise on top of that. Middle or Far East pay it may not be (nor even necessarily LCC I concede) but it's a damn comfortable existence that I don't see people walking away from in their droves.