How much is enough?

[mystere]

How much money can a senior capt in a major airline expect to take in every year? a senior F/O with the majors? and even the jnr F/O? and do you think this is to much, or not enough for the jobs they do??

[beerdrinker]

As you are on the west side of the pond I suggest you go the ALPA web site.

[foxmoth]

I don't see why he should, this is an international site frequented by many nationalities and we are in a global job market:ouch:

[ginjockey]

Mystere,

I think it really depends on which airline and the individual perception of what is "too much money". Some senior airline captains hardly fly at all and make obscene salaries, other pilots slog out their guts, get awful rosters, constantly get hammered by management to push harder and make a lot less.

In Australia, there are big differences in what a senior 737 Qantas Captian makes versus what a Virgin Blue Captain makes flying the same routes with the same aircraft. Lots of those qantas captains probably think they are hard done by too. I think they are grossly overpaid and have lost the plot.

If you have a quiet night ahead and you want to have your perspective on this topic blown out of all reasonable proportion, get attacked, accused of being a scab, a germ, a maggot, endure personal abuse and still not have your question ansewered then you really should visit the Australian pages on PPrune and get involved in a thread on wages and salaries. We have spent years perfecting the art of getting it completely wrong down here in Oz. You should pop into D&G section for a visit.

If you want some sense and clarity. Stick with the US and European responses. Good luck.

[Piltdown Man]

The very big boys in the tops of the trees earn in excess of £100,000 pa. The Senior F/O's are in the order of £70,000 and Junior F/O's £20,000. And all have good pensions. However, most companies are aggressively fighting to reduce our terms and conditions and the people who earn the above figures are now an endangered species.

Are they (and people like me who earn very little by comparison to the above figures) worth it? You bet, absolutley!. I have invested two years and £50k or so for my training - the company haven't!. I have done my time, learnt how to operate according to my company's rules and standards. So therefore, me and my colleagues are correctly entrusted with the lives of passengers and millions of dollars worth of company assets.

When things go wrong, which does happen, it is expected that a management get will just get a piece of paper in the form of a trip report or similar rather than a rude awakening from a TV crew on their door step. For that service, I consider that we are damn good value for money.

When airlines pay peanuts they will get monkeys as pilots!