[THREAD DRIFT ALERT...apology in advance]

"Delta's pilot wages and benefits were decimated by the 2005 bankruptcy and they are still playing catchup over a decade later..."

Airbubba,

You're right about THAT !! When the water reached the upper deck and I followed 2000+ other rats down the mooring lines to dry land in 2003, the top end MD88 capt rate was $227/hr. Just to ballpark the issue without claiming infallible process or accuracy, put that number in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Stats CPI inflation calculator and it's $297. The new AIP offers $253, or close to that neighborhood.

Resume normal speed. :-))

And, since we are speaking of Delta's seemingly enormous hourly wage increase, much of the additional compensation for a U.S. airline pilot was in defined benefit retirement and legacy work rules like getting paid for trips dropped by vacation or schedule conflicts. Some of this stuff was whittled away by negotiations to 'save jobs' and the rest was cut by 9-11 force majeure and bankruptcy.

As a result, even if the hourly wages look large, the compensation is still reduced from the glory days of the Y2K era.

FedEx and UPS never went bankrupt and still have a surprising amount of legacy 'synthetic pay components' in their contracts. Things like trip rigs, duty rigs and minimum pay per duty period. And, of course, a defined benefit pension program.

"...the additional compensation for a U.S. airline pilot was in defined benefit retirement and legacy work rules like getting paid for trips dropped by vacation or schedule conflicts."

Airbubba,

Ahhh yes...I remember it well...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkOwS1xFBkI

For comparison, hourly pay rates for Delta and a couple of cargo airlines are listed in these profiles on a PPRuNe's sister forum APC:

Delta Air Lines | AirlinePilotCentral.com

FedEx Express | AirlinePilotCentral.com

United Parcel Service | AirlinePilotCentral.com

Unlike at some non-U.S. carriers, longevity for pay purposes is figured from date of hire, not date of upgrade.