To tweet BA pilots that I earn less than the INCREASE they're demanding?

[CheapSeats]

I earn 18000 a year. BA pilots are asking for an increase of 20000 a year. Yeah I know about skills and responsibility blah blah blah but AIBU to be upset that my holiday might be ruined? They're bleating in the papers today that they're upset that they now only get to stay in 4 star hotels instead of 5.

Oh and if you are away a lot, and you have a family that puts more pressure on your partner to be around if you have a young family. Especially if its shift work.

It can be harder to have to good jobs because of it.

Plus all that shagging the Male pilots have to fit in

what is up with the threads today? I blame the heat.
Pilots are entitled to ask for a pay rise, it’s not coming out of your wages

YABU what you earn is nothing to do with anyone else. Perhaps if you want to earn more train for a highly paid job!

The thing is no one needs to make excuses as to why they earn more than you. If you are in a unionised environment and or hold power over your employer this is what you do to better your working conditions.

Just because you don’t have that power over your employer doesn’t mean those who do shouldn’t use it this way.

They do not get paid the £££ for the time they fly and all goes well. They get paid it to stay calm and know what to do, for the best, when it all goes pear shaped.

Think:

• landing a plane safely when the cockpiut window has blown out, even though one of you is being sucked out the window
• landing a failing plabe on the Hudson river because you KNOW you cannot make it to the nearest landing strip
• landing at twice the normal speed because the power supressor has failed and you cannot slow the plane down
• actually being sucked out a failed cockpit window, hanging onto the plane by your fingernails while your copilot lands the bloody thing
• being struck by lightening and losing vision/hearing for several seconds while the plane is in manual

all of which happened.

I know if I were on a plabe during any of these events, I'd like someone brilliant at the helm. Not someone underpaid, under trained and over worked.

why are my n's coming out as b's

Are you a qualified pilot? If you are, I suggest you join a union and demand a pay increase. If you’re not, then your salary is irrelevant.

It's not the pilots fault you only earn 18k a year. I assume you made your choices - they made theirs. If you don't like yours, go and be a pilot!

I think you need to explain why you feel what you earn is relevant to what a pilot should earn? Maybe explain your training, your costs, the risks involved? I'm sure you're not just being a twat, you must see the link?

Also can you explain why you feel a bus driver and a pilot is comparable and should earn the same?

I don't think anyone understand your logic. So explaining it is important. Otherwise you just look daft.

Fine, let them have their pay dispute, but without ruining the plans of people who earn a fraction of their salaries and haven't had a holiday in years.

I was on a BA flight recently where something went wrong with the plane 20 mins into the flight. We had to circle Gatwick for an hour to burn fuel off so that we could land back at Gatwick where we had started from. I was most grateful to the pilot. Things obviously do go wrong on BA planes.

I think most people deserve a pay rise to be honest. People only strike because they are desperate and their employers are being ignorant and not listening to them. Working is a transaction between employer and employee, it goes both ways. I think conditions are really poor for pilots, so if they are underpaid for their level of responsibility I would understand it.

I think the people who most deserve a pay rise are carers. They have to work in poor conditions, get abused constantly and it is both a physically and mentally demanding job, yet most of the workers are on minimum wage. It's absolutely disgusting. Yes, anyone can be a carer, but if they do the job well (and more importantly, work in conditions that allow them to do it well, which unfortunately is not often the case) it makes such a difference to society.

I can't believe you have to pay so much for pilot training. There has to be a financial benefit for paying such a high initial outlay. If that isn't there, it's no wonder they are striking.

@TabbyMumz my sons friends dad paid 100k to get his licence.

It costs 80k to 100k to train, with no guarantee of a job when you graduate. That's not to mention the hours spent in simulation and continual training. They are not the same as bus drivers, it's a very different skill.

Fine, let them have their pay dispute, but without ruining the plans of people who earn a fraction of their salaries and haven't had a holiday in years.

Can we get this the right way up? The pilots have a contract with BA. BA have a contract with their customers. If BA can’t secure the pilots to fly their planes because their terms and conditions aren’t keeping up with their need for the pilots’ skills, then BA are at fault. Not the pilots.

YABVU sounds like sour grapes to me!

I don't blame them one bit for asking for a payrise and I hope they get it. I do find it hard to sympathise with the complaints about having to stay in 4 hotels though. I understand posters saying they want their pilot to be "well rested" but honestly, anyone who is so pampered that they're incapable of resting in anything less than a 5 hotel needs to take a long hard look at themselves.

£20,000? Are you kidding

I am a ba first Officer and the pay increase for me equates to £2400 before tax so net about £120 per month

I don’t know what you’ve read, but the pilots are simply asking for a pay rise in line and linked to RPI which will also go someway to offset the continual erosion of terms and conditions

Yeah I know about skills and responsibility blah blah blah 😂 skills are hardly blah blah. Of course a pilot is going to earn well, they are flying a FUCKING plane not stacking shelves in Tesco.

No a bus and a plane aren’t compared 😂

Just because you earn a low wage doesn’t mean that others aren’t entitled to more pay for what they do, especially when they do a very skilled job

The difference between 4 & 5 star isn't just about the beds. It's about amenities. 4 stars often don't have a gym. If I was a pilot I'd want to stay in a place with a gym.

I'm anti strike action (in general) too. It normally makes me lose sympathy with their cause. It does in this case.

Why don’t you blame BA for not giving them an increase rather than the pilots?

MinisterforCheekyFuckery

I don’t disagree in principle, but actually we don’t know the details here and we mustn’t forget how much BA will be paying a PR team to make darned sure that we all know they want to sleep in 5* hotels, rather than any of their more understandable demands.

Pilots generally come from very well off backgrounds. The cost of training is more than some people will earn in 10 years. Their wages are absolute silly money. They live a totally different luxury lifestyle to most.

They're living on another planet basically. So it makes sense their demands are also on another fucking planet.

I have known a few in my time. Generally drunken, arsehole coke heads with a total disregard for most women yet put on a good 'front' to hide it.

Oh... And most are having it off behind their spouse's backs. They're as bad as the forces.