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.

And also, the impact on the environment from air travel is evident. Pilots should be paid more, air travel should be expensive.

It’s too cheap considering the damage it is doing to the planet.
It should be a hugely saved up luxury.

I think it’s a disgrace how little airline pilots are paid! I watched a Michael Moore documentary and was disgusted to realise that many pilots have to take out second jobs (in the documentary one pilot was working as a waitress as a second job, in fact two pilots were discussing how exhausted they were and how little they were paid in the minutes before they crashed resulting in their deaths and the deaths of everyone onboard). These people are in highly skilled positions, responsible for hundreds of lives in the Sky and potentially hundreds more if they crash into an inhabited area. They DESERVE to be paid the extra money!

They do indeed. It disgusts me that the people who save lives and keep us safe in this world are paid so little but some arrogant numpty with a YouTube channel with a following can earn millions.

It does not make any sense.

Look up the job spec for a major airline pilot. Now have a look at the job spec for your job.
Now give your head a wobble and stop being so daft.

Maybe at some low cost airlines, Claire but I really don't think any pilots working for BA need to take a second job as a waiter! One of my best friends DH is a BA pilot and they have a very, very nice lifestyle...not that I begrudge him for a minute, I certainly wouldn't want that level of responsibility!

Pilots generally come from very well off backgrounds

Not true.

We had almost nothing left after we trained our son and paid all of his expenses while training far away from home.

Oh and I’ve never known a pilot with a second job borne out of necessity.

*@GabsAlot they literally sit there for hours and then land the plane

You really are making a fool of yourself.

The average salary of a BA pilot is £89000 pa, the pay award they are seeking is 11.5% over 3 years. That's an increase of just over 10k over 3 years.
If you're going to have a moan, make sure you research the facts.

You can, but why you think they would care is another thing.

Good god. Someone said above that planes don’t often crash....

Do you not think that’s down to the skill they have?

As previously stated. My friend is an air traffic controller. I went to work with him one day (best day of my life. Off topic! I’d love to of done that. However I’m not brainy enough!)

Anyway every single day there can be some sort of emergency. Storms. Birds. Landing on the Hudson. Who do you think gets us out of these scraps? Who do you think sorts this all out when in the air?!?

Damn people. If we had crap pilots in the air. You’d never get in a bloody plane! It’s purely the skill. The technology. You aren’t paying for the pilots. You’re paying for their skill!!

And as someone very correctly pointed out. It’s the big wigs that get the money. Not the pilots.

Many professions in the UK, including very highly skilled ones, are under paid. I would rather that we fight for people to be paid properly than we all drag each other down into the dirt.

Highly skilled people are usually welomed by other countries that have a better standard of living. Pilots definitely fall into this category. Loads of doctors and nurses have left the UK now because they have realised that pretty much every other developed country in the world will pay them more money than they get in the UK, and offer then generous relocation packages to entice them over (my DH and I are doctors and now live in Australia for this very reason). Newspapers dubbed us all as greedy and grabby. Do we really want to start losing pilots too? Where will it end?

I think one of the reasons for cheap flights is good air safety which commands public trust and makes flying popular allowing for economies of scale. Part of air safety is extensive selection, monitoring and training of pilots. I would want the airline I travel with to have good working conditions and employ good, experienced pilots - so if it means a higher salary then that is what i’d Want.

What's their salary got to do with you? Just like saying you can't ask for a raise because the £2000 raise you're asking for is more than a factory worker in Bangladesh earns in a year.

I do also agree with the comment about the environment and perhaps there should be a carbon tax on flying.

They deserve the pay rise and are entitled to it.
They are highly skilled and trained, working in a metal box in the sky.

Remember the germanwings pilot who deliberately murdered a plane load of innocent people? You don’t want stressed or unwell pilots!

Airlines are fucking greedy. Packing people in like sardines. They can afford to pay the pilots.

Your earnings op have no relevance to the pilots’ earnings.

YABVU OP

I don’t necessarily agree with the pilots striking and the resulting chaos caused.
However if I was responsible for 300 people’s safety regularly I would want to be paid in line with both that and my experience.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/AMA/3328163-Im-an-airline-pilot-and-mother-AMA

There you go OP, read a bit and maybe ask yourself how planes really stay up in the sky (it's not magic, it's good skills and nerves).

As I've said upthread, I hope the BA pilots get their increase but in the interests of balance, I can see why someone in OP's position might have a less than sympathetic reaction to their cause initially. While I don't agree with the OP, I can understand why someone who works hard but is on a relatively low wage, having scrimped and saved all year to give their family a lovely holiday, might then feel a bit resentful on being told that it might not happen because someone on four times their salary thinks they deserve more money. I'm thinking of a friend of mine who works very hard, in very difficult conditions in a job he hates and is notoriously poorly paid but he is currently 'trapped' in it for various reasons- his wife was telling me the other day that the only time she ever sees him truly relax is the two weeks a year they go on holiday. Giving the OP the benefit of the doubt, I'm sure we've all reacted without thinking and laid the blame at the wrong persons door when faced with disappointment at one time or another.

Remember the germanwings pilot who deliberately murdered a plane load of innocent people? You don’t want stressed or unwell pilots!

If someone's mental stability is so precarious that they are at risk of deliberately brining down a plane load of people then I don't think a salary increase is going to change that! Money doesn't innoculate you against mental illness.

They do deserve an increase though.

I'd much prefer that airlines paid their staff properly before lauding the profits upon their shareholders. Plus, pilots are highly skilled.

Has everyone forgotten what happened to Emiliano Sala due to an inexperience pilot flying in inappropriate conditions? No thank you. I'd rather fly knowing that I had confidence in my pilot, than have him underpaid/overworked and making mistakes. Its not the same as any other job as they have a lot of peoples lives in their hands. Including their own. IMO they are worth every penny of their and should be paid appropriately for their skill set.

It’s horrible to be impacted by strike action, but I support the BA pilots.

I know someone that’s a BA first officer. He works bloody hard, took years to train and doesn’t earn much for the responsibility and skill level.

There are apparently Ryanair strikes planned for this month. Which I'm terrified about as I'm due to go to a wedding at the end of August in a foreign place. We booked before I knew strikes we planned.

YABU They have to pay up to £120K to train!

Most commercial pilots in the US were trained by the military and then recertified for civil aviation. I always assumed that was true in other countries as well.