At 06:57 AM 5/8/2003 -0700, Matthew Montano wrote: >With commercial pilots in my family, and can count several friends as >commercial pilots, I can lend a touch of insight. > >The bigger planes for many years were the newer planes. Newer = Cooler = >prime pickings. > >The larger jets also do longer runs to far-away (exotic) locales that to >many are the reason that pilots took up commercial flying in the first place. > >It's not that they pay the 747 drivers more, it's that the more senior >captains have the seniority to choose their plane and they choose the 747; >and they get paid more dollars. During the Delta 777 roll-out fiasco (Delta threatened to return their first two 777 deliveries and postponed the rest), Delta's union was insisting on a much higher pay rate for 777 pilots than for the same pilots flying MD-11s or 767s. I don't remember exactly how those negotiations were resolved, but it wasn't, "OK, pay us the same whether we're flying MD-80s or 777-200s." There is a pay differential for the type being flown, compounded by a differential for seniority. And I'm sure that this is the case at all the US airlines that fly more than one type in their fleet. I hate to argue with someone who can claim commercial pilots as friends and family members, but I don't trust your insight. Nick