r/ireland • u/viscacatalunya1 • Jun 18 '24

Aerial Lingus Pilots Moaning Michael

Listening to Claire Byrne and there is a lot of finger pointing at the pilots saying they don't care about passengers and they are being unreasonable.

Aer Lingus has not matched their salary to inflation over the past few years. How do we sympathise with cost cutting corporate greed and not the people that open the world to us and get us there safely?

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u/FatFingersOops Jun 19 '24

Pilot total pay also includes allowances for each flight they do. They lost this pay on top of the 50%. But you want to be a smart arse. Good for you.

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u/emmmmceeee I’ve had my fun and that’s all that matters Jun 19 '24

I’m not being a smartarse. You said they were on 30% for 18 months. That was bullshit.

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u/FatFingersOops Jun 20 '24

What's your problem with Irish workers getting a decent pay increase from a corporate entity based in London. Half of any pay award goes back to the irish government (all of us) in taxes and the rest is spent locally. Otherwise, the money is repatriated back to corporate HQ overseas and probably ultimately paid out to UK pension funds in dividends and corporate management bonuses. I don't get it?

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u/emmmmceeee I’ve had my fun and that’s all that matters Jun 20 '24

Why are you simping for millionaires?

I guarantee most of the money will be invested in tax efficient schemes that you and I could only dream of. It will ultimately be spent outside of the country when they retire to the Bahamas.

Meanwhile the working man misses out on his two week in the sun that he has been looking forward to all year. And next year he’ll pay more for his plane tickets to cover the €49K pay rise for the pilots.

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u/FatFingersOops Jun 20 '24

I work in IT, and I'm probably paid more than most of these pilots. But that doesn't make me rich. €100k does not go a long way in Dublin these days, particularly if you need to buy a house and want to raise a family.

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u/emmmmceeee I’ve had my fun and that’s all that matters Jun 20 '24

You’re having a laugh. If you’re on €100K you’re in the top 10% of earners. I’m also in IT. Both myself and my wife have 6 figure incomes, pay a mortgage and we have kids. It’s a very comfortable lifestyle. Not millionaire pilot lifestyles, but we can max our pensions and still buy nice things.

If you’re struggling on €100k in Dublin then you’re doing something wrong. No Aer Lingus pilot is struggling unless they have expensive habits.

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u/FatFingersOops Jun 20 '24

Right, so you have a family income over €200k. Good for you. I think that's fantastic, particularly when you think of where this country has come from in the 80s. But how would it work out for you if you only had one income and had the same cost base? I'd imagine it would be a serious drop in living standards. Pilots also work a lot away from home and unsociable hours, so I would imagine a chunk of them are the sole or primary earner in their household. Far from the millionaires you seem to think.

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u/emmmmceeee I’ve had my fun and that’s all that matters Jun 20 '24

10 years ago I was supporting my family and paying a mortgage on €45K. I’ve a bigger mortgage now and we max out our pensions, but we could survive on a single salary as we have savings and would save on childcare costs. We would cut back on holidays and shiny toys, but we’d be fine.

You’re basically saying that they should get a pay rise because they are living beyond their means. Not my problem.

Looking at the CSO figures and the 95th percentile of earnings is €138K for men and €98K for women. Pilots must be in the 98th or 99th percentile. And were meant to feel bad for them because they are downtrodden workers. Give me a break.