Originally Posted by FlyJSH

Starting pay is not representative. Heck, Southwest's first year pay is about 60% of its second year pay.

I was looking at fifth year CA pay. IMO a reasonable place to compare for us forty somethings (I am a forty something, been flying commercially 15 years).

GoJet is now a union shop so unless they have no current FOs ready to upgrade, a street CA position does not exist. And, if no street CAs then you will be hired as an FO and will need to wait for your turn to upgrade. If you DO get a street CA slot, remember you will be the most junior reservist until the last guy hired when you were upgrades. Three or four years of hot reserve would make me slit my wrists.

Also, if as many people have said, many of the current pilots (specifically CAs) are furloughs or lost their jobs due to failed companies, they are unlikely to move on especially if they are in the forty something range. If that is the case, you will always be junior to them. Personally, I loth the idea of being in my fifties and still being in the bottom half of the seniority list.

Unless we have another 9/11 or idiots go nuts trading oil, the youngsters will begin moving on in a couple years. If I were you, I would look for a job with a turbo prop company (turbo props will always have a niche and mainlines won't want them) which has a base where you want to live or at least is an easy commute, has a decent contract, not too many lifers, and sign on for the long haul. There are several of these companies where in 5 to 10 years you could be making near a six figure salary and by that time hold darn near any line you want. (The following is not an endorsement for Colgan, only an example) For example, a guy hired at Colgan today who upgrades on the Q would be about $72000 at five years... and that is BASE pay, no perdiem and no fuzzy money... and there is plenty of that to go around. Pick up an average day trip at 200% each month, and you would be in the mid 80s. I don't include perdiem, but if you did, you would be around 90k.

By the way, to get the same hourly rate as a fifth year Q CA, you would need to be a SEVENTH year CA at GoJet. And our contract is pretty average.

If we DO have another 9/11 or idiots go nuts trading oil, you will be stuck. It's better to be stuck with a decent contract and work rules than being an indentured servant especially if you live in base.