Originally Posted by acl65pilot

Yep. Another one of my friends there went to the 380 so he could escape jr capt on the 330 after less than four years mind you. He will be a 380 Capt in two years when his lock is up.

Many of my friends over at EK and other places ran the numbers to come back to a Legacy job. Sadly, it does not compare. They all opted to stay put and are looking at 20+ years there.

I started looking at their package versus ours and a first year FO with tax incentives, housing allowance, education allowance, profit sharing, and medical is looking at a job that would have to pay north of 200K here in the states to come close.
-7900 a month income w/flight pay:tax free
-3900 housing allowance
-About a 1000 dollar a month education allowance.
-All utilities except internet paid for
-about 2000 a month in profit sharing
-42 days of vacation a year
-Annual leave PS ticket for you and your family anywhere EK flies
-15% in to a retirement fund.

That equates to 14800 a month all tax free.

Only thing taxed is income about the 86K limit(After individual EIC deductions), which FO's do not hit and Capt's pay about 1000 a month to Uncle Sam.

It is an impressive package. Of course there are not unions, and the company determines what, when and where you fly. Living in Dubai is also a must. They also wanted to point out that they flew 85 hrs a month, which I laughed at since that is the norm for a line holder here too.


There are many contracts all over the world that pay above 12K a month. A quick internet search shows you they are plentiful.


Point is, this is what our competition is paying their pilots. The total package is impressive and if DAL does not want to see a bunch of guys that are in the dead zone and junior start looking/taking these gigs, they will need to pay significantly more, have organic growth, and provide career progression that is more than just retirements.


I know a few guys that would look at this stuff if they were offered three to five year leaves. (Again, sadly since we should be the pinnacle of the career)