Originally Posted by captainalan

Last February I found myself looking over these forums as a wide eyed instructor with 850 hours of TT trying to figure out what the differences between the various regional airlines were and which ones I thought would give me a shot at being an Airline pilot. With no family or friends in the industry and only about 1.5 years flying myself these forum were just about my only source of information.

While these forums gave me a lot of valuable information, some of the information was misleading and/or I didn't know what it meant. For example I knew what per diem and could see the rates but how many hours of it could I expect on average and therefore how important was it in my decision. I decided to fly for Great Lakes and was given a job last April. I am now looking for a job anywhere else (along with most Lakes pilots) and I'm looking back over the same information I had just over a year ago but now I can put the information in context. Below is my estimation of the lowest pay for 2 years you can expect from a few airlines.

These assume you never break guarantee, never get a junior assignment, 0 deadhead, include signing bonuses, and 300 hours of per diem per month which is admittedly high for reserve but average for line holders and Lakes. It also assumes you upgrade at Lakes and switch to the captain pay at 16 months (1000 hrs/75 per month+1 month for pretest+1 month for training). I will add in any other airlines that anyone would like, and you can easily calculate it for yourself I just thought I would post it since I did everything out already and save people the work. Also if you work for another regional and my estimations are off please let me know both for my information as well as others looking for jobs.

Estimated First 2-year Earnings:
Great Lakes $42,883.05
Mesa $56,304.00
Skywest $60,300.00
Pinnacle $64,440.00
Republic $65,480.00
Eagle $71,960.00