Originally Posted by
deltajuliet
Before taxes, based on the APC pay scales. She is, thanks.
Let's do an experiment, let's follow a pilot who gets hired at Mesa and a pilot who gets hired at SkyWest.
By Year Two...
Mr. Mesa upgrades. Until now, he's made $47,000 cumulatively (based on APC pay scales and minimum monthly guarantee).
Mr. SkyWest is a ways away from upgrading and has made a decent $55,164.
Year Five
Mr. Mesa has been a Captain three years and just got hired at Delta. Through now, he's made a cumulative $246,728 in five years. Not shabby.
Mr. SkyWest is now upgrading. In the last five years he has made $171,264. This is ~$75,000 lower than his Mesa counterpart through the same point.
Year Seven
Mr. Mesa is an FO at Delta on the A320. Through now, he's made $388,728. And he has two years of seniority at Delta.
Mr. SkyWest is also about to get hired on at Delta. He's two years behind his counterpart, and through now has made $313,464, $75,000 less.
Have you crunched the numbers?
I apologize, I'm not usually hostile.
But this is the most useless post I've ever read on the internet.
Comparing the theoretical future career earnings of two hypothetical people working at different regional airlines is impossible. It's made more impossible by the fact that you've thrown in the "hired at Delta" idea as something that is a function of simply flight time, rather than almost 100% networking.
I could sit here all day and run silly numbers about how working at Horizon will get you to Alaska with only 2,000 hours of 121 time, but in reality the only people who will get hired at Alaska/Delta/United/FedEx are the ones who realize that your logbook is probably the least critical part of your qualifications when it comes to securing a job at a Legacy carrier.