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?
What if a major doesn't call? Even with a squeaky clean record and internal recs there are no guarantees.
Here was my timeline:
Year 1: new hire 1000 hour CFI at Skywest
Year 2: made almost 60k as a FO. Lots of open time
Year 3: upgraded at 26 months.
Year 4: Interviewed and hired at Northwest. In the pool. Delta didn't call.
Year 5: northwest and delta merged. Am I still in the pool? Delta didn't call
Year 6: delta flushed the northwest pool. They didn't call either.
Year 7: delta didn't call
Year 8: delta didn't call
Year 9: delta didn't call
Year 10: Delta didn't call. US Airways did though.
I spent a lot more time at Skywest than originally planned. It was a good company and the pay and work rules were above average. If no one called I would have been ok making a career of it there.
Would you be ok with making a career out of MESA?