Originally Posted by
freezingflyboy
Well I'm not sold on those numbers. I haven't seen official pay scales and who knows what the work rules will be. According to APC VA pilots get a $5/hr raise each year. That would put their 12 year pay for CAs at $155/hr. Using pax 737/A32X fleets and 12yr CA for comparison, heres where VA would fall among other operators just looking at hourly rates:
SWA $198/hr
AA $161/hr
VA $155/hr
AS $154/hr
AT $153/hr
FNT $152/hr
DAL $151/hr
JB $147/hr
CAL $144/hr
AWA $138/hr
NWA $137/hr
UAL $133/hr
SPT $130/hr
USA $125/hr
With a pay scale like that and a supposedly LCC business model either they are printing their own money, have found a cheap alternative to jet A and are not telling anyone or their work rules are not user friendly. Again, just some numbers I tossed around for comparison. Something doesn't seem quite right to me.
I'm not talking about work rules, that's a whole other beast. How are you not sold, your numbers above are argue my point for me. With his hours why not give VA, DAL and CAL a shot. If he wants to just work as a line pilot flying just over guarantee then he'll make more money at the Majors/Legacies than he will at the regionals. That is, unless he works his ass off as a 18yr RJ CA, maybe then he'll reach the $125,000+/yr pay range.
Don't forget that DAL, CAL, AA, NWA, SWA, UAL, UPS, FedEx, ABx, Astar and many others 2nd-18th yr FO pay scale tops our CA's rates at the regionals; and their just FO's.