Originally Posted by DenverPilot8

I got bored so I ran some numbers for the next 10 years of our careers and as a comparison to Frontier. I took current projected upgrade times at all of the major carriers and calculated based on hourly rate x 1000 hours a year (probably wouldn’t fly that much but should be able to credit 1000 per year in additional soft time. Also these numbers are for narrow body to narrow body. So Delta, United, and American are based on A320 Rates as a comparison. Of course upgrade times may change and contract rates will also vary. But it gives insight into what the pay differences are. Here is what I came up with:

These are average yearly salaries (gross) earned over the next 10 years.


Frontier (4 year upgrade): 115K
Hawaiian (7 year upgrade) 143K
United (5 year upgrade) 187K
Alaska (7 year upgrade) 134K
Delta (3 year upgrade) 170K
American (7 year upgrade) 174K
Fed EX (5 year upgrade) 198K

These are all CURRENT pay rates and only accounts for Hourly flying.
Year 10 everyone would be a Captain and is as follows.

Frontier: 156K
Hawaiian: 206K
United: 244K
Alaska: 206K
Delta: 206K
American: 231k
Fed Ex: 273K

This would just be the next 10 years and doesn't include 401k contributions. Over a career for someone starting now the big 3 and Fed Ex means literally MILLIONS of dollars more in pay and retirement over Frontier. Even for guys that have been at the airline for 10 years would still make more money if they left here. I know this isn't news but putting it on a spread sheet made me realize how vast the difference actually is.

I think it comes down to this. Frontier can be a great place to work. I had always wanted to work here and feel fortunate to have the opportunity to do so. But with these kind of numbers I'm really hoping that they will do something to make people want to stay.