Originally Posted by Roadking

I'd like an idiot's guide to understanding the airlines' pay scales.

Take year 1 for instance with Continental. I'm making $31 per hour and I'm "guaranteed" 72 hours. How much over that might I fly? Can I also sit another 72 hours of "reserve" in the same month, thus doubling my money? You would not want to fly over your guarantee. The reason is is that they are only paying 31 bucks an hour. You are better off getting a part time job at McD's. You can either be a flying line holder (aka lineholder) or a reserve lineholder, but not both in the same month.

And speaking of "reserve", is it mandatory that new hires sit a certain amount of it? If I don't live in my base city, am I required to go there and sit in a crash pad, or is it optional just to make more money? Some airlines reserve is senior and newhires get flying lines. You generally have to be close to the airport, at UPS it's 90 minutes from notification to showing up on airport property. Some of the pax airlines have longer call outs, but you can count on having a cheap apartment you'll share with other pilots at your home base called a crashpad.

Here's another question: Aircraft type? How is that determined? Do they tell you at the interview whether you're being considered for widebodies versus narrows? That seems to be a big deal in respect to 2d-3rd-4th year earnings!