1. The benefits people won't tell you about the "Regular Plan" but if you search here and elsewhere you will find it is a plan with no premiums and very low out of pocket maximum. The catch is that it doesn't cover preventative care, so sometimes you may need to negotiate with the doc for cash prices for little things like school physicals or mammograms. If you get the job and decide to accept we can point you in the right direction.
2. As a newhire commuting I tried to shoot for around 100 TFP per month. Now living in base I do 110-120 TFP per month without working very hard at all. Varsity players do much better. Regarding rigs, if you've worked for other airlines you know that around 5 hours per day, variable average over a trip is common. At those carriers a min rig would have a 3 day pay around 15 or a 4 day pay around 20 for example. Our min rig is an average of 6.5 per day, so a 3 day pays 19.5 and a 4 day pays 26 - minimum. Only flying one short leg on a day? It will pay at least 5 regardless of the trip rig.
- Upgrade time. Yup. 10-15 years. It's a young pilot group. The caveat is that those numbers are based solely on age 65 retirements. The company just doubled the number of simulators they have and built a massive new flight training building. Training is a leading indicator... no guarantees of course but I doubt it will really be 15 years. The good news is that if it is, FO pay rates are not too shabby. And with the B-fund in the new contract along with profit sharing many first officers are able to hit the IRS limits on their retirement by year 4 or 5. -- so you don't need to upgrade to fully fund your retirement! That is important to realize because you may decide that you don't want to upgrade. I don't know how old you are, but I've talked with many newer FOs in their late 40s and early 50s who have decided not to upgrade. Who wants to commute to reserve when they're 60? Not me. If I have to retire as an FO so be it.
- junior bases are still OAK, PHX, and LAS. Seems like most people are able to move east within a few months. The only bases you'll have to wait a while to hold are MCO and ATL. All bets are off if they open FLL and/or LAX as rumored.
- no per diem while in Dallas for training. They'll provide hotel for the duration.
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