Originally Posted by
GreenTailWhale
I think you will find that those BA salaries are in pounds sterling, which changes things significantly in the favor of the European airlines. I think you will also find that the other European numbers are in Euros. Most of the European Legacies pay their first year pilots very well, as compared to the USA. This is particularly true when considering that the average new hire pilot at a legacy in Europe is in their early 20’s. In the US, pilots at that age are at a regional, getting paid pretty much garbage. Although that garbage has gotten better as of late from what I read.
I'm from Europe, I lived there for 30 years. I've got a lot of friends flying around the continent for pretty much every airline out there.
Starting salary for most legacies is worse than US regional starting salary right now.
I'm pretty sure KLM is the only one where you can break $60k your first year.
You can hit $60k on almost every regional in the US first year.
Also, don't get me started on training bonds, something almost every European carrier has today.
Ryanair still makes you pay for interview (and training if you pass the interview).
Also - when people talk about widebody pay, you need to remember that widebody is the junior spot in a lot of EU carriers. Plenty of pilots start as CRC or even MPL kind of position in a widebody, then move on to the right seat on a narrowbody. The seniority system isn't like it is in the US. A lot of companies pay the same for narrow- and widebodies. There are some overrides, but often those are not very significant. I've got a lot of friends who moved from WB to NB because they didn't like the lifestyle, and they both pay the same.
You can't really compare US and EU carriers, they are just not the same. And the pay is much, much lower especially if you look at take home numbers in EU, than in the US.
(then again - have 3 kids in college and EU is waaay more affordable, again - different strokes for different folks).