First year pay is $75 per Trips For Pay (TFP). Second year is $109 per TFP. The daily rate is $75 or $109 x 6.0, 6.5, or that day's TFP pay because it could be more than 6.5. Min pay for reserve is 6.0 TFP until they use you. Then it's a min of 6.5 per day plus move up. Move up is when they change your schedule once they have already called you out for a reserve trip. Move up is payed at premium which is 1.5x your normal rate. I cant remember is Move up is payed at first year or second year pay. It hasn't happened to me yet. Flights over 2.5 hours and Transcon trips pay very well due to rig plus the trip mileage.

Reserve lines are 90 TFP which is 15 days on. (90/6=15). If they only use you 3 of the 4 days, then you can pick up a trip in open time. You wind up still working 15 days, but get paid for 16. The trip you picked up in open time is paid at second year rates ($109/Trip). It will be a min of 6.5 TFP x $109.

I'll be honest, the hardest part (pay wise) is getting through the 2 months of training. You make 89 TFP x $75 in training. No extra pay or per diem. Luckily, my last check from NJA helped out with the longevity bonus and 4 weeks of vacation pay. The take home SWA check on the 5th is usually about $2500 net. This check never changes. They call it an advance. The check on the 20th during training was about $2000 and I'm on the regular plan which means I don't pay anything for medical insurance. The check on the 20th has all of your deductions such as dues, LTD, vision, etc. The check on the 20th also carries all of your per diem (you don't get per diem in training), Premium Pay, all of the extra pays above 89 TFP, etc. Thats what you can expect for training. My net pay check on 3/20 which had my IOE, partial consolidation line, and 1 trip I picked up in open time was $4600. In March, my first month on the line, I worked 17 days (I picked up a 3 day at $109 TFP in open time) and made 116.5 TFP.

My first month on reserve was May. I was off April 26- May 2. May 1. I picked up a 1 day turn to Mexico in Open Time. Easy Day. I was on reserve on May 3. I was used for another round trip to Mexico. Easy day. I was off from May 4-7. I was on reserve May 8-9. Paid 6 TFP/day and they never used me on either day. Reserve again on May 12-15. They used me on May 13-15. I enjoyed a day off on May 12 with pay. I left at 0830 May 13 and back home by 1330 on May 15. Easy trip. 3 days off and back on reserve May 19-23. It's super easy if you live in base. I know guys that are commuting to reserve. It sucks for them. My Reserve is time is 0305-1705. On the last day of reserve if you don't have a trip, then you are released at 1005 (7 hours) automatically. No calling to get released on the last day.

In May, I work 15 days, which includes the 1 day I picked up on May 1 on my day off. As of May 18, that's 8 days worked and home for 3 of them since they didnt call me on those reserve days. My month to date credit is 91.62 with 6.5 of that at the $109 rate. Thats $7092.5 for the month. I am off May 29-Jun 1 and will probably pick up a day turn which will pay 6.5 TFP at the $109 rate. I like just going out for 1-2 days.

In June, I am on weekend AM reserve. I am scheduled to work 15 reserve days. I picked up a day turn trip from a friend which is 6.5 at the $75 TFP rate since it wasn't picked up at open time. It was in Trip Trade Give Away (TTGA). We call that straight time. June so far is 16 days and 96.5 TFP at the $75 per trip rate. Like TM said, 15-16 days of work at SWA is NOTHING like 14 days of work at NJA. It's nice being able to just show up 30 min before departure and have the plane ready in 15-20 min. Push from the gate, fly, do it again 2-3 more legs and go to the hotel. I dont feel exhausted at the end of the day and I feel rested even for the early AM flights. SWA will get a contract. We will get retro (another reason to pick up time now), and it is nice seeing my retirement increase without me putting a dime into it.

I am home a lot more now and I feel a lot more present in my family. I am not chasing a money wheel. I'm not out for 10 days at 13 hours a day just to have flown 20 hours. Yup, you give up $2500/day for an extended day. I get control of my life back, I am home more, and that you cant put a price on. I will be back to NJA PIC wages in about 4 years on the current contract. It will be much sooner on the new contract. My retirement amount in my 401K with 17 years left in my career will almost double by being at SWA just because of direct contribution. NJA FDP is your money. Why are you having to pay so much of it into your retirement? You have to lose 1/3 of your FDP for your retirement. You also have to pay the IRS max out of pocket just to take full advantage for the NJA match. Total out of pocket for 2022 was $32,000 to put $42000 into my 401K and I still didnt meet the NEC limit after all of those days gone from home. The max IRS and NEC limit combined is $66000. $43500 is the 2023 NEC contribution limit. No way I could hit that limit at NJA. I should be able to make it in year 5 of SWA. Short term pain for a long term gain with a lot more time with the family along the way.