Bluto

It's got a lot of room to grow. So ACL, are they still planning an early May AE? Been quiet around here on that front.

iaflyer

I don't know the history of why the flight advance paycheck (the small one) is so small. Maybe the amounts were established 15 years ago - while pay rates have gone up, the advance hasn't so now it seems really small.

My issue is that when you take the flight advance (for me, $1300) take out taxes, 401(K), medical for the family, flexible spending account, etc, the amount left is close to $900.

I think the flight advance amount should be raised - if only because the deductions are wiping a not-insignificant amount out of the paycheck.

acl65pilot

According to the ppl in Planning it is planned on sometime next week. (Subject to change of course)

forgot to bid

There are articles all over the place, especially realclearmarkets.com, about the economy. GDP has expanded but probably 1/2 to a 1/3 of what a GDP would normally do after a deep recession and for every bit of consumer spending and business investment spending increase news there are a lot of ugly things going on out there.

I still think $90 a barrel, maybe $95 is tops and anything larger (because of some geopolitical event) than the beat up economy chokes to death. And we along with it.

Cohiba

They may have a stack of applications but it takes months to train them and then there's the issue of sims available. They'd much rather use the DGS instructors ($300/day) than a SLI. Plus...they want to put the SLI's out on the line...much more efficient block hours/pilot metric.

newKnow

Yes, like:

1.) What's a UAL/CAL merger do to DAL &

2.) What does this oils spill in the gulf do to the price of oil?


Not necessarily in that order.

firstmob

Agree 100% if we don't start getting some positive orders from the DOT alot of our discussions on this forum maybe just that, discussions with no positive action

944Turbo

My wife and I just got back from house hunting in Hudson, WI yesterday. We may have found a good short term rental while we look for our perfect place in the East Metro (Hudson, WI). Our house is all but rented in ATL. I just need that AE to M88 MSP to come out so I can finally leave ATL behind (after 20 years).

johnso29

Seems we hedged better this time. That should help, yes?

Regardless, nothing we can do about the price of oil.

flyallnite

Pilot Paychecks:


Pilots at Delta are paid in arrears for their services. We are paid that way because unless you are on reserve, there is no minimum guarantee. You could fly 100 hours or 0 hours, and be paid accordingly. The company can't pay you until the month is complete and payroll has calculated your earnings and deductions. You get paid that amount on the 15th, minus the flight advance, which you were paid at the end of the previous month. That is why it is called an advance... it is an advance on your monthly pay. It is a smaller amount because if you didn't fly much, you could potentially be looking at a zero or negative amount for the middle of the month, and negative amounts wreak havoc with accounting practices.

We used to have a "full service bank". With this system, you could bank up to 60 hours positive and go negative 20 hours. With this system, you could 'even out' your mid month paycheck if you were going to be short, or add more if you needed some extra smack. You could 'go negative' and in effect borrow money. Many of us "went negative" before the paycuts, because you paid back your bank at your current pay rate. As I recall, the bank hours also counted as credit and you could create mini vacations for yourself, drop trips, and do other tricks that I have long since forgotten.

If you were a new hire at Delta, while you were in indoc, you were paid as a ground employee, a normal salary. That's why when you switched to flight pay, after ground school, you had a teeny tiny paycheck, because the company had already paid you up front for your efforts in ground school, then you had a "break" while you transitioned to being paid in arrears. In other words, the company looked back at your ground school, and you had already been paid.

If we give up the flight advance, then there will be a two week period where we won't get a paycheck.