Flyfalcons

The company has no interest in staffing to the point that pilots are flying 10hrs/tour. As we gain pilots, we expand. FDP is here to stay. Holidays are here to stay. Overtime is here to stay.

jtf560

A year 15 pilot on the CC60 is at $180373 this year. At the end of the year they will get another $7215 for the weird max longevity bonus that we have instead of just having a year 15 on the pay scale. Base pay has only gone up with the COLA raises since the 2015 contract, but the soft pay has gone up considerably. Even much lowered demand will still pay out on holidays and OT and FDP will still come into play. I talked to several pilots on the 350 who still flew over 300 hours in 2020 with the worst demand ever. That said, I barely broke 100 hours in the Global that year and saw no FDP after February. Like the last poster said, the company is hiring to demand and growth. If demand goes down, we are still behind on hiring and just a freeze in hiring would still leave those on line very busy for quite some time. This isn't an airline. You will work harder for the money, but the money is there if you want to avoid a bad commute.

Das Auto

I've been here a little over a year and the last upgrade award just went to someone 250 above me. (Sovereign) Considering they're hiring 450 this year, upgrade time is going to come down fast. I think $30k a year average is reasonable to assume for FDP and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

tm602

Just don’t get too excited. Upgrade was 6 months when I was hired, and it took slightly over 13 years for me. Its aviation, so don’t count chickens. That aside, at least the SIC pay there is very liveable while waiting.

Sidewinder27

The OP asked a question that is like comparing being a cop vs a fireman. Both civil service, but each offer a way different lifestyle.

Comparing NJA to an airline isn't really fair for either career. Can't even compare say United Express, any on of them, to United. It's night and day.

Ihavenoidea

I posted a couple other times in this thread but looking back it seems like most of my posts were compensation focused. Switching gears, if you were to completely ignore pay, retirement, per diem or any other compensation in the airlines vs NJ discussion does NJ win? Assuming I’m unwilling to move to any airline hub (career long commute) I’m trying to figure out which route will give me the most time at home. I don’t want to do long haul WB flying which my current airline doesn’t offer anyways, but this also rules out ACMI. So I’m left with trying to move from my ULCC to commute to a legacy and do the exact same thing I’m doing now for more money or try something completely different at NJ. Any advice or things I’m overlooking would be appreciated.

MaxMar

That's a pretty huge thing to ignore, but if you choose to ignore it, the answer is still entirely up to you and your personal preferences. Have you ever flown fractional / charter / corporate before? Are you comfortable with doing those additional job duties for the duration of your career? A lot of pilots really love to walk down the bridge, turn left, and lock the door behind them. A NetJets pilot will someday be able to bid for what days they work and what days they don't, but they'll never get to choose what time to wakeup, how many legs they'll get to fly, or where they'll overnight. Granted, those things come with some pretty serious seniority at a legacy, so you'll have to suffer for years at the bottom to achieve it, but some folks are proud to have paid their dues and earn that cush job.

For me, I just like working at NetJets. My best man, his wife, and another groomsmen of mine are all SWA FOs. I have another good friend who's a UAL WB FO. I have talked at length with each of them about their jobs, and I just don't want to do that job. They'll make more than me and won't have to work as hard at work, but I like what I do. It may be hard for you to say whether you'd like it without having done it before.

Ihavenoidea

I’ve never done any sort of corporate flying I’m really just interested in the company paid commute, on company time, living where I want, and the 7/7 schedule doesn’t bother me. I also have friends at AA and DL, both complain about the same things they complained about at the regionals. The only difference is now they are doing it for more money. Just trying to figure out if the company paid commute after each 7/7 rotation would be better than commuting to 4 on/3 off trips at the airlines 4 times a month.

AirBear

A lot of it depends on your airline seniority. When you're senior the lifestyle will most likely beat NetJets. When you're junior not so much. I flew for USAirways for 13 years, then a CRJ200 for 2 years, then 12 years at NetJets. I'd probably still be there if not for medical issues. Now I didn't have a lot of seniority at USAirways except for a few times. I was the #2 reserve FE on 727's in CLT, which is where I live. That was a very good quality of life. Even more junior reserve years later on the A320 in CLT wasn't bad at all. I live close to the airport so that helped a lot. I hated commuting. During my airline time I commuted CLT to: PIT, DCA, BWI, PHL, BOS.

Be very sure you're OK with the additional duties you have at NetJets. Loading the catering, setting up the fuel panel, loading bags, cleaning the cabin, etc. And I believe other posts have covered the difference in RON's. Short version is not nearly as nice as the airlines with their mix of short and long layovers. Pretty much everything at NetJets is short layover, more than 12 hours and they usually put you on hotel standby which has a 30 minute ready to leave the hotel restriction.

jtf560

I guess it also depends on the commute you would have. A relatively short direct flight to a junior base wouldn't be so horrible. A two leg commute would be horrific. Southwest would get you probably the fastest route to working the shortest amount of days per month and will allow you to choose early or late work days- most likely the ability to get either to or from work on a duty day. While you said you aren't interested in long haul, those flights can offer the ability to commute to and from work on duty days, depending on your commute.

If you go for NetJets, you better be able to deal with constant change while at work. Many have an issue with this and are either miserable or they then leave and wish they never wasted their time. Good luck whichever route you take.