Frontier
6th year CA A320
Live in base
350.4k Worked
6k Per Diem
54k DC
410k total
0 Premium because I'm not one of the chosen ones
~600 flight hours.
What is a day off for 1000 Alex?

Wanted to see what life was like if I whored out...I found out. Wouldn't recommend it.

 

Isn’t $40.5k the max employer contribution for 2022? Several people on here are effectively double reporting their income…

 

I don’t think that’s correct because all mine went into my 401K and it was over $40.5. Hope below is helpful but I’m definitely not a retirement specialist.

This is copied from the Union:

Looking at the schematic, you can see money comes from three sources — Pilot contributions, the Company's non-elective contribution (NEC) which is Company money that does not require Pilot contributions, and profit sharing. Pilot contributions are limited by the IRS 402(g) limit ($20,500 in 2022). Money from both the NEC and profit sharing flow as qualified money into the qualified plan until the Pilot hits the IRS 401(a)(17) limit ($305,000 in 2022). Contributions based on income above $305,000 continue to flow and can be contributed into the 401(a)(17) Plan or paid as cash. The 401(a)(17) Plan is elected by the Pilot each fall of the previous year.*

In the Qualified Plan, the Pilot's contribution and money below $305,000 from both the NEC and profit sharing cannot exceed the IRS 415(c) limit ($61,000 in 2022). Any money over that “spills over.” Just like the 401(a)(17) side, based on the Pilot's election in the fall of the previous year, the additional money is paid as cash or deposited into the non-qualified 415 Excess Benefit Plan.

 

SWA 11 yr 8mo FO 4mo CA
w-2 $330k
NEC $40,500
Block 545 hrs
total $370k

 

Yep, you definitely *****d out this year...

 

Me;
This will be my final year, I’ll admit, I already have one foot out the door.

K4 747 CA, 12+ years (topped out)
Total. 374k
401k - Commie doesn’t know what this is. (Honest typo, but I’ll allow it) 4500 co 21,000 personal.
165 Days worked, block just under 400. Only 33 landings.

Tons of vacation, 2 or 3 extra time trips.
Kimchi coming out of my ears. I’m over this.

My brother;
5 years remaining.

ATI 5th year CA.
303k total.
He hustled and missed his own birthday.
401k co - 5000 self - 15000
Days off - 165 he picked up a premium trip a few times, high value. Their regular OT is just straight pay, seems shady.
Block - 689, however, he spent two months on short call.
He seems to enjoy it more than me, the Amazon flying is easy, but recently he’s upset with long sits.
Lots of management problems and the same drama that reminds me of the regional days.
He lives in nowhere Midwest and loves home basing.

 

Your brother must really enjoy his job. That seems like an awful amount of flying and time away for a 60-year-old. Is he playing catch-up with retirement? No judgement, it just surprises me to see some older pilots working that hard if they don't have to.

 

Not all “older pilots” are a monolithic silo/group with a boat/sports car/vacation home complete with girlfriend for when the wife isn’t around.

Depending on timing as well as a host of other factors, the dark decade (and) a half may not have been very kind to their careers. Especially if they were in the ACMI world and dealt with ABEX/Airborne/Emery/Ryan/North American/Tower/Tradewinds/BAX/CAT/Gemini/World and whomever else.

Christ, I’m approaching mid 50’s and can only say that half my ~25 year airline career has been an upward slope/progression.

Just glad I saved, always lived within my means, and won’t have to work that hard from here on out, HOPEFULLY.

 

2022 Salary, as an amount of money measured against time. If you like soley comparing that against Jan1-Dec31.. cool.

I like comparing money earned for a pilot's average day of work, TAFB, or similar. Pilot A making 200k/20 days off out earned Pilot B with 300k/avg 11 days off IMO. Pay is just the exchange of time for money. Without seeing how much time is exchanged for that pay, your W2 doesn't reflect the real value of your work.

 

Allegiant 7yr CA

$249k
$24.9k 401k
479 hours of block

Home every night
2 layovers for the year, for training
2 deadheads, also for training
1 EDCT for the year when it rained in Vegas
0 meals eaten at the airport or hotel lobby bar

Could be a great job if we got a real contract and mgmt