LuvJockey

In money terms, that would be about
Daily rig of 2/3 flight hour for every hour on duty (30 prior to block to 30 after block)

Minimum 5.75 hours of flight time credit per duty period, or 5.75 hours average credit for total days of the trip (a min two day trip pays 11.5 hours). Miniumum .3 hours of credit for the total hours that the trip is away from domicile (normally kicks in only on a four day trip).

LuvJockey

No, I'm saying I got vacation pay and rigged trips at straight pay the rest of the month that put me over $20K. That doesn't include per diem, profit sharing, 401k match or anything else but flight pay with no premium (1.5) pay. Had there been more extra flying available in Jan, I'd have probably been able to hit close to $23K.

My vacation pay for the one week of vacation that I had payed well over $7K by itself. I just stacked and traded lower block time rigged trips from there and backed them up to be next to my vacation days.

Seriously, I'm happy if you guys are pulling down $50K a month, and if you can do it by working the system, good on you. I normally don't pull the trip load that I'm doing this month, I can't afford a divorce. All I'm saying is that I made more than 20K in Jan as an FO. Glad to hear there are some guys that get more than that as a captain at Delta. Really, what percentage of Delta captains average over $20K/month?

That level of pay and seniority will likely matter to an arbitrator. I think that the only way that we're going to figure it out "how much" is to look at average W-2's. Our pay "scorecard" on this website doesn't really do it justice because our workrules are so much different.

Zeroto4

LuvJockey

How long did it take you to figure out the SWA pay system? Seems rather complicated to me.

LuvJockey

I think that the only way we can really compare it is to break out W-2 totals. Some guys work the system all year, and some guys just work their lines. You're not going to really understand the pay system unless somebody gives the famous new hire powerpoint presentation. Because of the use of trips rather than hours, the average swa guy bids for "flight trips" rather than hours because flight hours represent legality problems and trips represent pay. We have something like 7 different types of open time and trades. We even can get cell phone texts now with available open time, and respond with a text to bid on it if wanted. We can do rough explanations of what our rigs mean, but the meaning loses the context of the trips for pay system. I know that's as clear as mud, but the only way you're really going to understand our pay rate is to get a pay total for the year and divide it by the number of days we work and flight hours we log. Good thing we're just starting to work on our taxes.

LuvJockey

I'll let you know just as soon as I actually do figure it out.

SherpaLifter

I finally figured out why SWA wants you to have a type rating when you show up for class.....you need all your time and energy to understand how you are going to be paid and to decipher the bidding system!

Since so much change is coming to SWA, maybe they can simplify things by using AirTran's "hour based" system and SWA's pay rates. Unless the TFP thingy is part of the culture.

BoilerUP

In the grand scheme of flying airplanes around in varying weather conditions to runways of various lengths, I'm not sure its rocket science to figure out SWA's "trip pay" model.

Isn't a "trip" considered to be DAL-HOU?

iaflyer

It used to be, I think it's defined a bit different now.

But what the SWA guys are saying is that with all their trip rig, DH to a trip, and other soft time, it's not easy to say "I flew 80 hours this month, made $10K." Someone might fly 80 hours and make $8K and the guy who sat next to him in new hire class might fly 80 hours and make $10K, because he focuses on trips that pay better.

I'm all for better pay at my airline, but the staffing is out of whack and we don't have much soft time.

satchip

Speaking of culture changes, heard a tidbit from an AT FA the other night. She said that after the merger, SWA is going to a more professional uniform for FAs. No more polo shirts and Khaki shorts. Any truth to that?

forgot to bid

That's because they'll have Douglas equipment. You can do all of that goofy stuff in a Boeing but in a Douglas I expect you to be dignified and look the part.