Retention bonus question
 

Been wondering how exactly the FO rentetion bonus is paid out. I understand that it begins after one year with the company, and is paid in the fiscal quarter after your one year anniversary.

Is it paid out at the beginning or end of the quarter after your one year anniversary? So, for example, if I hit one year in September, is it paid in the first paycheck in October, since the fiscal quarter starts October 1st?

Thanks!

You have it straight although I'm not sure if it pays on the 5th or the 20th.

If hired in September, it'll pay out Jan 20th. It's paid after the first full quarter after your anniversary date.

I was hired in April, and the check won't come until October 20th as confirmed by payroll.

Well I like my answer better. :D

It pays on the 20th, but as per the LOA they have up until the 5th to pay it. I know recently crew pay “forgot” to pay a ton of us our bonus on the 20th of this past month. Instead of waiting to pay us on the 5th, they overnighted a check. Sooo while frustrating, yay I guess?

And for all the guys thinking of coming here, you’ll get two maybe 3 quarterly 2500$ payments of that retention bonus and then you’ll be forced into a senior upgrade and back on reserve making min guarantee and paying for your own hotel out of pocket. Hopefully you can make the allowance stretch for the whole month.

As for flow times: assuming 15 in the seniority list senior to you leave each month....

Well let’s break down the math. Let’s say 15 pilots senior to you on average leave each month. Some months it’ll be more, others much less... sometimes they’ll all be senior to you, others junior & senior.... but 15 seems like a realistic number when including your time as an fo. 15x12=180 (rounded numbers used for simplicity). 1800 pilots divided by 180= 10 years at current flow / attrition rates. To me this seems like a realistic best case scenario to a new hire.

If you’re going to be stuck somewhere for 10 years, you’d better be happy wherever you are.

Thanks for the clarification!

Keep in mind we are still growing. I would guess in 3 or 4 months we will be at 2,000 pilots. Yet, we will still only be flowing 10 per month so the flow times will be gradually longer and longer.

The most recent senior manning upgrade was for pilots hired in February 2017. So they are being awarded at 18 months, with training to commence in the 19th month. That essentially equates to only one quarterly bonus. Of course, that could change for pilots hired today, or for individual circumstances, like the pilot does not have 1000 hours yet.

What if you go to upgrade just before the end of the first full quarter?
Hired in May of last year, upgrade class in September.
Technically your still an FO until you pass sim check ride so it makes sense they would pay it, right?

I was eligible for the FO bonus until i passed my captain PC. I got about 90% of that quarter’s bonus. I don’t have the LOA in front of me, but i think says something about having to be an active FO for at least 50 days of the quarter to get the whole thing, and if you’re an FO less than 50 days of that quarter the bonus is prorated. So say you’re an FO for 45 days of that quarter and then you pass your captain PC on the 46th day. You should get 90% (45/50) of that quarter’s bonus.

Keep in mind past experience doesn’t guarantee future results. I assumed i “should” be getting that much of a bonus based on the language in the LOA, but it wasn’t 100% clear. I was actually surprised i got it. Usually when there’s even 1% of a gray area the company usually interprets it in their favor and i have seen in the past where pilot A might get one thing and pilot B gets nothing even though they’re both in the exact same scenario.

I would say you should get it, but don’t get your hopes up.