Need Help with pay rates
 

I understand that when I become a regional pilot I would have get a second job because the pay will suck the first year. My question is what is the deal with normal hours and reserves (ex. 75 hours normal and 75 on reserve). Do you calculate both normal and reserve or is it just normal hours? Please Help!!!!!!!!!!!!:confused:

Please clarify. What do you mean by normal? you mean average, guarantee?

Sorry I meant guarantee and reserve

You get your guarantee. If you fly more than the guaranteed hours you get payed for every hour on top of that.

That's true for reserve or line holders. It is that your question?

If you are a line holder (ie not on reserve) you get paid for each flight you fly with, plus you may get extra pay for scheduling reserves if your regional has work rules which require this. At a better regional, you might fly 80 hours and get paid 100.

If you are on reserve, you get paid guarantee (75 hours is typical) regardless of if you get called to fly or not. If you get called for only a small amount of flying, say 25 hours, then you still only get paid 75 hours. If you get called a lot, and actually fly (or credit due to work rules) more than 75, then you get paid the value of what you worked.

Both reserves and line holders also get paid an hourly per diem (typically $1.60) for each hour that they are on duty away from home. A reserve who does not get called out does not get per diem.


What you REALLY want to know is:

Do new hires at your airline spend a lot of time on reserve? If not, then you'll probably get paid 85+ hours.

If they do spend a lot of time on reserve, then you want to know if the reserves get used a lot. If so, you could still make more than 75. If not, then it will be straight 75 hours, with a little per diem when you do fly.

Ok got it
but that means if I"m making $24/hr for 75 hours=1800 monthly!!!!
that realy sucks. does it get better or is there something else I'm missing?

Allright bro........1800 a month !!........I'd be very happy making that a month. I make less than that....... It gets better though......it's called upgrade, before then, everytime you see your paycheck, alcoholism crosses your mind several times....

Seriously, if 121 is where you want to build a career, I won't tell you don't do it. It is imperative that you do a very detailed research of the regional you want to go. A good contract makes the difference.

WOW I hope you are joking!! How am I going to be able to support my family? How long does it take to upgrade. Sorry guys I forgot to introduce myself I'm 27 years old about to become a dad for the first time and finally got the loans I need to forfill my dream of becoming an airline pilot.

Nope, sorry man but you and you alone have to work the rest of your professional pilot career at first year regional pay. :confused:

This just in...........regional pilots don't get paid ****!

BTW, my first year I made around $28K ($19/hr and you think $24 is bad) and my second I topped $52 (all as FO) but I worked the system and sat ZERO reserve. Things get better once you're off reserve and off first year pay. Just relax, if your not willing to work for the pay then don’t accept the job or do and fight for more which is what most of us chose to do.

this kinda should have been something to think about before realizing the dream...but upgrade time varies from regional to regionial..

some are quick about 1-1.5 years others (like ae) are 5-8 years.

just depends.

Welcome to 21st Century aviation!


You may get a little more with per diem and such, but I wouldn't plan on it. Better to consider it a monthly bonus. It's going to be tough going for at least the first 3 years at a regional, and slightly better after that, if you become a Captain. Maybe another 3 or so years later if you go to the majors, there's another pay cut, but by second year, you should have a livable wage. You won't be buying that Ferrari just yet, but you'll feed the family.

I hear you man, hard work is in my blood I'm sure that wont be a problem. So is it the same getting into a legacy as it is in regional??

We can't answer your questions for you! Only you can run your life and if you can't do it then do something else. When I started with SKW I had a 1 month old, college and flight loans; but I had a sugar mamma who made close to 6 digits and that made things much easier. With a new born and bills I could not have done it without her.

Man, figure it out or stay out, it’s cold but that’s life.

As for the Majors, right now their not much better, just manage your money!

Don't get me wrong I'm not making any excuses I'm just trying to prepare myself with research.

Its all about having the sugar mama. I couldn't have done it on my own pay.

Cool Thanx Guys

I'm not joking. Sorry.........again I won't tell you don't do it, but I also won't tell you DO IT! I'm single and don't have kids, live in a cheap town, have a roomate and some savings from my previous job. It's hard. About upgrade and that........well, you have a lot of research to do, apparently you don't know much about this industry, but you're asking questions. This forum has a lot of good info, and some very negative info. Be careful. I prefer to be a decent payed FO, than a bad payed FO with the promess of a quick upgrade. I came to Pinnacle thinking about quick upgrade. I was naive. I've been treated like crap and the whole quick upgrade thing could change overnight, specially with the possiblility of NW/DAL merging.

paestarr,

Check this thread out!

http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/sh...ad.php?t=14048

I did but I wasn't sure what they meant with reserve.

Pilot pay can be somewhat complex once different "contractual" factors are brought into it, remember, they're written by lawyers, and are probably better understood by them too.

The reason there's a "guarantee" whether it's Normal (Line holder) guarantee, or Reserve (on call) guarantee it's there as a minimal amount you'll get paid per month. Now, it's not the maximum you'll make in a month, however, when deriving a budget, it's what I would use to calculate my "salary" until you get a few months worth of pay and can get a better idea as to what to expect for future paychecks. The airlines also go through busy/lull times, during the summer months you can expect to credit more hours of flying than the winter months.

I started at my company in Sept. 06, made a few thousand dollars between then and december of the same year (training pay "which is even worse than your guarantee") my W2 for 2007 was around 27,xxx, with the months between sept-dec being figured at second year rate of $25/hr as opposed to $22/hr. My average pay (given hours worked) turned out to be around 90 hrs of credit a month. When i planned my budget, i used something in the low-mid 80's as my average credit.

Last month on reserve i didn't break guarantee and as a result was paid the 70 hr guarantee. This month however i'm on pace to hit around 100 hrs of pay as opposed to the simple (and poorer) guarantee.

In your situation having a family you'll definitely want to do your homework as to what company you want to work for. You're not in a position where you can chase quick upgrade, and something along the lines of best quality of life and pay would most likely be more important to you. Also curb your spending habits which will help, as when you make the jump from regional to major airline you'll be taking a pay cut again, you'll make it up by your second year of flying, but that's part of the nature of the beast. Hope this helps sort things out, and best of luck to you.

Does anyone here have info on
AE
Colgan
Piedmont

What did you make on reserve and holding a line(I know everyone is different) for the first...second...third year f/o. First...second...third year CA

Any other infor you have about pay for these airlines would be great! Thanks!