I need to make a decision on going to work for AE. Can someone give me the straight info on availability of extra flight hours over the guaranteed 75 for reserve? I can't pay my family bills with the minimum! No sense taking a job to go in the hole.

 

keep in mind that in addition to the minimum guarantee you are also making per diem for every hour you are away from base on a trip... that dollar-and-change per hour really starts to add up... if money is an issue than go somewhere else other than the airlines... because all the regionals (and the majors) have crappy pay scales right now...

 

There are opportunities to add overtime flying to your paycheck, but like Av8tion said, it is really ridiculous pay across the board at regional airlines. Especially first year pay. I dont know if it is possible, but some sacrifice in personal spending and reducing bills might be the best way to make it through the first year at any regional. ALso consider a part time job outside of the regionals to make extra cash. I used to be a waiter for the first few years!

When you are on first year FO pay, it really doesnt make much sense to pick up a 4hour day trip for OT on your day off. At $25/hr youll make $120 before taxes(OT is paid at a 120% rate). Per diem on day trips is taxable, so that really wont add up to much more than $5-10. Being a waiter at a cheesy chain restaurant you can pull in 100-150 easily, and much more if you work a double shift at a nicer place.

 

I don't work for Eagle, but have been on reserve for a long time at two different airlines. You will rarely break guarantee. Do not count on breaking guarantee to pay your bills. You can usually count on per diem pretty much paying for your taxes each check. My net and gross amounts have historically been right around the same number when you add in the per diem on the net side of the equation.

 

At Eagle any OT goes on top of your reserve guarantee. RSV guar is 75hrs.

 

I wouldn't go anywhere where you cant afford to live on the minimum pay. you never know what is going to happen (lots of pilots took out 100k in loans thinking they would be captains in 2 years have now sat at the bottom of the fo reserve list for over 3).

 

So let me get this straight. Even on reserve you can just pick up trips in open time? Whats the point of being on reserve then?

 

Reserves at most places can only pick stuff up on their days off, not when they are on call.

 

You can only pick up trips on your days off.

 

I was hired a few years ago during a similar hiring cycle. I spent about 5 months on reserve, during which I made about the same as during training- $2000/mo. My year-to-date pay for the subsequent years has been: 37,300; 36,310; and 41,200. I am on the lowest payrate aircraft (t-prop).

There is a tremendous difference between reserve QOL and pay and that of a lineholder. It is really night and day. For example just in terms of days off- 11 on reserve and say 13 with a bottom line- if you are a lineholder you can pick up a 2-day trip on those 2 days you would have been on reserve and maybe make 8 hrs pay. At first year pay times 1.2 for OT that becomes about $250 per month or $3000 per year difference for working the same number of days as you would on reserve.

The other big help as someone mentioned before is per diem. With a time away from base of 250 hours per month as an average times $1.80 per hour you will make $450 per month ($5400 per year) of non-taxed income versus on reserve you will only get the time you sit at the airport or get a trip. Some will argue per diem is not really income but at the end of the month its money in your bank account so I count it.

Many lines have 15, 16 or more days off, and after the first year the payrate for the jets is much higher than props. And OT will be 1.2 times your payrate so a second-year jet FO is making $41 per hour for example for OT. It really is not that hard to make over $40,000 a year and still maintain some QOL. And as time goes on and your seniority improves it gets easier and easier.

If flying is something you want to do as a career now is the time to get hired somewhere (even at Eagle). The industry may be moving back in the right direction and the sooner you can get in the door (and off reserve) the better. Good luck.