Hello, new hire here. For personal budgeting purposes, would any Year 1 and/or Year 2 FO be willing to share their 2018 annual income? Thank you!

Is it often to credit more than 75hrs a month?

Best piece of advice I ever got in the industry. Base your budget on guarantee (75hrs). After you get off first year pay, keep your budget the same.

After that make your budget guarantee for your previous years longevity. Now before someone chimes in andcstates that’s impossible. I did this when new hire pay was $20/hr with bills. It’s tough but doable

Absolutely it’s possible, you are living proof. Thanks for the advice!

Yours is going to be totally different. I would expect longer reserve time, so budgeting off of current W2s may put you in a lot of trouble.

Made almost exactly $70k on year 2 pay including per diem and any extra random performance or attendance bonuses etc. as previous poster before noted I always budget for min pay though. However, averaging 102 hours/mo and $600+ per diem has allowed me to save a little extra. Lastly, getting 100hrs a month as an FO is going to be tough as of right now. Definitely possible, just not as easy as it was in 2018. Good luck and hope this helped.

Agreed, cleared 67k before taxes as a 2nd year in 90's mark a month avg. Always budget for min guarantee though

48,000. I was a lazy turd and bid for minimum credit lines.


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Budget for min guarantee. Anything else is gravy for the savings accounts, 401k, or HSA.


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Haha! I was talking to a Southwest captain. He told me us pilots spend all of our time in a rat race trying to build hours, get to 1500, get 1000 turbine, get PIC turbine. At his level he says he does everything he can NOT to fly! So maybe you’re just showing mainline leadership qualities.

Oh man I wish. I’ll try and squeeze that in to my resume.


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