From what I understand, imputed income on airline travel is only charged between your gateway and base. Also, on your hotel in base.

I want to see if I understand what has been said lately about the pay issues. All other issues aside (contracts, QOL, Taxes). The way I have been reading this, is that if I get a bid, odds are its going to change, and if I do my part to be at home as much as I can and not work, I will only make peanuts, however if I do my part, Fly and do the job I was hired to do, I will loose some of that time at home, but I might be able to make a livable wage?

I am seriously considering Atlas as my next job for several reasons. I am trying to weed through a lot of the horse pucky on this thread and make sense of what the truth of the matter really is.

That's the long and short of it. Essentially, there are only 2 ways to stay home more than roughly 13 nights a month and that is to have vacation and conflict bid or to call in sick. Either way you are only going to bring in a measly guarantee check worth 62 hours of pay. You could volunteer to work on your days off if you like being a company b***h and giving up precious at home time considering there is even any open time to pick up.

If you choose to not maximize your time at home you will 99 times out of 100 only get paid at a rate of 4.85 hours per full day you are away. The first and last days of your pattern aren't full days so instead of receiving 82.45 you will most likely receive 77 hours for 17 nights gone from home. This also is not guaranteed because should you fall ill and bang out sick on the road you are no longer accruing pay until you call in well again..... also, should the company not need you any more for that pattern they can schedule you to return home and sit reserve for zero pay.


Moral of the story is Atlas has you by the nuts and if you can't make it off guarantee then you'll be hurtin for certain.

No, this isn't entirely correct. Say you are ANC based (which as a new hire you will be) and you, like most of the modern world, live somewhere other than ANC you will be taxed on the ticket to make the 2,3, sometimes 4 leg commute to start your pattern out of ANC. It only applies to flights to and from your base. Keep in mind flights to and from your base will most certainly happen very frequently. Let me say this again. You will be taxed to sit coach in the back of a muh fuggin Alaska air 737 in order for you to be positioned to do your job flying freight that the company is being paid TENS of thousands of dollars to move.

Wait, it gets better. Should you be assigned to sit reserve in your base, which again being new will happen, you are taxed on the hotel room at which you are obligated to stay in order to sit reserve. Let me say that again. The company needs you in a hotel to sit reserve and they f*#king tax you on the hotel as if its some sort of sick twisted performance bonus to live at a Best Western and breathe in mold by the telephone. Thanks, Atlas.

True if you never get sick, true if you do not take vacation, true if you attend your twice annual training events on your days off, true if the company on a whim with zero regard to seniority doesnt pull your trip away and put you on home reserve.

Thanks for the clarification.
So if you don't live in ANC, they'll buy you a positive-space ticket but tax you-- no choice? Could you non-rev jumpseat or is that too risky to do?
Live in base solves that problem- if visiting family down south, you're on your own getting to/from.
What's 2nd junior base after ANC?

Sure you could JS. If you have pass privileges you could non-rev too but that is extremely frowned upon and you would be urged not to by the pilot group, simply because Gateway, as flawed as it is with taxable travel, is a positive in our contract. If pilots decide to take the responsibility off the company and put it upon themselves to get to and from work you are undermining something in the CBA that was earned. You use it or lose it.


Second junior bases are probably tied at HSV and LAX right now on the 747.

No, they are a legal tax. The IRS treats it as income. They consider it a fringe benefit. People have fought it legally and lost...

The Stifel analyst published about the same opinion Aug2016.