What can you realistically expect to make year 1? and year 2? I would have to take a huge reduction in salary and trying to weigh my options.

Thanks in advance.

 

Plan for the worst and hope to be surprised later.

70hrs/mo x 12 mo x hourly rate = annual pay

If that doesn’t work, don’t take the job.

 

Year 1 and 2 are going to be greatly impacted by when you start. For example start year 1 in January and year 1 will be 800-1000hrs x about $90/hr. Start in July and it would be about half that for the calendar year. But start in July your first year and second half of United year 1 will calendar year 2. So would bump up to about $140 an hour. I started in the summer and had a bigger W-2 from my previous job for just a couple months of work.

Year 2 I made low six figures.

Very happy i did it. YMMV.

 

The math is actually pretty straight forward. It’s just hourly rate x credited hours worked. But ultimately pay will vary based more on other factors. Most notably based on if you’re in a junior base and can hold a line vs a more senior base meaning you’ll be on reserve longer.

Reserve can probably expect the min pay of 73hr plus you can probably add a few extra hours (2-5) for unused shortcalls and field stand-by assignments. You may be able to aggressively pick up flying (allowed the day prior, if not previously assigned a trip) and earn enough credit hours to break the 73hr min but again that depends on availability of the Base/Equipment you get initially.

The sooner you can hold a line the quicker you’ll be able to make more money depending what’s available in your base/equipment bucket and on how much you wish to work (sounds like you’re willing) and how well you learn to use PBS (our scheduling/trip trading system) to trade and pick up trips.

Narrow body (737 or 320) San Fran and Newark are probably your best chance to get a line the fastest.

Hope that helps you figure out your situation. Good luck

 

Really does vary when you get out of training, can you be in either SFO / EWR ready for summer flying and premium / volunteer flying as a reserve , willing to work on all your days off and be flexible than you can make a lot more . Really just depends how bad you want it.

 

You need to look at what year you’ll actually make back the pay you lost.

Then how much more you’ll be making over the next few years after that.

A lot of us took a pay cut and lost the first year or two. But after a few years it was more than worth it.

 

Thanks for the input.

I have good corporate job that I never dreamed I would ever leave, but the long term compensation at the airlines is hard to ignore. Taking almost a 6 figure pay reduction initially is a tough pill to swallow.

 

You won’t be the first.

 

Eventually like in under 10 years, probably less, you’ll be taking a huge 6 figure pay reduction by having stayed where you are. Just throwing it out there.