Well, sure, the paycheck is more.

That TAFB though.........

I rarely did more than 300/mo when I was at the regionals with 14 days off a month.

Now toss in if that 300+ TAFB is a commuter.

My buddies at TK have way, WAY more time at home than the average line slug.

Commuting to the TK job would also skew those metrics.

It's more an apples to oranges comparison really.

 

I don’t disagree with you, I was just responding to the poster who specifically said he didn’t understand the making less then line argument. PIs only, as they are the only pilots pay capped at this airline, generally trade $ for time at home. I’ve done both PI and line, there are different with each having pluses and minuses.

 

A bit of clarification:

Some people were saying at TK you have 12-13 days off, it's 13, period. 13 plus fly days. For NB, you get 2-3 Fly days a month and WB gets roughly 3 days per month, but sometimes TK gives 0 fly days for WB guys in some months, then 6 Fly days in other months.

Pros:
1) To equate it to the line, this is a senior-type day turn schedule. If that's what you like, you will like the schedule. Do 0400/2200 sim periods stink? Yep, they do, but some guys choose a whole line of these events and have a side gig. I suspect these people are vampires or don't sleep as these event times are brutal when u get a string of them.
2) Even as a junior TK instructor, you can typically get 2 weekends off a month. Throw in a vacation every 2nd or 3rd month, and depending on vacation weeks thru the year, you can average 2.5 weekends off a month. You will not get this as a lineholder in most NB bases until you are above 50%. The scheduling rules are "more fair" and seniority mostly only helps you with your schedule build and overtime.
3) Vacation weeks: summer goes junior. To keep it simple, in a month with vacation, you basically get an extra 5 days off that month. So instead of working 15-16 events, you only have to work 10-11 events. You also aren't affected by FAR 117 while teaching, so if you desired to front load or backload your schedule like you can do out in GUM, that is a possibility. So work 10 days, get the next 20 off (if you got ahead on fly days or you can do them before the end of the year).
4) Trading is easy for NB instructors: We have about 270 instructors on the 737. I almost never see a trade request that isn't filled in the same day. It's easy to trade.
5) You will learn more about SOP on your aircraft than most care to know
6) You get to know fellow pilots on your fleet better and go to the 3 day standards meeting with them once a year.
7) You want to coach a kid's team, you will probably be able to manipulate your schedule to do so.
8) You get to fly whatever trips you want by FBO as long as the lineholder allows it. This is great for someone junior that might be flying a lot of undesirable trips anyway.
9) Pay equates to a reserve CA pay.
10) Flexibility is huge since you can be given 3-4 fly days in a month. You can choose to fly 0 days during that month and make those days up in another month. Or you can get ahead on fly days early in the year and basically give yourself more days off in schedules later in the year.
11) You are guaranteed Thanksgiving day, Christmas day, and New Years day off. Those days off are in addition to your 13 days off each month.

Cons:
1) Everyone does Reserve days from time to time no matter seniority, so everyone can get tagged for something at a time they would prefer not to work (but you can trade reserve days for a guaranteed sim lesson)
2) 13 days off isn't a lot and it can wear on you
3) Flying skills do suffer since most average less than 90 hrs a year
4) While teaching is rewarding, most will agree it's not as "fun" as flying. However, you also don't have to deal with weather, ATC, passengers except when flying 2-3 days a month.
5) Work becomes more political
6) If you can hold weekends and holidays off on the line, you will likely have better pay and time off on the line.

 

this is all great info. Thanks! Just to confirm, the 13 days off include fly days……so it’s not 13 days off but you use 3 of those to fly?

 

13 days off. Fleets will schedule additional days for flying pro rated for the annual requirements. Can’t go below 10 days off to fly or work overtime.

 

No, you always get 13 days off (unless prorated lower by military leave or some other PLA)
You get fly days on top of the 13 days off.

So if you get 3 fly days for the month, you actually get 16 days off.

However you are expected to either fly those 3 days off during that month, or make up those 3 fly days somewhere else during the year.

You will be given 30/36 (NB/WB) Fly days every year. You can fly them in the month you are given them, or during another month throughout the year.
Deadhead from DEN-EWR or DEN-SFO in order to be in place counts as a day of flying as well, and you get PS First Class to do so, unless you DH deviate.

It can be hard to play catch up since we can't go less than 10 days off per month.
However, you can use vacation months to catch up as you can do fly days over vacation.

 

With those numbers I'm assuming that pilot is a captain (seeing as I don't see any FO seat that pay $298/hr), so of course someone on a captain payscale is making more than someone capped at 9 year FO.

I think the people talking about the money are far junior to you. You can either work 90 hour lines as a 737 FO at e.g. ~172/hr or you can work 90 hour months in TK at $213/hr. Who do you think makes more in that scenario?

 

Literally every PI currently at TK can hold 320, 737, or 756 Captain on the line.

 

Every one of them I know is waiting for a contract, if it doesn’t come soon, many are bailing.

 

Agreed, many waiting till vacation bid to be over. Also have heard some say they need an AIP or at least significant progress by Easter.