thepotato232

"Adventure" and "Excellent Pay" are both a matter of perspective, honestly. Most of us are flying to the same few cities all month every month. Even when it's less monotonous, overnight opportunities tend to become less of a QoL priority for most as time goes on. Our pay is once again falling to middle-of-the-road for ACMIs, and "excellent" paychecks (when they happen) are a reflection of extremely busy schedules where your opportunities to bounce through LAX are 100% at the discretion of an overtaxed scheduling department with no obligation to prioritize your home life. Upgrade times are a bit of a can of worms at the moment. I could pontificate at length about my best guesses, but we're currently retiring a fleet, displacing people out of seats, our delivery schedule for growth planes is uncertain, and we do not have an impending demographic cliff of retirements like most legacies. Suffice it to say, we will not be doubling our fleet like AS is trying to either. Upgrades will be "a while."

We'd be happy to have you out here on the line at K4, but please ask as many people as you can at both airlines, and take everything we say with a grain of salt. I just don't see Kalitta making the improvements necessary for a prospective newhire to turn down a chance to live in base at a legacy. In your particular case, I really would recommend AS. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions better suited to that.

Puck Hawg

No passengers. No gate agents. No flight attendant drama. You only have to deal with the overcrowded airports and overcrowded flights a couple times a month (worst part of the job…flying with the cattle to and from work).

Is it tough work? Sure. You walk around in zombie mode, but unless you call in sick a ton, you should be able to be in the $180-$200k range by year 2-3. Plus, you can live where you want. Not too bad for spending half of your long haul flights sleeping in the back of the airplane.

Just .02 of perspective.

Bosman91

Curious if fo's can expect to break monthly min guarantee ?


Thanks

greenleaf

Considering there’s OT emails every other day and talking to FOs you would definitely break min guarantee.

OffAirportAK

Many FOs that I talk to are averaging over 100 hours per month.

itsbrokenagain

2on my IOE rotation, 3 weeks after completing training I did 102 hrs

Mungusaurus

I quit Alaska to come to Kalitta. I'm much happier.

BFMthisA10

Unless you fit into a very niche lifestyle choice like @Mungasaurus (Single, live abroad, debilitating desire to fly the Whale, crippling allergy to PAX, a few others), this shouldn’t even be a serious question. I speak from among the group of fiercely proud K4 alums, and you’ll strike up plenty of terminal conversations just from that sticker on your bag.
If you are fortunate enough to have enough Phuq-U$$$ to decide what you WANT to do, vs what you normally SHOULD do, then sure, you’ll fly with great crews to some off the beaten path destinations. Highly recommend the experience for those who’s life path intersects the opportunity.

But for the majority this falls into the same category of:
On the ground wishing you were flying > In the air wishing you were on the ground
Gas in the truck, runway behind you, altitude above you
Being at AS (or any Legacy) thinking about what might have been at K4 >>> @K4 wishing you took that AS CJO

160to4

Can I confirm with guys who actually fly the line; a while ago a wild rumor circulated about K4, specifically the mechanics/engineers. Is there any truth that when they tag along they choose where they sleep and what they eat over the actual operating flight crews? I know it sounds “trolly”, but it had to come from somewhere.

BeepBeep

This is not true. The GOM also specifically protects priority of the flight amenities by operating crew, additional crew, deadheaders, mechanics, etc.