Das Auto

$2.5 billion investment in new aircraft orders with 75 deliveries in 2022, I'd say they're doing ok.

I too left Wheels Up for greener pastures last year, and you won't hear me say a bad thing about the company either. Upper management and HR really stepped up their game when my twins were born prematurely. They dropped everything to make sure I got home ASAP to witness the whole thing, then stay home with them while they were clinging to life in the NICU. Very classy, and made my decision to leave all the more difficult.

I'm a bit out of touch as to how things are going there right now, but it's fair to say that there are worse options out there. It's no secret that 7&7 schedule is preferable to 8&6 and a challenger 350 is preferable to a King Air 350, but working for Gama Aviation / Wheels Up was a good experience for me overall.

ImBack

Any truth to making 90k+ per year in FDP guaranteed at NJ? Was doing the math and it seems like it would be a stretch to make 30k unless you want to work your ass off based on the 325 hours I flew last year. It seems to me more pilots NJ hires and the more airplanes the less FDP you might be eligible for too. Does the CC76 schedule mean you work 228 days per year? I'm year 5 at flex making $816 per day as a Challenger 350 Captain. I make my own schedule and work whenever. My bonus is ~13% and I have zero expenses on the road. Some days are busier than others, but it's been very financially rewarding here. Senior guys told me that they have not used a dollar of their per diem in years and the company doesn't tax it. The compensation seems inadequate at NJ when you compare it against WUP and FLEX for the amount of work you have to do. I heard NJ pilot pay dues, have to pay for parking and don't get to expense all meals. There's even a medical expense limit? A Captain from NJ (came from a large cabin SIC position) told me it took 12 years for him to hold a Phenom Captain spot. That seems crazy.

Blazingtaco

Because we ALL wear our oxygen when we were supposed to lol

Deserthusker

And yet people leave flex and wheels up to come to NJ but I have never heard of anyone going the other direction. Makes you wonder. I am on the 7/7 phenom, never extend and made $47k in fdp. Not a guarantee but wasn’t hard to do.

hdgbug

I think when you boil it down, WUP needed to make improvements to QOL/compensation in late 2019/2020. Attrition was relatively high, and all of the competitors for pilots were upping their game. Rumor at the time was that there was a "big" announcement coming. COVID hit, and I suspect, WUP management saw an opportunity to delay the extra expenses because pilots were trapped. No big announcements came. In fact, items such as health insurance and hotels actually got worse. Come middle of 2021 when everyone else started hiring (remember these other operators had made improvements to their compensation packages in the years leading up to 2020), WUP was behind the curve. From what I hear, the new compensation package they announced help stem the tide of resignations. There was a lot of damage done while they waited to react to the flood of people leaving. It will be interesting to see how they recover.



90k in FDP alone? I would say highly unlikely, but technically possible. And I say technically skeptically. Certainly not realistic, and certainly not guaranteed. Not to rehash the post I made in the Netjets first year pay thread, but I expect to make 115-120k first 12 months on property working the 7/7 on a slower fleet (I am not taking full advantage of the $$ opportunities right now). So roughly 45k in total soft money (FDP, overtime, etc.). In year 5, using my numbers here so far as a starting point, I think I could estimate 130-140k. I've talked to year 3 SICs who have been north of that number without really trying as well.


Now if you want to compare apples to apples, a 5th year PIC doing the same work/schedule that I've done this year would be making about 170-180k. Are there year 5 PICs currently? No. Will there be year 5 PICs in the near future? Quite possibly based on planned growth and the upgrades they have stated they want to accomplish. Would I buy a house planning to upgrade in year 5? Absolutely not, this is aviation after all.


To your other questions - I've flown with many a pilot that doesn't spend their per diem, and instead eats crew food all day. Certainly not my jam, and not as good a benefit as being able to expense meals onto the company card. But it's possible. Not even sure what you mean by medical expense limit, so can't help you there. There is lots of good info in the Netjets forum.


Back to WUP - When I look back at what I made at WUP as an Check Airman with 5 years of seniority, I will meet or exceed that in my first year at Netjets. They've made some efforts to make that less of a factor going forward, but there were a lot of us that saw a much higher value over the course of a career at the likes of Netjets and Flexjet, not to mention the airlines.

EMSER

Well, Ive been on the property 3 1/2 months, flew 29.3 hours on my last tour, so as a 3 month FO I made $881 plus my perdiem of $47 each of the 7 days. I bought one meal in the 7 days otherwise I ate the catered food. The 29 hours is the norm for my fleet, all my classmates in the same fleet flew more than me in the same week, I was the “low” guy. So it seems I’m pretty much making what you make and I’m an FO with 3 months on the job. Oh, they are also matching my 401k contributions at 58%, I’m maxing it out, they will put in around 17K of company money into my 401K this year. So to say NJ is behind compensation is a gross understatement. Not to mention a classmate was a 15 year Challenger Captain from Flex. Never really heard of NJ pilots going to Flex, but we have plenty of Flex pilots here. Must be some kind of reason.

Starbucks

You’re right. Definitely far worse options. However, of the three companies discussed, this has got to be a distant third. Hotels. Accounting. Food. Schedule. It all adds up. Everyone was cautiously optimistic when they came out with 360. But, WUP just officially showed this week that without protections they’re just going to do what they want. Interested in leap frogging all the hard working King Air folks that have given this place years? Now is the time.

Das Auto

I remember when they were hiring street captains while some qualified F.O.s were being passed over. That definitely rustled a few feathers. I think it came down to candidates only accepting the job if they were offered a PIC position.
Either way, seniority has to be respected and moral takes a hit when certain people get special treatment. Wheels Up is far from perfect, hence the reason I now fly for a competitor, but from a personal standpoint they were a decent employer.
At least they were when Gama ran the show.

Greyhawk79

Can anyone recently hired at WU elaborate on the business casual dress code for training? I'm assuming dockers or slacks and button down shirts or sweaters are acceptable. Any need for Jackets or ties?

JTH900SC

Is anyone here in the the 3/7 class?
also. Does anyone here live in the CLT area. Curious about parking.