hawk21

Pretty much nobody is flying min monthly guarantee.

Tippy

not even if they want to!

hawk21

I would say the average pilot here is working 85 hours credit.

WesternSkies

You don't work at SkyW?

Bombardier Stev

When someone gets a job offer for a 40 hour a week job and he looks at the yearly pay he takes the 40 hour pay times the 52 weeks.

The offer does not say, "Hey! If you work 80 hours a week you will make twice as much, so compare our 80 hour per week offer against what the other company will pay you for working 40 hours and you will see that you will make almost twice as much here!"

But that is how pilots like to view things.

Bombardier Stev

Airlines used to have pay caps where the airline was not allowed to pay a pilot more than X hours per month. I believe American had the lowest at 68 although it probably went up in the summer.

Most airlines were around 74 or 75.

My airline was 80 although it would be moved up to 85 in the summer. If you went over 85 you would not get the pay, it would go into your bank and you could not draw it out unless you were below the cap.

You must keep apples so you can compare them to other apples. Look at the hourly rate might be a good idea. If you work at Uber and average 30 per hour, you cannot work 2 hours and brag to your friends that you make 60 per hour. Your pay is 30.

Unfortunately, pilots now like to work their tails off so they can rationalize their higher pay, "I'm a 6 year captain and I make 100,000 easily!" Always wanting to be the optimist.

You might want to be more honest and phrase it like this: "I am a CAPTAIN for Skywest Airlines and I make $59280 as a second year Captain. I also steal $42000 from my wife and family by leaving them so that I can rationalize and tell my friends that I make 101280."

Squallrider

Plus per diem of at least 6k, yes it's counted as compensation because even if you were home you'd still be spending money on food, as a captain I get about 10k in bonuses aswell...it's not as bad as you might think.

N1234

Per diem is a simplified way to reimburse you for the excess cost you incur while traveling. Yes, you do eat at home and incur cost there as well. But arguably you do spend more when on the road (just think of that Starbucks coffee vs. your home brew)

The fact that you go on a budget, pack some sandwiches and bid for overnights with free breakfast is nice and allows you to pocket some per diem as a source of revenue. But that's not the purpose. Adding that into total compensation is self-deception.

Our top management in SGU racks up travel expenses 10x of what we have - do you thing they count that as total compensation?

RemoveB4Flight

I agree that for your own purposes of calculating income, it is best to use min guarantee to make sure you can cover all your bills. More than that is great.
However, I don't see any reason that one can not take the normal hours that they and everyone else are working to calculate what their current pay checks will be. That is the amount that you make.
Your logic comparing it to a 40 hour work week is flawed. My friends that work a 40 hour week are not guaranteed that. If they have to crunch numbers based on their monthly guarantee it would be $0.

Also how is making money above guarantee stealing from my wife and kids? Do you work at Skywest? As a CA here I am forced 85-90+ hours each month. I don't want to be working that much. It's not that I'm choosing work over being at home with my family.

Back to the beginning though, yes, it is wise to build your budget around 76 hours/month. Less risk of surprises.

RemoveB4Flight

Don't count per diem as compensation. It's reimbursement for travel expenses.
Just because you are able to pocket some of that doesn't mean it should be categorized as compensation. We aren't giving kitchens and grocery stores while away so comparing it to the food we make at home is not the same.
The bonuses I agree with though. That counts as compensation.