1st and 2nd year pay
#31
Not really a valid question for someone on reserve. Yes, you can break guarantee by aggressively picking up trips. It seems in my base and seat that very few reserves break guarantee most months. I am 1 year in the left seat and most months on reserve. I live in base and never pick anything up. Ever. I’m home a lot.
Once you are a lineholder you can pick up extra work. Most pilots don’t do it unless it’s a premium pay trip.
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#32
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2007
Posts: 459
1st and 2nd year pay
I always love when people post crap like “you can make this if you bust your butt” instead of more realistic numbers. Sure there are folks who can credit 150 hours during summer months but these are most definitely the outliers, not the mainstream, the folks who work the system hard. During my 20+ years in aviation I find the vast majority of people want to do their job, fly their line and go home. The other joke is when folks throw in the DC as income when you will not see that money for possibly decades! Of course it’s a benefit, but it doesn’t affect my day to day, just my piece of mind and planning for the future because most if not all folks are still going to max out their 401k.
Bottom line, for example, for a 3-4 year NB FO to make say $225k straight pay, not counting DC, per diem, etc, just flight credit pay, implies about 1,400 hours of credit pay per year. Is that impossible, of course not. Is that the norm or even close to the average? Of course not.
Bottom line, for example, for a 3-4 year NB FO to make say $225k straight pay, not counting DC, per diem, etc, just flight credit pay, implies about 1,400 hours of credit pay per year. Is that impossible, of course not. Is that the norm or even close to the average? Of course not.
I’m not a 3-4 year guy but when I was 75% (line holder) in the 777FO base I essentially worked an entire year at time and a half when you looked at my block for the year vs my credit hours for the year.
#34
Line Holder
Joined APC: May 2016
Position: MV-22
Posts: 34
Not really a valid question for someone on reserve. Yes, you can break guarantee by aggressively picking up trips. It seems in my base and seat that very few reserves break guarantee most months. I am 1 year in the left seat and most months on reserve. I live in base and never pick anything up. Ever. I’m home a lot.
Once you are a lineholder you can pick up extra work. Most pilots don’t do it unless it’s a premium pay trip.
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Once you are a lineholder you can pick up extra work. Most pilots don’t do it unless it’s a premium pay trip.
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#35
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2019
Position: 757/767
Posts: 185
There’s a system. If you take the time to figure it out, you can, w/in the boundaries our contract, make tons of cash while working very little, even near the bottom of the seniority list. But it takes effort. Or, you can sit back, work your schedule, and still make a very good living.
#36
#37
1st and 2nd year pay
Yes, you can pick up trips for straight pay on days off....within FAR 117 and some company imposed scheduling limitations. This would be added to your line value so MPG doesn’t really matter (70 hrs MPG for a lineholder). That said, there are multiple situations where picking up trips would result in working for free...low credit vacation months and line values below MPG. Guys like me who sit reserve from home and don’t pick anything up love people who pick up trips for straight pay.
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#38
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2018
Posts: 162
That’s not entirely accurate. If you are on days off as a rsv guy, you can put in for a voluntary day off (VDO) assignment. If one comes up and you get it, you get the trip at 50% premium as long as you don’t go below min number of days off. While I was on 1st year pay, I VDO’d just about every day in Nov and got called just about every day. I had to have my days off restored and ended up getting Thanksgiving off with all the days they had to restore. Even if you don’t break min guarantee for the month, you will have the 50% add pay in addition to your 74 hours of rsv min plus any unused SC and FSB. Our system takes some learning if you want to break mins, and I’m hoping we make some serious changes to our rsv rules but it can be done. Btw I did that not living in domicile. Every domicile, seat and fleet is different so ymmv. I said it earlier and I say it again look on the end of year salary thread and get a feel for what guys are realistically making. Good luck
#39
Depends on the base. IAH 737 FO straight pay pick ups routinely go to pilots 2700-5500 on the seniority list. So let's be clear here unless you were hired prior to 2003 (ISH) good luck in IAH. On the flip side RSV in IAH 737 you simply do not fly. To make over $200K as a NB FO years 3-7 you have to hump. IE out of base pick up's or go to the 320 SFO/EWR who seem to have a lot of PP flying. The max being down has not helped.
Yes, you can pick up trips for straight pay on days off....within FAR 117 and some company imposed scheduling limitations. This would be added to your line value so MPG doesn’t really matter (70 hrs MPG for a lineholder). That said, there are multiple situations where picking up trips would result in working for free...low credit vacation months and line values below MPG. Guys like me who sit reserve from home and don’t pick anything up love people who pick up trips for straight pay.
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#40
Line Holder
Joined APC: Apr 2018
Posts: 28
Guppy: Lots of open time (so far).
75x: Less so (apparently, truth in advertising, I’m a SFO Guppy guy).
First month of reserve I watched the aggressive pickup board closely and jumped on any trip that looked like it would work out; tons of open time that month so I logged about 83 hours. Could have done more but my socks were getting gross and I like going home early on my last day.
None of it was premium but as a commuter a trip gives you: Per Diem, a hotel vs the top bunk in a crash pad, and if you wangle it right, some control on your schedule the last day. So if you are commuting to reserve, there are some tangible benefits to aggressive pickup even if you are looking at a guarantee month.
As always YMMV
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