Airline Pilot: Schedules & Pay

Once someone decides they want to be a professional pilot, they often ask me about my schedule.  How often do I work? How long am I away from home? What is an airline pilot schedule like?

The easy answer... There is no answer!

Schedules...

The schedules at the airline not only differ from person to person, but company to company. Passenger airline pilot's often have a similar way in which their schedules work, and cargo airline pilots have another.  I do not know too much about cargo other than many of them work 14-16 days on, then 14-16 days off.  Yes, 14-16 days straight, away from home.

For passenger airline pilots (I am going to use what I know, mostly based on my company which works like most), our schedule does not work like that.  We have federal laws that require us to have so much rest in a given day, week, month, year.  These rules don't apply (mostly) to cargo operators.

Each month on the 15th, a "bid package" comes out (see picture one below).  This package has rows, called lines.  Each line is a pilot schedule.  It says how much flying on a given day, where the flying is to, what location for the overnight, what days you have off.  You spend the next few days going through each line and putting them in order of most desired to least desired.  

There are programs out there that you can add preferences to such as "most flying hours," "minimum nights away from base," "most weekends off," etc.  These programs will automatically sort through the 100+ lines to put them in the order you want. (see picture two below)

Before the 20th of the month, you go into the system and put your "bid" of which lines you want in what order.  On the 20th when the bid closes, the schedulers start with the most senior pilot at the airline (been there the longest) and give them what they wants.  They move to the next person and give them what they want, as long as it is not what the pilots in front of them already were given. The most senior pilots normally get their top few choices, whereas the most junior get what's left.

A few days later, an automated "swaps" period opens.  You have twenty-four hours to go in and trade things from your schedule with someone from theres.  Many pilots use this to get days off they to avoid using vacation time, or they pick up trips worth more money.  We have a few pilots that live internationally and come in just for work.  They will use this period to stack their schedule for the first two weeks of the month, and then go home the last few weeks of the month.

A few days after that automated period, a forty-eight hour window opens to request Open Time (OT) trips.  These are trips that are not on anyones schedule that still needs a pilot.  You submit the request and then when the period closes, schedulers go through and award OT in seniority order.  This is additional flying, which some pilots will pick up if they had to drop something off their month to get certain days off- to avoid losing any income that month.

For me, I traditionally work a five days on-three off-four on-two off-repeat.  When I get trips, they are traditionally 3-4 days long.  Our trips are no longer than four days, unless you picked up OT and combined it with flying you are already doing.

The union contract with our airline requires that we have a minimum of eleven days off.  I can go down to as low as eight (legally) by picking up OT, but the company can not take me below eleven without giving me a day off back later in the month or next month. Senior pilots can have upwards of 15-20 days off a month depending on how well they traded trips to build their schedule.

Now, something I should say is this is a regional airline.  When you get to major airlines, especially the wide-body international flying, you will only work 2-4 trips a month.  These trips have you gone 4-7 days, but you have a lot of time back at home.

Pay...

How airline pilots are paid, I like to refer to as "salary adjacent."  Each airline's pilot union negotiates the pay scales and how we get paid.  Therefore, no two airlines pay is alike.  But in general, here is how it works...

Pilots have what is called a "minimum guarantee."  For my airline, one my current schedule, this is 75 hours for the month.  If I fly more than 75 hours, pay gets added to that.  If I fly less, I get paid for 75 unless I am the reason I am getting less flying (meaning I dropped a trip off my schedule or called out sick and don't have sick time to cover).

When you pick up OT, that is paid at 150% (for my airline).  If we are in great needs of pilots to cover trips, they will declare "critical coverage" for OT, and that makes it worth 200% pay.  If we are in really, really great need, they will declare "super critical coverage," and that is paid at 300%.

So a little math time...

• Let's say starting pay is (for simple math), $50/hour.
• Base Pay or minimum guarantee (75 hours) x $50 = $3,750 gross pay.
• Lets say I actually flew 50 hours, which was 10 overnights.  Per Diem adds to the income, which for simple math, we will say is $2/hour for every hour you are away from base.  $250-ish.
• Say I picked up one OT-Critical Coverage trip, worth 12 hours of flying. 12(200%x50)= $1,200.
• So my monthly income would be: $5,200 gross pay for the month.

Pilots (and flight attendants) are paid from the time the boarding door is shut, until it is open.  On each trip, it says how much the trip is worth (hours)- also known as credit.  If you tally less than the credit on the schedule during the actual trip, you are paid for the credit on the schedule, not less.  If you tally more hours, say due to weather you had to fly around, delays on the ground, etc, you are paid for the additional time.

Schedules and pay at the airlines are some of the most confusing there is.  It is very important when trying to decide what airlines to apply to, that you do your research.  Talk to actual pilots and see what they scheduling situation is like and how they get paid.  For regionals, minimum guarantees and starting pay differ. Where Endeavor, PSA, Envoy, and Piedmont have really good starting pay (all things considered), airlines like SkyWest, AirWisc, and a few others make $500-1000 less a month starting out.

Critical Coverage & Super Critical Coverage

Majority of airlines, both regional and major, have "critical coverage."  Critical coverage is when there are not enough pilots on reserve to assign open trips to, and therefore the company needs pilots to fly on their off days.  When this is declared by scheduling, OT picked up during that time period (a message with base, aircraft type, captain/FO, and dates are sent out) is paid at 200% your hourly wage.  

Likewise, if critical coverage has not worked to fill the spots, some airlines (like Envoy) have Super Critical Coverage.  This is paid at 300% your hourly wage.

First year FO

Critical Coverage: $50/hour x 200% = $100/hour

Super Critical Coverage: $50/hour x 300% = $150/hour

Third year CA (Third year is time at company, not time as captain)

Critical Coverage: $81/hour x 200% = $162/hour

Super Critical Coverage: $81/hour x 300% = $243/hour