Ramping for an airline during college

Cessnaflyer said:
I made more money as a ramper than I do now sitting right seat.
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I've said it before, I'll say it again. You can make significantly more than a pilot sitting right seat and even left seat if you put your time in with the right company. I had a Colgan pilot nearly have a heart attack when he found out I made more in my first year then he did in his for his first 3 years.
 
When I ramped at US Airways in PHX for almost 5 years a lot of my friends were ASU / Maricopa CC students. People would buddy bid and since we were a hub, had plenty of peeps looking to pick up time so you could just drop shifts if needed. I worked part time the last 3 years with a full time IT job...It was great as far as flexibility and travel benefits. When I left I was making almost 15 bucks an hour with 3 weeks of vacation and more travel then I could have eve imagined.

You turned down WN? Call. Them. Back.
 
Cessnaflyer said:
I made more money as a ramper than I do now sitting right seat.
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Working for what company? Where I'm at, starting pay will net you $1300 a month before taxes at 40 hours a week. Maybe better than Great Lakes but that's not saying much.
 
ozziecat35 said:
When I ramped at US Airways in PHX for almost 5 years a lot of my friends were ASU / Maricopa CC students. People would buddy bid and since we were a hub, had plenty of peeps looking to pick up time so you could just drop shifts if needed. I worked part time the last 3 years with a full time IT job...It was great as far as flexibility and travel benefits. When I left I was making almost 15 bucks an hour with 3 weeks of vacation and more travel then I could have eve imagined.

You turned down WN? Call. Them. Back.
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This! I'm not one to continuously drink the kool-aid, but honestly, WN has made a HUGE change in my life and only for the positive. I've got great benefits -- and I'm talking about outside of my flying benefits. Awesome medical coverage, great vacation time, great time off, great 401k contribution, and ample sick time if I ever needed it. What other company can start you off at 2 weeks vacation, 12 free days (1 free day a month to use for whatever), a little over 2 weeks of sick time your first year, all for having a high school diploma? Someone in my position and in my longetivity should have no problem making 30k their first year.

Not to mention, I'm moving 3,000 miles across country (from MA to CA) and I transfered my position. Yes, 3k miles away and I still have my exact job. All it took? A paper big requesting my move. Feels good knowing I'm going home to a solid job in a time of some still harsh economic times.
 
I'll second what Bigey said about WN. It probably was the best thing to happen to me. The benefits alone are worth working here. It's nice knowing I have health/dental care for almost nothing. Plus there are a ton of opportunities to move to different jobs within this company once you are on board.

As for pay, the past 3 years(been here 7) I have grossed over 50k for the year. I worked a fair amount of OT, but it was never excessive.
 
Avoid ramping, it can really wear you out physically and any injury will set your career back years. Better is to get an internship with a major in their flight operations department. That can get you a pilot slot much faster than any other job.
 
Bigey said:
Not to mention, I'm moving 3,000 miles across country (from MA to CA) and I transfered my position. Yes, 3k miles away and I still have my exact job. All it took? A paper big requesting my move. Feels good knowing I'm going home to a solid job in a time of some still harsh economic times.
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Where in Socal?
 
SlantG said:
Avoid ramping, it can really wear you out physically and any injury will set your career back years. Better is to get an internship with a major in their flight operations department. That can get you a pilot slot much faster than any other job.
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Take care of yourself and be careful and it won't be that big of an issue as long as you're not doing it too long. honestly it would do a lot of airline pilots good to work on the ramp for a little bit so they're not so quick to jump on the rampers for "being idiots" when everything isn't going great. It's hard work, but when it comes down to it you could slip in the shower or trip at the top of the stairs and end your career that way too.
 
SlantG said:
Avoid ramping, it can really wear you out physically and any injury will set your career back years. Better is to get an internship with a major in their flight operations department. That can get you a pilot slot much faster than any other job.
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Aspiring pilots shouldn't play sports for that matter, why risk playing football or basketball in high school and take on the very slight risk of an injury that will cause complications with the FAA down the road? Just stick to flying, don't broaden your horizons, keep tunnel vision and aspire to stack paperwork for a chief pilot so you can get the same internal mins as a ramper, except you may get there a little faster because you won't have all the fun to distract you. Just sayin'.

inigo88 said:
Probably have some good fb pics to show for it though. :D
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Hah, its the pics that aren't on fb my friend. I didn't say it wasn't fun blowing all that money, I just said I'm an idiot. Which I am.
 
SlantG said:
Avoid ramping, it can really wear you out physically and any injury will set your career back years. Better is to get an internship with a major in their flight operations department. That can get you a pilot slot much faster than any other job.
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I got hurt a lot more just doing stupid stuff having fun.
 
JordanD said:
Working for what company? Where I'm at, starting pay will net you $1300 a month before taxes at 40 hours a week. Maybe better than Great Lakes but that's not saying much.
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Lakes is $1,200/mo....
 
DPApilot said:
Lakes is $1,200/mo....
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So you can become a pilot, spend roughly ~$50,000 in training costs to meet the mins to apply to a company like Great Lakes (or around three or FOUR times as much if you decide to be an Aviation major in some out-of-state college)... or you can show up to an interview with no aviation background or experience and get a job throwing bags for more money?

And they wonder why there's a pilot shortage???
 
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