Pilot salaries

On demand 135 is thankless and the schedule is usually pretty lame (ie. "What schedule?"), and the pay is ehhh, but you get to fly to challenging and interesting places and sometimes get paid to sit on the beach in Puerto Vallarta for a few days on the customer's dime.

I'd continue to do 135 if needs be, but you can't beat the pay and QOL at a 121. Or so I'm told by people who have done both.

Fix
 
^exactamont. And with the money you make you can still buy a Baron or decathlon and do all the flying-for-fun you want!
 
Jimmy_Norton said:
I don't want to go to 121 for the work, I want to go to 121 for the time off from work. MMMTO, right?
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Fixtur said:
^exactamont. And with the money you make you can still buy a Baron or decathlon and do all the flying-for-fun you want!
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It really all depends on the gig. I am off and home a lot with my current job. It's the easiest job that I've had so far in my career.
 
pwttogfk said:
I had an airline guy tell me he couldn’t ever go corporate because he worked 15 days a month and needed the time for his side hustle.
Since I got my first corporate job I’ve yet to work 15 days in a month.
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Being home on call, or having a moments notice of having to leave, isn’t being off.

If you get your schedule a month in advance and you can plan your life because days don’t get added, or moved, then you have a rainbow unicorn corporate job.
 
The biggest deal about 121 is the distance you can put between you and the street.

I saw a lot of 30 year 91 guys have life changing WTF moments in 2008-9 when the CEOs bent to a flash in the pan public opinion. The fact that you’re one CFO/CEO change of opinion while on the pooper one morning away from the street sucks.

Sure, happens 121, too, but it’s a long straightaway stretch of track, and you can see the train coming for a long time.
 
It makes me so happy to use this GIF…but seriously, yes we are scheduled that far out, have an ops manual with minimum callout times that company ownership has approved, and generally don’t hate our jobs. I chuckle how much of this site is 121 pilots complaining about their jobs until it’s pointed out there are some good non-121 jobs out there. Then 121’s the only good flying job. When COVID hit we had…0 layoffs or furloughs and I determined I don’t have the maturity for retirement yet. Nothing against airlines, but I prefer enjoying work while I’m doing it.
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I was talking to a neighbor the other day about schedules and pay and that sort of thing. I was informed he makes 50% more than I do, works 7am-around 2pm everyday, gets every holiday off that your kids do from school, he gets paid double time if he goes in on a weekend and on-call is voluntary. He works on school buses, but they don't get the summer off. I asked him how to apply.
 
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Richman said:
The biggest deal about 121 is the distance you can put between you and the street.

I saw a lot of 30 year 91 guys have life changing WTF moments in 2008-9 when the CEOs bent to a flash in the pan public opinion. The fact that you’re one CFO/CEO change of opinion while on the pooper one morning away from the street sucks.

Sure, happens 121, too, but it’s a long straightaway stretch of track, and you can see the train coming for a long time.
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10 to 20 year Expressjet pilots Oct 1 2020:

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Richman said:
The biggest deal about 121 is the distance you can put between you and the street.

I saw a lot of 30 year 91 guys have life changing WTF moments in 2008-9 when the CEOs bent to a flash in the pan public opinion. The fact that you’re one CFO/CEO change of opinion while on the pooper one morning away from the street sucks.

Sure, happens 121, too, but it’s a long straightaway stretch of track, and you can see the train coming for a long time.
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This was one of the biggest of many reasons I left corporate. We hired a guy from AIG who's flight department survived even though their company almost destroyed the economy in 2008 but didn't survive an activist investor named Carl Icahn seven years later. They were all called in to a department wide meeting and told the details of their severance and that was it.

I pictured myself in my late 50s with kids going to college and figured that these days at an airline I will at least see it coming, especially with that much seniority by the time I get to that age. With the accounting rules now increasing the transparency of a companies financial health the chances of another Braniff catching that many people off guard should be hopefully slim.

Expressjet's paint job didn't match the paycheck, caveat emptor.

I tell guys at work now that my 91 job was the most fun I've had but my 121 job is a much better career.
 
pwttogfk said:
It makes me so happy to use this GIF…but seriously, yes we are scheduled that far out, have an ops manual with minimum callout times that company ownership has approved, and generally don’t hate our jobs. I chuckle how much of this site is 121 pilots complaining about their jobs until it’s pointed out there are some good non-121 jobs out there. Then 121’s the only good flying job. When COVID hit we had…0 layoffs or furloughs and I determined I don’t have the maturity for retirement yet. Nothing against airlines, but I prefer enjoying work while I’m doing it.View attachment 61859
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Yeah. I definitely don't wait by the phone waiting on the bosses to call. All 91 gigs aren't the same. I've been off for a week and next scheduled flight isn't until mid 3rd week of December.
 
Sure. But if the Boss called you right now, with clear lines already established that he isn't supposed to, would you pick up? If you didn't, would you sleep like a baby? Go about your daily business with a song on your lips and peace in your heart until you felt like calling back?
 
Boris Badenov said:
Sure. But if the Boss called you right now, with clear lines already established that he isn't supposed to, would you pick up? If you didn't, would you sleep like a baby? Go about your daily business with a song on your lips and peace in your heart until you felt like calling back?
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I wouldn't answer because it's bedtime...and they know that. If they texted me late, I'd hit them back in the morning. One of my bosses is typically up at 7am. The other not until 10. It's happened before. They also know that I occasionally hit happy hour after 5pm. I've yet to have a pop up trip.

And if I wanted time off, I'd let them know that I was taking PTO and expect to use contractors if they were looking to fly those days.

I have to admit that they are pretty respectful folks.
 
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