Getting my job Back Ramp Service/Backround Check Q's
- Thread starter Zebra
- Start date
elmetal
Ain't nobody got time for that
Let's be fair and compare workers of the same company
12 years as a bagger and he was at 70,000.
12 years as the most junior FO on their smallest plane (keep in mind if you're still an FO at the smallest plane after 12 years you should think about things and make some decisions): 78960 not including per diem, 401k, profit sharing or anything else. Base salary
Yeah, they sure do make more than pilots don't they
I'm all for the low wage fight, but let's keep the facts straight
Source: http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/airlines/legacy/united.html
CirrusMonkey
No Real Usefulness
Actually, I made about $48,000 a year. The rest was overtime due to under staffing.
elmetal
Ain't nobody got time for that
That's a lot of overtime!
CirrusMonkey
No Real Usefulness
Kindof. First 4 hours are time and 1/2. The last 3 hours were double-time. Base pay was around $24 an hour.
num1bearsfan
Well-Known Member
Overtime is where it's at when you're working on the ramp. I grossed 83k in 2009 with a base wage of about $26 an hour. At my company, you earn 1.5 time ($39 an hour) and then 2.0 time ($52 an hour) after 12 hours. That second shift is a big money maker. If you work 2 double shifts per week, you increase your overall earnings by about 50%. We're not held to a 110 hour maximum on the ramp 
. Some guys have been known to do double shifts nearly every day, and if you do the math our ramp guys on occasion do earn more money than FOs at our own company.
We also get paid shift differentials, pay very little for insurance, matched on our 401k dollar for dollar, and receive profit sharing contributions. Plus it's a union job with lots of work rule protections and collective bargaining.
It's a little better than McDonalds.
. Some guys have been known to do double shifts nearly every day, and if you do the math our ramp guys on occasion do earn more money than FOs at our own company.We also get paid shift differentials, pay very little for insurance, matched on our 401k dollar for dollar, and receive profit sharing contributions. Plus it's a union job with lots of work rule protections and collective bargaining.
It's a little better than McDonalds.
highspeed
Well-Known Member
Overtime is where it's at when you're working on the ramp. I grossed 83k in 2009 with a base wage of about $26 an hour. At my company, you earn 1.5 time ($39 an hour) and then 2.0 time ($52 an hour) after 12 hours. That second shift is a big money maker. If you work 2 double shifts per week, you increase your overall earnings by about 50%. We're not held to a 110 hour maximum on the ramp
We also get paid shift differentials, pay very little for insurance, matched on our 401k dollar for dollar, and receive profit sharing contributions. Plus it's a union job with lots of work rule protections and collective bargaining.
It's a little better than McDonalds.
Well now I know why they put us on salary when the company restructured. Even still, live to work or work to live? Any company take constant double shifts and --well, you get the point.
num1bearsfan
Well-Known Member
True,.. And that's why I have eased up on the overtime over the past year and a half. But it's nice to know that it's there, and in the event that I can foresee expenses in the future I can just sign my name in the book and work as much OT as needed. Fortunately I was able to bank a good amount of money during the time I was killing the overtime that I live pretty comfortably on my base pay nowadays.
Overall though I'd say my quality of life is pretty good. We receive ample vacation time and it really only seems like I work 3 weeks out of the month. I simply put my monthly freeday up against my weekend and maybe 1 or 2 DAT days on the other end (I receive 20 DATs a year). I can roll like that 10 months out of the year. Not to mention our schedule flexibility with bidding and shift trades. I've never found myself in a situation where I had to be at work on a day where I needed to be off. Some guys even get creative and "buddy bid" with another agent and set it up where they each only work 3 days a week (2 doubles and a single).
I've been working ramp since I was a kid at the regionals and I'm not ashamed to say that I've made a career of it. The knee jerk reaction from most people when I tell them that I'm a "baggage handler" is that I'm probably pretty broke and not much of a success in life. I just smile though because I know that if we ever actually compared the pros and cons of our respective jobs I would probably be in much better shape. I've been able to keep myself in really great physical shape, enjoy going to work every single day, make an above average American wage, have all the things I need and most of the things I want. I can say with all honesty that I wouldn't trade it. I'm about 15 years out from a very healthy retirement. I'd say that most of the young pilots on this forum have an uphill battle in the industry as it stands now trying to achieve the lifestyle I have achieved as a ramper.
Good luck to you all..
You're at the company though where you can still actually make a decent career out of a ramp job though. When you're at a company that tops agents out at $14 an hour and doesn't give you overtime until you break 40 hours (which to be fair, might be a state thing, but still) things aren't quite so rosy and it really does feel like a dead end job. Especially being at the mercy of mainline should they decide to cancel your station's contract.
num1bearsfan
Well-Known Member
Well my ramp "career" actually began many years ago at one of those small regional airlines. It's like anything else, you start somewhere and hopefully you can move into a better situation in the future. Sound familiar?