Question about overtime at a regional

bc2209

Well-Known Member
I was pondering about what it will be like the first year or two at a regional. I have heard that it is possible to pickup overtime but that's about the extent to what I know.

So the questions is:

Once you are holding a line as a new FO how difficult is it to get overtime? Also is it a matter of living in base and being ready for that overtime flight and hoping on the flight with a few hours notice? Or is it something that you can bid and plan into your schedule, say if you were commuting.

Thanks all
 
Where I've worked you can pick up extra work weeks in advance if A) its available and B) you are legal to do the work.
 
Where I've worked you can pick up extra work weeks in advance if A) its available and B) you are legal to do the work.

This is pretty much the deal.

Allow me to add that when I was commuting, I never picked up trips. Now? I'll pick up at least once a month, but I live 20 minutes from the airport, and picking up an extra turn at 150% on a day off, that will pay at least 4:45 makes it worth it.
 
Take the hourly rate and multiply it by 1000.

That is what I've always been told is a realistic amount. Regional/LCC/Legacy. Yes, there is the possibility to make more, but I've heard of very very few that do. YMMV
 
I averaged 1300 credit a year and around 740 flight hours at my commuter over the course of many years. It was pretty consistent.

I would never pick up at first year pay, just never seemed worth it.
 
Everything at an airline is based upon:
1. FAR 117
2. Contract
3. Seniority
4. Crew scheduling
What I will write applies to my airline but probably applies to most.
1. As a reserve pilot (what you will be as a new hire), you can't bid on open time. You can put yourself in the "fly" list meaning you want to fly. Some good trips go to reserve, but many are crappy- DH (dead head),to KCHA, spend 24 hours on the ground, 1 hour trip home. I really had one of those as a junior FO.
2. Once you hold a line there are a few types of trips you can pick up. "Open time" which are trips the company does not have covered. Sometimes the company will have an added incentive for picking up the trip if they do not have reserve coverage- otherwise they might have to draft someone.
Crew posted trips. These may be trips other crew members want to swap or drop. They may want to drop all or part of a trip. I post all of my trips in open time each month then fly what the vultures leave. About 9-12 days a month.
If a trip fits those things I numbered above you may pick it up or swap it for a trip on your schedule.
3. You are payed a "guarantee" each month, usually about 75 hours of credit at most airlines give or take. Note I wrote credit, not hours. They are different. You can have 75 hours of credit with 70 hours of flying.
Take the pay rate, multiply by the guarantee and that is what you are paid each month unless your credits go over guarantee. You are also paid per diem which is based upon your TAFB (time away from base) verses flight time, and is normally about $1.50-$2.00/hour. This can add up over the span of a month as is tax free if the trip is an overnight trip.
So say as a junior FO you are awarded a month with 60 hours of credits- you are paid for 75 hours. Say you pick up a trip worth 12 hours of credit. 60+12=72. That is still less than 75 hours so even though you worked more you are still paid only for 75 hours (though you will earn more with per diem).
If you go over your guarantee you now earn more.
How much if any you want to pick up is a personal question based upon finances and life. My wife is a surgeon and this is my daughter's senior year. It needs to be a pretty sweet trip for me to pick it up even at my 700/900 captain rate. First year FO commuting- maybe not worth it. But your call.
 
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If you live in base open time can be a hell of a deal. If you don't live in base, like myself, it's just not worth it. If you have a large stretch of days off, like 4 or 5, you might be able to find a trip you could pick up to pick that off time to work...but for me, my home time is more important that making a few hundred more dollars.
 
+1 for picking up never being worth it if A. you are commuting, or B. you're on first year pay.
 
So say as a junior FO you are awarded a month with 60 hours of credits- you are paid for 75 hours. Say you pick up a trip worth 12 hours of credit. 60+12=72. That is still less than 75 hours so even though you worked more you are still paid only for 75 hours (though you will earn more with per diem).

I don't think this is correct for the vast majority of commuters.

Generally, the 12 hours would go on top of your guarantee. So your pay for that month would be 87 hours.

You can really make some good money at commuters depending on the contract. At my place we had a clause that said any scheduled flying past midnight gives you min day pay. So I happened to live in a domicile that had the last flight arrive at 12:14 am.

I would pick up trips out of another domicile, with the stipulation that scheduling DH me to and from domicile. The round trip was roughly 3 hours of pay, plus the day trip value (around 6-7 hours) and then min day for the next day even though I got in at 12:14 am. So the day trips were worth, with premium pay, 18-19 hours. At CA pay, it adds up pretty quickly (roughly $1,500). Plus it goes on top of guarantee. Doing these on reserve netted me tons of time at home plus quite a bit of credit a month.

You can see why this doesn't make any sense while on first year pay. I made almost the exact same amount in a day trip as a junior CA than I made an entire month at first year F/O pay three years prior...
 
Note that, at least, here, as a junior lineholder, you are EXCEPTIONALLY unlikely to be awarded or reserve-adjusted to anything less than minimum monthly guarantee anyway.
 
I don't think this is correct for the vast majority of commuters.

Generally, the 12 hours would go on top of your guarantee. So your pay for that month would be 87 hours.

You can really make some good money at commuters depending on the contract. At my place we had a clause that said any scheduled flying past midnight gives you min day pay. So I happened to live in a domicile that had the last flight arrive at 12:14 am.

I would pick up trips out of another domicile, with the stipulation that scheduling DH me to and from domicile. The round trip was roughly 3 hours of pay, plus the day trip value (around 6-7 hours) and then min day for the next day even though I got in at 12:14 am. So the day trips were worth, with premium pay, 18-19 hours. At CA pay, it adds up pretty quickly (roughly $1,500). Plus it goes on top of guarantee. Doing these on reserve netted me tons of time at home plus quite a bit of credit a month.

You can see why this doesn't make any sense while on first year pay. I made almost the exact same amount in a day trip as a junior CA than I made an entire month at first year F/O pay three years prior...

I would have to check my current contract- I don't pick up trips so I would not know- but I doubt this is the case with most PBS. Think about it. I bid minimum monthly credit. I get awarded, based upon this, 60 hours of credit but still get paid my guarantee. Then pick up a trip that still does not put me over guarantee but get paid over guarantee anyway? Maybe some are written this way, but I don't think most.
 
I would have to check my current contract- I don't pick up trips so I would not know- but I doubt this is the case with most PBS. Think about it. I bid minimum monthly credit. I get awarded, based upon this, 60 hours of credit but still get paid my guarantee. Then pick up a trip that still does not put me over guarantee but get paid over guarantee anyway? Maybe some are written this way, but I don't think most.
Yes almost all have that in them. If not you are getting screwed. Where do you work?
 
Yes almost all have that in them. If not you are getting screwed. Where do you work?
I'm not sure what our contract reads, but your statement is pretty stupid.
"Getting screwed" on a contract based upon something like this fails to take into consideration the entirety of a contract- pay rates, duty rigs, vacation, health benefits, retirement, scheduling, commute policy. The list is endless.
 
I can go online and look at all the trips in open time and select one as long as I am legal. Depending on the trip it can be really worth it. For example I could pick up a McGrath trip which is blocked at an hour each way. Usually ends up being less than that. That is two hours of block, but our minimum daily guarantee is four hours. Then on top of that you get an extra hour and a half of pay for working on your day off, plus the twelve minutes of taxi pay to take the plane from the hangar to the gate. So for a two hour flight you get 5:42 of pay. Not too bad.
 
I'm not sure what our contract reads, but your statement is pretty stupid.
"Getting screwed" on a contract based upon something like this fails to take into consideration the entirety of a contract- pay rates, duty rigs, vacation, health benefits, retirement, scheduling, commute policy. The list is endless.

Well sure, but as far as the point of this thread (picking up open time) you are getting screwed. I know of 2 contracts where open time doesn't pay on top of guarantee. All the other properties out there enjoy that benefit. And if you are at one of those two properties, you are in fact getting screwed, as far as over guarantee open time pick up goes.
 
I'm not sure what our contract reads, but your statement is pretty stupid.
"Getting screwed" on a contract based upon something like this fails to take into consideration the entirety of a contract- pay rates, duty rigs, vacation, health benefits, retirement, scheduling, commute policy. The list is endless.
I guess you don't want to say where you work. I worked at AWAC and we had it. I thought pay over guarantee for OT was a basic tenant of any contract, I guess not, I'm surprised you don't have it, wherever you work. Although since you aren't sure what your contract says, this discussion is kinda meaningless.
 
Take the hourly rate and multiply it by 1000.

That is what I've always been told is a realistic amount. Regional/LCC/Legacy. Yes, there is the possibility to make more, but I've heard of very very few that do. YMMV

So does that assume that pilots are flying 1000 hours a year? Or is there different pay rates and differential percentages that come into account?

Example: $50/hr
Are you being paid $50,000 because of flight time? Or is it 800 hours of flight time at $50/hr, plus, 250 hours of (something else) at $40/hr to get to the $50,000?

I don't know why I'm interested since I'm not a commercial pilot, but whatever.
 
So does that assume that pilots are flying 1000 hours a year? Or is there different pay rates and differential percentages that come into account?

Example: $50/hr
Are you being paid $50,000 because of flight time? Or is it 800 hours of flight time at $50/hr, plus, 250 hours of (something else) at $40/hr to get to the $50,000?

I don't know why I'm interested since I'm not a commercial pilot, but whatever.
Credit hours, not block hours.

We're not necessarily paid JUST on the block hour. Depending on the various parts of your working agreement, you will likely be paid more than you fly.
 
So does that assume that pilots are flying 1000 hours a year? Or is there different pay rates and differential percentages that come into account?

Example: $50/hr
Are you being paid $50,000 because of flight time? Or is it 800 hours of flight time at $50/hr, plus, 250 hours of (something else) at $40/hr to get to the $50,000?

I don't know why I'm interested since I'm not a commercial pilot, but whatever.
Not many people are flying 1000/yr. But they might get close the crediting that after soft time and such. Possibly they are including per diem.
 
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