Don,
Your mate is imbellishing his earnings a little.
As an 11th yr -400 F/O he is on 11th or 12th yr pay.
12th yr pay is the highest pay tier under the longhaul certified agreement, so his only pay increases will be from EBA increments.
He is also a very junior -400 F/O so he is not in a position to pick the eyes out of the high overtime trips to maximise his earnings. As a rotator he would be doing his fair share of standbys and sim supports which do not attract any overtime, of course. A good friend of mine is the second most junior -400 F/O, joined in late 1996, and assures me he doesn't earn $250K per year.
As an 11th yr F/O he is a hell of a long way off a mainline command - his only choice for a command inside the next 5 or so years would be Jetstar, as 9 of his colleagues of similar seniority have just done. I vaguely recall that the last 2 767 command allocations went to guys with starting dates of around 1987.
With regards to future commands on the 737 or 767. . . . ?
The 767 is slated for replacement by 2012. A new joiner today will not get a command on the 767 because the aircraft will be gone by the time he or she is senior enough for a command. They are to be replaced by the 787.
These will not be flown at current Qantas rates. They will either be flown by Jetstar crew, or by mainline crew who agree to fly them for Jetstar rates. . . . or on AWAs.
A 737 command therefore will become even more senior than it is currently, and at 11yrs seniority he is still a long way off.
Your defined benefit superannuation payout is based on your final average salary. Unless you are being paid at command rates, it costs more to contribute 5% of net earnings then it is to invest 15.5% of company contributions (not a cent of your own money) into a retail super fund, returning around 18% historically.
As a -400 S/O you will not be earning $30-50K more than an Oz based CX F/O and getting more days off. You'll be earning the same dough for the same days off. I know, 'cos I've done both jobs! One of them is a hell of a lot better though. . . .
This is an interesting discussion, but I think you've jumped to some hasty conclusions. No guarantee you'll get a start as a -400 S/O either. A330 S/Os do much worse than -400 S/Os.
Wine glass makes some good points.
VS.