Yes $720k ain’t bad, however I’ll take my $250k live in a good country not be worried about being shot at whilst getting a coffee or sending my kids to school and wonder if I’ll be able to pick them up. America a crazy ass land to which there is not enough money in the world to get me there to even visit.

720k. I’ll take my chances at being shot.

Don’t believe everything you see on the movies mate.

Realise that sort of money in the USA has much more purchasing power than earning it in Australia. Your kids could go to private schools and you could live in a expensive area where you aren’t going to get trouble. If you sell an Australian property you will buy a very nice house in most places in the USA even with the exchange rate. Tax is different but you’re not going to be losing half of your income. Your lifestyle will be incredible compared to anything you will do here as pilot.

I don't know why peeps here are arguing about the opportunity to get a $720k AUD job, which would be a senior Captain after many years of service at a US Major airline. The Majors aren't taking E3's, will probably never take E3's and from some reports on the other thread some of the US regionals are now starting to limit E3 hiring. Maybe make some money with Atlas but rosters will be brutal.

The big money overseas that Australians with jet experience would be eligible for in future years are more communing style contracts to Asia or permanent positions in the M/E. You would be earning more but not $720k AUD equivalent, and you'd be working hard and spending a lot of time away from home.

So best to try and improve T&C's and career paths in this country.

Yet, comparing a Top Tier QF A380 Captain to a Top Tier AA B777/B787 Captain (AA do not operate A380's), then the QF Captain is 107% behind...:sad:

I recall someone telling me once that Qantas pilots are the best paid pilots in the world. That couldn't be further from the truth now.

FROM TODAYS AUSTRALIANQantas pilots who spent weeks in isolation after operating repatriation and freight flights during the Covid pandemic are fuming after many were excluded from a special dinner to thank them for their efforts.

It's understood Qantas staged the "special recognition" dinner at the airline's Mascot headquarters on February 15 with CEO Alan Joyce and his leadership team.

Pilots, engineers, airport staff and cabin crew plus their partners were among the 300 guests, who were chosen based on the number of flights they had undertaken, and the length of time they had spent in isolation.

Another 1400 people were given a certificate of appreciation, a pin and a $500 staff travel credit in recognition of the sacrifices they made during the pandemic.

"As one of our team who stepped up in this time of need, you displayed exceptional professionalism, teamwork and went above and beyond to provide a critical service to the Australian community," said the certificate, signed by Mr Joyce and Qantas chairman Richard Goyder.

"Your efforts were inspiring and demonstrated how to take the Spirit of Australia further. On behalf of the Oantas board and executive team we thank you."

The sentiments did not go down terribly well with pilots who were left off the dinner list, with some questioning what was the "cut off"

"Some did upwards of 200 to 300-days in home isolation or hotel quarantine. Some did months at Howard Springs at a stretch and all they got was a piece of photocopy paper from the CEO and chairman and staff travel credit" one pilot told The Australian.

"The chief pilot couldn't even call to see how were travelling at the height of it all. It was a real insult.

"Covid during the pandemic, said some of his colleagues had suffered marriage breakdowns as a result of the extraordinary conditions.

"There were others who did 150-days straight, and one did 200-days straight. That's just mind blowing," he said.

Although the staff credit was nice to have, the pilot said it wasn't always easy to use given how full flights were currently.

"I don't want to seem ungrateful but it only works if you can actually get on an aeroplane which for the last 12 months no-one could."

The offer of $500 in staff travel credit was extended is a distant memory but the after taste is still very bitter."

"I don't want to seem ungrateful but it only works if you can actually get on an aeroplane which for the last 12 months no-one could."

The offer of $500 in staff travel credit was extended to all non-executive employees after the Oantas half-year results, which saw the airline post a record $1.43bn profit for the six months to December 2022.

You sound very bitter. Either you bombed out on your interview OR you’re 1 of those who decided the grass was greener overseas and now regret that.

Regardless, for someone who doesn’t appreciate the lifestyle that Qantas offers - Why do you care about their recruitment process.

An example of 2022 allowances (787)
*Purely allowances, no overtime.

Total Allowance $25k
Total Spent $15k

I’d say this is above average (Spending) and can easily be less if you decide not to socialise.

Aussieflyboy: Have a read up on the homicide rate with guns around the world. USA isn't actually too bad. Sth American countries, on the other hand.

Yeah it’s not too bad, until, it’s your doughters or sons school that get shot up or your wife at a supermarket and a crazed gunman goes on a rampage. The pay in OZ works for me.

Wife telling me she won’t take kids to states , safer in the Philippines she says . I’d have more chance of getting her to live in Mexico City . I got to cancel CNN channel.

The $720k Aud is an interesting argument for a number of reasons. Firstly when have you ever heard of a 737 pilot earning $720k Aud? You can even compare apples with apples, a senior Virgin 737 Captain does the exact same job but earns a fraction of a delta/American pilot salary. The gap has never been this wide so it is very much worth the discussion.
As for foreign pilots flying in the US, I personally know a dozen Aussie pilots who have left Alliance, Cobham, Ek recently to take up the new lucrative jobs in USA.
Also, the captain wages are worth discussing because time to command is so low. With unfilled command vacancies recently in the US, you only need to serve the 18 month probation period before a command is a very real possibility.
As for needing our conditions in Australia to improve, well that will only be helped by default as supply for Aussie jobs dry up due to pilots heading to the US, so I’m all discussing and highlighting these new huge wages in the US. It really is unprecedented and worth the discussion, I’d be nervous if I were a stingy CEO of an australian airline.

2017 there were some news articles with claims of Asian contracts offering about $750k. Of course these would involve working long hours, and probably no commuting. Some other were offering something like $300,000 USD salary but no tax and living expenses paid for, which would be a hefty income in your pocket at the end of the day.

An Australian carrier will only increase it’s salary as needed on an Australian supply and demand basis, they aren’t going to up their pay because some overseas carrier is paying more. The reason why US airline pilots have those high salaries is strong unions (and this is a bit of an outlier in the US as worker’s conditions are generally less than other countries). Unfortunately years of Australian governments dominated by anti union politicians have ensured we’ll never have legislation as strong.

Not saying it hasn’t happened, but I believe unless you have US permanent residency you aren’t going to be working for a major. According to the US thread apparently Mesa, Breeze and now even Atlas have halted E3 hiring.

Again, unless you have residency then that’s only an option at the regionals, and some of them are now shying away from hiring E3s.

Most, if not all Aus domestic pilots are working big hours (FRMS being the target) and spending large chunks of the roster on multi day trips. So what’s your point? Comparing roster apples with roster apples, we are still being paid crappy salaries compared to the rest of the world.

A$720k is at the end of the proposed 40% pay rise over 4yrs.
This means that Senior narrow body Captain is currently earning circa A$500k today!
This is the relevant figure to compare todays Aus salaries with, and sadly they are still only around half as much. Cost of living (ex housing) is comparable in USA.
Same job same pay one day…tell him he’s dreamin!

Atlas just have a training back log. Give them a few months. Their VP of flight ops Jeff Carlson said they’re expecting many more carriers in USA to begin offering E3s soon.

Time will tell. Let’s hope they do and QLink loses even more pilots who are sick of being ok with living in Maddington or similar.

All of my mates that work in QF (particularly those in short haul) have had enough. Sounds toxic.

They say the airline has been run into the ground from the top down. Crap management, penny-wise pound-foolish accountants running the place on bonuses and KPI. Cancelled orders for 65 Dreamliners that left them stuffed when COVID ended. Tired, ****ty fleet with inefficient A380 dinosaurs being refurbed from the desert when other airlines are all running around in B787s and A350s. Mascot land sold off to boost share price. Terrible industrial practices like the ground handling fiasco. Aircraft running around with 40+ open defects and significant engineering failures at a rate never seen before. Prang after prang by Swissport.

Domestic 737 operation does the lion’s share of the profit, and they’re complaining that they’re banging around in 20 year old jets. Meanwhile, contractors getting the shiny new tin in announcements with flowers and rainbows and love hearts from head office.

Make no mistake about it, every decision being made atm is a short term money grab to bolster the share price and get KPIs. At the end of this year, they’ll walk out with their own pockets full and the incumbent and the idiotic board will suddenly realise all that’s left is the skeleton of a once great airline. No assets, everything contracted out, tired/broken down jets - and staff that have been beaten down so many times, they just don’t care any more. And a safety record that has been flogged to death and relied on for so long, but which is closer than ever to being lost. Every piece of cheese (experienced staff, new equipment, safety first) has been stripped out.

Many of my mates are happy to stake their careers on the upcoming negotiation and are not afraid. One of them is itching for him to try and shut down the airline again as an industrial tactic.

It’s going to be a bloodbath.

When people don’t care any more, they don’t have anything to lose.

Well, other than a steady job paying $250,000 plus.