Ah the old Wizz Air management smoke and mirrors and misdirection cost of living comparison. If you are a Western European citizen, unless you are planning on retirement in Eastern Europe (which lets face it nobody is), then it is completely irrelevant what the cost of living in Eastern Europe is because you have to fund a life in your home country. The facts are that even if you are saving money because of the cost of living, it is going to be nowhere near enough in the long run for life in Western Europe.

Glad to be of service to you, altough the joke is on you since you were the first to say that what someone else was saying was not even coming close to your personal figures. Not only this post, but some of your previous posts as well... so to be honest I had quite a laugh when I read your post.;) And give the guy above atleast some credit for putting his payslip on here. Atleast he showed what he is getting, how he sorts out the rest is his worry, not yours.

And god, you must have really hated your time there though, reading through some of your previous posts, alot of the time you are bashing about the company. If you hated/disliked it so much, why the hell did you join in the first place?!

Regarding the taxation, personally I am on a local contract, which means I pay social taxes in the country I am based. The income tax depends entirely around the tax treaty between your home country, Switzerland, base country etc. etc. Maybe in your case you we're double taxed, maybe other people weren't, just depends what country you are from and how they have set it up. You paid your social security taxes for your pension, sick leave etc. since you were on a local contract apparently, well so do I.

I have seen the figures on a local contract and a Confair one, you get MORE paid for a sector on a local one, and you get per diems, those are facts. Maybe when you joined it was different.

Regarding cost of living, how does anyone know what my personal situation is and what I have to fund in my home country? Off course, if you own a house, got a wife and kids back home it's not gonna be anywhere near enough to pay all this. But I don't have any of these. My living costs are never going to be as high as some other people here. And considering my age, with a bit of luck and hard work I will hopefully get plenty of oppertunities.
For me its no smoke and mirrors or making misdirected comments. But if I'd be starting somewhere at a legacy airline like BA or KLM to name a crazy example, I would off course expect to be paid much more than a salary like this. But up until a certain point, getting more money doesn't make me anymore happier than I already am. If I can keep a conservative living, do some fun stuff every once in a while, fly, meet new people etc. I am already more than happy. This is me personally, others might see the dollar signs in their eyes and can't wait to go somewhere else and make the big cash.

And retirement, whats up about this? I might like it there, I might not, why would one just assume nobody would want to retire in Eastern-Europe? I have spoken to other people from the Western EU and they really like the time flying for Wizz there. Some of them even got a wife, kids etc. and settled down in CEE. Am I going to retire there and settle down? I don't know, let me first see how it goes the coming years.

On a sidenote, before I started making replies in this topic, I noticed that it has almost always been the same people bashing around, telling other people wrong and they are right. Or people thinking all sorts off stuff behind a maybe wronly placed emoji to name another example. (of which my and the other comment thankfully got deleted) Jeez people, what is going on, this a place to get advice and to help each other out. Instead, it becomes a yes and no game about who is right. Even with my reply here it happened again. There is some serious negativity in this topic and in quite a few others as well (which I also participated in). Why is it constantly that these discussions are being made? Before I started replying more actively here I have seen a lot of discussions getting out of hand. I can imagine people don't want to voice their opinions, information or experiences here, and frankly, I got this feeling too. And it's not just about some of the above comments, it is the whole trend throughout this thread and quite a few others too. Hopefully some will know what I mean, and others, well....

You see, that's where you are wrong.

I loved every second in Wizzair. I loved the base, I loved many things. I seriously did. And I am grateful for what they did to me.
But from there to talking about acceptable salaries for western european standards it's a LOOOONG way. It is a company for locals, that's pretty much it.

It's Luton, not Stansted. And to answer your question, it depends on your definition of decent living.
If you are looking to live in a nice place in Harpenden forget about it.
If you don't mind to share a two bedroom in the outskirts of Luton, with the occasional shooting here and there, yes, doable.

Thanks for answer. So we must accept that those new companies which offering 35% less money is now the standard... sad

What is in the picture is a Confair contract. You can see there is no taxation e no social security. If you pay taxes and social (somewhere you have to) the salary will drop of course. What you see is a gross salary, not a net one.
Dirk85 knows what is talking about. And me too.

From the rumours, so nowhere 100% sure about this, you get a higher base salary and way more sector pay when you are based in Luton on a local contract. From whats going around its more around 5-5.5K a month before tax for FO. But do not pin me down on this. If this is enough to live from in the UK around the London area, no clue, but I guess it will be much more difficult than somewhere in Eastern Europe.

In London the money is in the same range where other LCC's wages.
No info about Vienna but I expect the same will apply there as well.

I said between 3500€ and 4000€. I didn't claim 4000€ as an average monthly salary.

Swiss taxation for married FO with 2 kids (which is my case) is 0.
So I do confirm that this salary is net.

What about the social security insurence (big issue for the FR contactors right now) and healthcare?

Indeed you have to care by yourself about social insurance.

So let me get this right. Social Security is someone else's responsibility ?

When you are on the Confair contract, it's your own resposibility, but you can opt to pay it in your own country. When on local it's the airlines resposibility, and you will pay social security in the country you are based.

Generally, you can choose which type of contract you want. Some go Confair, some local.

So Lexis, you do not have to pay income tax anywhere ? Lucky you.
Not everybody is in your situation. So your salary is gross. If you do not pay any taxe or social can be your choice, but still your salary is gross.
So specify your nationality and the country you are living in, maybe not the same, and where your family is living in. All thing that may affect your taxation. Because in your situation I would have to pay taxes here and there. Either under confair or local contract.

Sounds like the FR contractor model (without an Irish Ltd.), which is under investigation in certain countries.

how does it work in Ukraine?

Simples! They had to take an aoc there becouse it's a special country with special rules.. After that they closed donetsk base becouse of the political issue and relocated everyone and now they operate only form kiev. You need an ucrainian licence to fly and onestly if you come from western eu, never visited the place and don't have a clue what your getting yourself in, I suggest you stay away before you turn your life upsidedown..

I don't know the inner workings of the RYR contractor model, it's everyone's own choice in the end...

I suppose working for an agency shouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if the conditions offered are good or the same as when you are directly employed and it's clear where you pay taxes etc. Aviation is not the only industry where contractors or agencies are used. I have seen it being used alot in the hospitality and logistical industry. But then the conditions are the same as for direct employees in that case.

@Lexis: this is not everyone's own choice in the end... this is simply and clearly illegal according to the EU law... :ugh:

OK, I guess I have to spell it out: you cannot be self-employed if you are flying for one airline, obey their rosters, wear uniform and fly scheduled flights. This is called tax-evasion.