Virgin Atlantic?

Literally should be :
Name of Airline
Aircraft Type
Position
Salary
Days Off
Trips per month
Anything else interesting

KLM,
777/787
relief fo
750h
75.000gross +42%pension ectra
14days off average
3,5 trip
LOL is really good

-hotels could be better

Southwest
B-737 Captain
490 hours block
98 days worked plus 4 paid recurrent training days
$235,000 plus $35,000 to pension fund
Expect an additional 10-12% ($23,000-$27000) profit sharing added to pension fund

Note: I gave away trips. Base pay for a Captain is higher than my earnings.

German LCC RHS A320
first year FO
56000 before tax and roughly +6000 flight pay/away from base pay. No overtime, 400hrs on a fulltime contract

my net will be around $217k on $335k gross. I live in California. The state of California got about 30% of those taxes paid and the federal government got the other 70%. California is a high-tax state. The tax numbers are just an estimate at this point (will file my tax return in the spring), but should be pretty close.

The federal government provides health care for cheap after you turn 65. Somehow this doesn’t get everybody mad about “socialized medicine,” which is a good thing I guess.

It will vary quite a bit from person to person. As you make more, the percentage increases. If you’re single, most narrowbody FO’s will be in the ~25% tax bracket. You pay less if you’re married, and even less if you have children.

Some (not all) states impose a state tax as well. Likewise, some cities like NYC will also tax its residents.

Other things you do (or don’t do) will change your tax liability.

What is the pension like and how does it work?

US airlines used to have “defined benefit” pension plans where the company promised to put money away for you and you’d get a certain amount of money each month until both you and your spouse died. That was taken away in bankruptcy court after 9/11.

Currently the major airlines are putting 15-16 cents for every dollar you make into a retirement fund that is owned by you. There are rules that apply to how you can use that money, but essentially you can’t touch it until age 65 unless you want to take a big penalty and pay a bunch of taxes on the disbursement.

So if my gross pay for a month is $10,000, the company deposits another $1,000 in my retirement fund (created by section 401(k) of the tax code, so commonly called a 401(k) account).

The deposits are pre-tax, the money is managed by either you or a professional investment company, and the money is taxed as you withdraw it in retirement.

Thanks. Some quick calculations show that the amount in a uk pilot pension isn’t that different to you guys (assuming major uk and major us). But your salaries are frustratingly, significantly higher and I always wonder how that became the case. And how your companies still make big profits with such pay for the workforce.

Good questions. I suppose it comes down to supply and demand, but it sure seemed like there were enough applicants for the majors before the current big union contracts.

The real pressure was at the lower rungs of the industry where people just weren’t willing to work for the peanuts that were being offered. Around 2013 retirements kicked back in after the 5-year lull due to the mandatory retirement age going from 60-65, and at the same time the 1500 hour rule also kicked in (even first officers need to now have at least 1500 hours). The regionals had to increase pay to attract and keep pilots. I guess those increasing wages pushed wages up further up the career ladder.

This is pretty accurate, except after earning $10,000, the company would put $1,500 into the retirement fund. The only airlines I’m aware of that still have a pension plan are Fedex and UPS. They’re at the top of our compensation ladder.

It does make you stop and think when you hear a manager say “you guys are our largest expense”, doesn’t it?

Oops! Right.