Allegiant Air first year pay

[AZaviator]

I was curious what one might expect to earn at Allegiant during their first year. I know what the pay scales are. However, I was more interested in knowing if people are given the opportunity for overtime or......... if the minimum pay is what one should realistically expect their first year.

Thanks in advance for any informative responses!

 

[sioux1]

I started training on Jan 3. On the line by the end of march. Current gross as of middle of July is 17,500. No soft time here at all. The overtime is good some months and others it is not existant. On the flip side upgrade just went down to 11 months.

 

[RP170]

I started training on Jan 3. On the line by the end of march. Current gross as of middle of July is 17,500. No soft time here at all. The overtime is good some months and others it is not existant. On the flip side upgrade just went down to 11 months.

I take it that means no block or better?

 

[crxpilot]

You get daily block or better, but you wont get any soft pay such as monthly transistion conflict schedule drops with pay etc.

 

[RP170]

Gotcha. Anything flown over 81 hrs is 130% of your hourly rate?

 

[saviboy]

hows the schedule like?

also is it true that there will be soon a FLL base?

 

[skid]

When you are talking about pay here it all depends on staffing. Hired in beginning of 07 and looking at being on reserve till Oct at the earliest (LAS). With all the classes coming in it is hard to say what it will be like. I for one like most in my class had hardly seen the airplane till this month. most of us have seen 20-25 hours a month on reserve as of late.

On reserve, you only get 10 off so unless you really want to there is not much extra time to pick up stuff. I am not expecting to make anything over 34K for the first year. Not much for an MD-80. I know other companies pay sux at year one but as of now there is not a big increase for year 2 here.

As for upgrade there are some upgrading at 11 months, but these are people that are upgrading now but not moving into the left seat till the newer bases open. When is that??? No one knows for sure. OCt-DEC/JAn maybe??? Like most places the time frame never holds up to the initial schedule that they planned.
A new hire can probably expect 2 -3 years. They told my class 2+ years. I would be shocked if it is less.

 

[macdu]

Good grief. I know someone always has a reason but why would you go to this place with this kind of pay when United, Delta, NWA, etc..........are hiring. I know their first year rates stink too but at least it is short lived. I think even American Eagle pays more the first year. There are so many companies hiring now, it's not like it was 4 years ago.

 

[RP170]

How many FO's are typically on reserve in LAS? How about in SFB?

 

[CaptainSpaz]

Good grief. I know someone always has a reason but why would you go to this place with this kind of pay when United, Delta, NWA, etc..........are hiring. I know their first year rates stink too but at least it is short lived. I think even American Eagle pays more the first year. There are so many companies hiring now, it's not like it was 4 years ago.

American Eagle pay? Don't compare Apples to Coconuts. Surely you jest. :smash:

 

[chperplt]

Good grief. I know someone always has a reason but why would you go to this place with this kind of pay when United, Delta, NWA, etc..........are hiring. I know their first year rates stink too but at least it is short lived. I think even American Eagle pays more the first year. There are so many companies hiring now, it's not like it was 4 years ago.

American Eagle pays more then we do 1st year??? I bet a lot of 4th and 5th or maybe even 18 year (do they have any??) Eagle FOs who would like to know that... Our first year FO pay appears to top their pay scale...

Sure, we're underpaid in a pretty serious way and I agree with what you're saying. All things being equal, if you can get on with Delta, UAL, NW, UPS, FED EX, SWA go for it!!!

 

[Reelbigfish]

I hired on last fall and am based in SFB and have over 600 hours in the MD-80 already, so I think it really depends on which base you end up at.

 

[AZaviator]

new bases

Any info on how large or small their new rumored bases might be? (PHX, FLL, Tunica) I'm guessing they will be small charter bases like Laughlin and Peoria with only a couple of crews?

I'm assuming the current line pilots will have the opportunity to transfer to one of these bases before new hires will be given the chance?

 

[Desert1]

American Eagle pays more then we do 1st year??? I bet a lot of 4th and 5th or maybe even 18 year (do they have any??) Eagle FOs who would like to know that... Our first year FO pay appears to top their pay scale...

Sure, we're underpaid in a pretty serious way and I agree with what you're saying. All things being equal, if you can get on with Delta, UAL, NW, UPS, FED EX, SWA go for it!!!

Concur absolutely, Chper. As to Eagle pay...might check your figures before posting, Macdu (try airlinepilotcentral.com). First year pay at Allegiant is $41 vs $24 at Eagle. As for the others, Allegiant first year pay significantly exceeds that of UAL, CAL, NWA and USAir.

We do have a ways to go when it comes to 2nd year (and beyond) MD-80 pay...but we're making progress.

People either really like it here or they don't so I would recommend doing a little research before applying (nothing worse than a new-hire whiner...)

As always, it boils down to what you're looking to get out of an airline job. Allegiant offers early seniority and upgrades. We are still upgrading at the 12-14 month mark and actually forecast that timeline to shrink--in the short term--with expansion. 50 new-hires by Dec 07 and 25 captain upgrades.

If living in hotels and hanging out in airport terminals is your cup of tea, don't bother applying. We do mostly out-n-backs so you're home every night. We don't spend hours on end sitting around airport terminals (45 min turns) so the 'pay efficiency' is very good. Keep in mind your hourly might be good at Brand X, but when you sit around ad-nauseum between flights and spend countless hours inefficiently waiting around hotels, curb side (crew van), eating at expensive restaurants ($$$), inefficient schedules,...it all adds up. What do you take home, what do you spend (on the road) and how much time did you spend to make that money?

Look beyond the payscales. In real terms, I don't see Allegiant as such a bad gig. When I consider the fact I've been here 3 years, make over $100K/yr, home every night, working 3-4 days per week (VERY easy schedules), I'm very happy with Allegiant. It's rare to find an airline job where you're able to be home watching your kids grow up.

Many pilots enjoy spending all the discretionary time with families, hobbies, persuing business opportunities outside aviation (wise...), etc. Time IS money.

Again, do your homework and find your niche. If AAY does't offer what you're looking for, please don't apply--go elsewhere and good luck. Like the one correct statement Macdu made, "There are so many companies hiring now, it's not like it was 4 years ago"...

D1

 

[CaptainSpaz]

Desert, I would have to agree with everythihng you said. Even though it is pretty obvious, I would mention to folks that many or most of the benefits that you mentioned are only a benefit if you live in base.

 

[Desert1]

Desert, I would have to agree with everythihng you said. Even though it is pretty obvious, I would mention to folks that many or most of the benefits that you mentioned are only a benefit if you live in base.

Good point Spaaz...and one very much worth considering if you're going to apply here. I for one, would not be working here if it weren't for the aforementioned benefits. It's probably safe to say that many of our pilots--who tend to be the 'less than happy ones'--aren't able to enjoy many of the befefits AAY has to offer because they commute.

Today's market for pilots presents many opportunities and we have pilots who are exercising their right to look elsewhere. Good for them...life's way too short to stay where you're not happy--I wish them the best of luck.

D1

 

[jacko123]

Desert1 paints a good job description for a pilot that has a fair amount of seniority. When I was hired at allegiant about 2 years ago the job was very easy even for the most Jr. pilots. We did nothing more then out and backs with the occasional overnights in Peoria. The job has progressively gotten harder and I think it will continue to do so. We have more overnights and red eye’s in our schedules these day’s. Some overnights have you spending an entire day at the outstation with no extra compensation and only $1 an hour of per diem. All of the red eyes are two legs with some starting in LAS at around 1000PM and don’t get you into SFB (Orlando area) until 1000AM. Sorry, that’s not a red eye it’s a red eye followed by a day trip. By the time you waste your day’s off recovering from that sh!t it’s time to do it all over again. RSV isn’t too bad if you live in base but it’s only an hour call out. RSV is not commutable however most lines are. That being said you gain seniority fast at Allegiant and can make your way to a great QOL in a fair amount of time.

 

[Desert1]

Desert1 paints a good job description for a pilot that has a fair amount of seniority. When I was hired at allegiant about 2 years ago the job was very easy even for the most Jr. pilots. We did nothing more then out and backs with the occasional overnights in Peoria. The job has progressively gotten harder and I think it will continue to do so. We have more overnights and red eye’s in our schedules these day’s. Some overnights have you spending an entire day at the outstation with no extra compensation and only $1 an hour of per diem. All of the red eyes are two legs with some starting in LAS at around 1000PM and don’t get you into SFB (Orlando area) until 1000AM. Sorry, that’s not a red eye it’s a red eye followed by a day trip. By the time you waste your day’s off recovering from that sh!t it’s time to do it all over again. RSV isn’t too bad if you live in base but it’s only an hour call out. RSV is not commutable however most lines are. That being said you gain seniority fast at Allegiant and can make your way to a great QOL in a fair amount of time.

You're right Jacko, we do have some overnights, but we always have. Although we now have a couple more, BLI (slated to go away) and ABE, MG has stated he wants to do away with those as they're expensive.

When I hired on I had to do Peoria long overnights (Sat/Tue sit) and my fair share of SFB long overnights. It wasn't long at all however until I could hold a great line.

The crappy stuff at the bottom happens wherever you go, the only difference, as you said, is that here it gets better very quickly. The bulk of the lines here are still day out and backs.

As to the rest, the commuters tend to like the overnights and bid accordingly. Red-eyes tend to be very popular among a select group due to the relatively high number of days off.

D1

 

[anewunion]

Go...Have fun....Learn from some cool people...get drunk in LAS....Build some great time....Get the type....Make a decision.

 

[mbw]

Do you get to choose ur base as new hire or get tossed in where they need you? and if so...how long before u can bid a new base? upgrade 1yr or 2yr

thnks