Bird in Hand vs. CoEx recall

[njcapt]

NJCapt "It's the extra years of major airline pay he'll miss out on when he's 55-60 years old. Waste a couple years and it could cost him a milion or two..."

I don't know about that statement. Maybe if you were hired in the late sixties. But these days of LCC's operating without pensions and maxing out around two hundred grand per year would definitely require more than a "couple years" to make a million or two on the backend. Unfortunately the majors have to match the sub-standard contracts at Airtran, ATA, Frontier, AWA, Jet Blue, ACA, etc. I would say a couple million is closer to your total career earnings at one of those places than the last couple years.

Weeelll, I'm basing my prediction on rates and benefits at ATA, where I work. I think our contract is commensurate with other mature bargaining units at low cost carriers. Here is how I support my financial statement.

187.24 12+ years hourly rate
x 85 realistic average monthly hours
x 12 months/year
= 190,984
x 12% company contribution to Money Purchase Plan based on gross pay
= 22,918
Total = 213,902 annual gross pay

So... It would take four years and eight months to make a million bucks. Miss the boat during one of the decade long hiring cycles and Mr. Commutair has lost more than two million bucks. OK, a real accountant would subtract his pay received from CoEx, but the loss in late career income would still be dramatic. Remember, these figures are based on today's rates of pay and accounting for inflation alone, would bump these upward at 3% or so a year over the long term.

But then again, it's only money.

 

[minrest]

I'm biased here, but I too would go back to CoEx after I could no longer defer. While CA is growing, their growth and their income is predicated on filling seats. CoEx has guarenteed revenue per seat mile through 2008. All of the expansion at CLE with CA could disappear overnight if CA stops making money. It wouldn't be the first time that CA saw a massive fulough/pilot downgrade. There are no guarentees in this industry, but I believe that right now CoEx has a better/more controllable future. With CoEx's projected growth, he would probably see the left seat in 2006.

And please stop referring the being an FO as "Slinging gear." FO's at every airline do a hell of lot more than that.

 

[lookup]

Regardless of all the opinions and advice, it looks like a December CoEx class is in his future :-(

I hope best case at CoEx happens for him and he gets the upgrade sooner than the 5-7 years I am betting will happen. He's gonna be hating life when he sees a junior CA pilot make his/her way to ATA years before him because he took the "stable" route at CoEx... Boy I hope I am wrong for his sake..

(maybe he'll save the thread to review in the years to come...)

 

[flywithastick]

I have a question about airline crew seniority/pay (specifically at CoEx). If you work 5 yrs in the right seat, does this count toward left seat seniority as far as a salary is concerned. In other words, does this previous 5 yrs as FO count toward this seniority at upgrade, or does the salary/pay rate clock start over when you change seats? Thanks for your patience.

 

[Loafman]

Yes.

 

[Typhoon1244]

On another note: congratuation, lookup, for having one of the more surreal avatars I've seen in a while!

 

[lookup]

he he... thanks.. I wish I could claim credit, but alas, I just "leveraged" it like the rest of the world does...

Still not a cool as Loafman's boob avatars...!