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CAL Training and First Year Pay Issues

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LivinDaDream

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 16, 2003
Posts
77
What is CAL pay and perdiem during training??

During the first year, the contract says that you receive a $750 advance on the 1st. What's a normal 16th check and does this one include per diem?

Are there any opportunities to make anything over guarantee during year 1?

Thanks in Advance.
 
per diem is 44 dollars a day and pay is 29.97/hr for 76 hours while you are in training. As for making over guarantee I don't know yet.
 
LivinDaDream said:
What is CAL pay and perdiem during training??

During the first year, the contract says that you receive a $750 advance on the 1st. What's a normal 16th check and does this one include per diem?

Are there any opportunities to make anything over guarantee during year 1?

Thanks in Advance.


The 16th check would be your previous months (paid on the 16th for the previous months pay) total pay less advance on the first, taxes, other deductions insurance, 401K, union dues (don't pay year 1) uniform etc.

You can make more once training is complete. On reserve would have to fly over 76 hours (or 72 as an "A" reserve). If you a line holder (3 to 4 months presently on the b737 in EWR) guarantee is 72 hours get paid for whatever you fly or pay protected for above 72. Many pilots are getting paid 85 plus a month.

Continental's average line pilot has gotten 1150 pay hours per year for quite some time now. That is why CAL pilots had higher W2's than several airlines that used to pay higher hourly rates. We did work harder but had the ability to make the same or more than the previous good contracts at UAL, DAL, NWA, AA and Usairways. However since new hires don't get the five weeks of vacation that you get after 11 years (most of our pilot group has over 12 years longevity) a new hire or low longevity pilot could get 1050 to 1100 pay hours if he/she was motivated to do so.
 
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When PBS comes it will all depend on how many trips are in open time. Right now as a lineholder you can easily pick up as much as you can handle physically and legally. 95hrs plus is no problem. If you are in training now you'd probably be done or almost done with your first year by the time PBS is online.
 
To give you an example. This year (first year I have done so since before 9/11 I never picked up open time or flew extra with our guys on furlough) I flew 970 hard hours (or projected to with this months flying) and will be paid 1170 hours. I've worked harder than I ever have (made up my pay cut but at what price) in 18 1/2 years. I'm bidding at 60% as an EWR B737CA but at the beginning of the year was a very junior line holder. I made considerably more than I would as a reserve B756 CA. I averaged 15 days off per month some months 17. However this also holds true for the five months I had one week of vacation still only had about 17 days off in those months. You can make extra money at CAL but you have to work for it.
 
kaisersose said:
When PBS comes it will all depend on how many trips are in open time. Right now as a lineholder you can easily pick up as much as you can handle physically and legally. 95hrs plus is no problem. If you are in training now you'd probably be done or almost done with your first year by the time PBS is online.

Trust me on this. CAL management will always (since Lorenzo days) make sure there is plenty of open time. More open time = less pilots. Now the quality of open time under PBS that's another story.
 
From today's CAL ALPA MEC UPDATE:


Item 5: 1,000 Hour Adjustments
Pilots whose schedules are forecast to exceed the FAR limitation of 1,000 hours in a rolling 12 calendar month period (in the current or subsequent bid period) will be subject to adjustment. The adjustment will generally consist of removing a trip(s) from the pilot’s line and replacing it with RA days. The pilot will have input as to which trip(s) is removed from his line via a phone call from Scheduling. Provided the pilot has not restricted Crew Scheduling’s ability to adjust via the adjustment request screen, his pay will be protected to no less than 2:30 of his awarded line value. Be advised that the aforementioned adjustment could take place in a bid period in which the pilot is not actually forecast to exceed the 1,000 hour limit, if the pilot’s projected flight time at the end of the current bid period will leave him not legal for a reasonable amount of flight time in the subsequent bid period. Pilots who are subject to this 1,000 hour adjustment will not be allowed to increase their adjusted line value more than 2 hours during the bid period. Please consult Section 25 Part 6 of the CBA for further guidance


We have many pilots who will fly around 1000 hard hours and the way our pay system works most will be paid well in excess of 1100 hours.
 
CAL EWR B737 said:
Trust me on this. CAL management will always (since Lorenzo days) make sure there is plenty of open time. More open time = less pilots. Now the quality of open time under PBS that's another story.

Good point. I wasn't here for Frank but there sure hasn't been a shortage of time. I was on R during much of the furloughs and we got hammered. Not too many were picking up trips then. Probably saved my job. Thanks to all.
 
kaisersose said:
When PBS comes it will all depend on how many trips are in open time. Right now as a lineholder you can easily pick up as much as you can handle physically and legally. 95hrs plus is no problem. If you are in training now you'd probably be done or almost done with your first year by the time PBS is online.

and when PBS comes online, forget about there being any open time. PBS will maximize EVERYONES scedule to the fullest extent. The open time window will be thing of the past. Full companywide PBS implementation is slated for SEP-OCT 2006 time frame.
 
Now it depends on what PBS software they use, at TWA the PBS we use was really good. I think it was Ad Opt, and we always had open time and we could easily manipulate our schedule. I don't know what CAL is planning on using but I hope the union is doing its research.
 
It's my understanding that at CAL, the language negotiated allows for a certain percentage of flying to fall out as open time. Somewhere in the 3-5% range. The reason for this is if really crappy trips are left uncovered after the software has built schedules, they get pushed back up the seniority list until they find a place to fit. The end result is that these bad trips usually end up in a fairly senior pilots line (only place they fit). By allowing this time to fall out, it can be assigned to managers and/or instructors or left for trades and pick up. Either way, it is much less open time than is currently available.
 

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