Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Friendliest aviation Ccmmunity on the web
  • Modern site for PC's, Phones, Tablets - no 3rd party apps required
  • Ask questions, help others, promote aviation
  • Share the passion for aviation
  • Invite everyone to Flightinfo.com and let's have fun

More Alaska questions

Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Modern secure site, no 3rd party apps required
  • Invite your friends
  • Share the passion of aviation
  • Friendliest aviation community on the web

Jeepman

Obssesed with JEEP's
Joined
Jul 3, 2002
Posts
306
First, For anyone who has interviewed there recently, did you go to ATC for prep and did it help?


Do the health care benefits start up after your first month or is it different now with the new TA?

What is the most junior FO base?

For the senior guys and the FO's who can do it, are you legally able to contribute the max to your 401K? The reason I ask is because at my current job alot of senior (mostly check airmen) guys got a notice from the IRS stating that they could not contribute the full amount to their 401K because (I think) the average company employee contribution was so low. I don't see how the feds can do this, but thats whats going on.

Thanks for the info.
 
For the first question, I went thru 4 years ago and did use ATC and It was worth it. They prepare you for the sim and the interview. I heard a rumor that there is no longer a sim ride on the interview, don't know for sure.
Can't remember about the insurance.
According to the latest base position list, there will be new hires going to ANC in the 200 and 400/NG, and also to LAX in the 400/NG. I guess those are the junior bases.
I am able to contribute the max to my 401(k) with no problems from the IRS. I am not an CPA but I believe the contribution restrictions that you are referring to are because these guys are probably hitting their maximum allowed contribution for the year (12,500?) sometime after 10 or 11 months. After that the IRS will not allow you to contribute any more pre-tax dollars.
 
Jeepman said:
First, For anyone who has interviewed there recently, did you go to ATC for prep and did it help?


Do the health care benefits start up after your first month or is it different now with the new TA?

What is the most junior FO base?

For the senior guys and the FO's who can do it, are you legally able to contribute the max to your 401K? The reason I ask is because at my current job alot of senior (mostly check airmen) guys got a notice from the IRS stating that they could not contribute the full amount to their 401K because (I think) the average company employee contribution was so low. I don't see how the feds can do this, but thats whats going on.

Thanks for the info.

I had a friend just recently go through and did not have a sim ride. Doesn't gurantee that the next group won't, but it sounds like they are going away from it. Sea MD base is also junior. I believe 7 new hires will get that from this latest bid.
 
Those of you guys that are junior & on reserve what is life like? I live in SEA and it sounds like I will still be commuting. Do they have long call reserve? If so how long (6 hrs 12?). Are there crashpads in ANC or LAX that are close enough not to require a car? Thanks for all the info.
 
There are two types of reserve days, R and A. R days are 4 hours and A days are 2 hours. Don't count on having many R days since screw scheduling will "upgrade" them to A days quicker than you can say motha f**ker. Since I have been here, I can count with one hand on how many R days I got to keep.

As for crash pads... I see ads for them on the in the pilot resource center all the time. I live in SoCal so I'm not in the know for crash pads. Good luck!
 
401K Limits

The IRS pre-tax limits for 401K contributions in 2005 is $14,000. I contributed 16% of my pay this year. 5 months at $120 an hour and 7 months at $86 an hour (OUCH) will get me to the $14,000 max contibution level in late November or the first pay check in December.

Next year is going to be ugly. The IRS limit goes up to $15,000. In order to hit it, I will have to put in about 19% of my pay at $87 an hour. This is based on me being able to hold a line for 6 months (85 hours) and reserve for 6 months (76 hours).

There will be zero extra dollars in my checking account in 2006, but I am not going to count on the pension being there for me, so I feel that I must put all I can into the 401K.

As to reserve in ANC. We don't get "upgraded" very often to A status. It probably happens to me 4 or 5 times a year. Our crew schedulers do it right, they only upgrade a guy if they need to - not to just give themselves the warm fuzzy feeling that SEA screw schedulers enjoy daily.

If you choose to commute to reserve, regardless of base, you will have no life. A guy can do it for a while if he has to, but this company usually only has one to two bids a year, so you could end up doing it longer than you expect. I am sure you can find a crash pad in ANC, but it would be pretty tough to do without a car. Walking to the airport for your midnight call out in February would not be considered a good time.

I may be wrong, but I think the health care starts after your first month on property. Also, again I could be all wrong, I don't think you are able to make any 401K contributions while on probation
 
Last edited:
AK737FO,

Thanks for all the info. I too am not counting on any kind of a pension. Watching it get stripped from UAL, USAir, and who knows who else was a wake up call. I'm even trying to start a Roth this year, but with two kids a mortagage, and my salary, I doubt if I will max it out. Thanks again for the info.
 
the 401k fiasco that you are talking about is the difference between higher paid folk and the lower paid folk. Basically if the company has some employees that make much more than others, they are limited in how much they (the higher paid folk) can contribute to the 401k. dont really know why or how, but those are the facts. Alaska dont have this problem because they are union and have a contract that outlines their 401k stuff. Again, dont know why, but it sounds to me like have a contract exempts the company and the employee from having to comply with the restrictions set forth by the IRS.

clear as mud?
 
Does anyone know how junior SEA is? Do you find out where your going to be based on the first day of class? Is your class seniority determined by age or seniority number?

Heard this the other day:

SOCAL: Alaska ###, traffic one o'clock is a southwest 737.

ALASKA PILOT: Eskimo has the whale in sight.
 

Latest resources

Back
Top