Dave Benjamin said:
Don't most regionals have a duty rig and minimum pay guarantee?
We get for 1:2, 3.75 min daily pay even if we only work 2 hours, and straight time for any duty in excess of 12 hours as long as it was originaly scheduled to exceed 12 hours. I know other carriers have even better rules.
Perhaps it's been a while since Jim flew for a regional or am I missing somethign?
The only other airline I have flown for is Hawaiian. I flew for a fractional and some corporate/contract which are not comparable because they were salary or daily rates. At HAL, pilots are paid "the greater of"...
For instance, for international flying at HAL we got the greater of:
1. Flight: actual or block (whichever greater)
2. Trip Rig: 1 hour for each 4 schedule away from domicile
3. Duty Rig:60% of all time on duty
4. Minimum Daily Guarantee (4.17 hours)
For any trip, you pay was calculated all 4 ways and you were paid the highest amount. There was also a "delay in return to domicle" pay you received in addition to the above if delayed over a certain amount of time.
Some pilots I know at the better regionals say they have schemes similiar to HAL's. At Scenic its more of a time clock system. You clock in and clock out. All flight time is paid at the full amount and ground time at 1/2. For example, If I clock in at 6am and out at 6pm with 8 hours flying I get 10 hours of pay. (12 hours on the clock, 8 hours at full pay and 4 at 1/2 pay) Further, if you go over 12 hours of duty, you get an hour of ground at full pay for each hour you go over. So if I had a 14 duty day with 8 hours of flying, I would get paid for 12 hours (8 hours flight at full pay and 6 hour ground with 2 at full pay and 4 at 1/2 pay). I believe this is much more liberal than most regionals when it comes to being paid for the time you spend on the ground. I could be wrong, but I talk to former Scenic guys at various regionals that say Scenic is better in this regard.
Also, who are the 19 seat operators I am comparing Scenic's pay too? They are Mesa, Skyways, Bigsky, Gulfstream, etc. Not your most pilot friendly airlines. But they are the airlines that fly comparable aircraft. (19 seat turboprops).
I could be wrong in my perceptions of regional pay schemes but I think I have a fairly accurate view.