SWA "trips" pay?

[Captain X]

For my own edumacation, can one of you LUV folks e'splain the trip pay system (or your understanding of it -- only said b/c some pretty senior guys I've talked to over there say they don't understand it really all the time).

More specifically, lets say one flew the FAA limits of 30 hours in 7 calendar days, 100 hours in a month, and 1000 hours in a year -- how many "trips" would that be equal to?

30/7 = __ trips.

100/month = ___ trips.

1000/year = ____ trips.

And the pay is per "trip" vs. per block hour correct?

 

[fugghedabowdit]

Multiply hours by about 1.15 and that should give you a rough idea.

Yes, pay is based on trips, and there is a correction factor if you go over block.

 

[canyonblue]

The only thing done "trip" wise is pay. Hourly is still used for 30/7, etc. To convert our Trip pay to hourly, the contractual conversion is x 1.1393. We are basically being paid one trip for flying @ :53. There are other rules involved contractually, that are probably too cumbersome to elaborate on here (Things like distance being part of the equation). My line for May actually has a higher TFP of 1.17. This is due to my line having more long hauls, which ups the average TFP. So I could say that my "hourly" pay for may will be $125.41, based on my TFP being $107.19. My May line is worth 104 TFP so I will get at least $11,147.76 + per diem for the month based on our system. Hope this answers the question.

 

[FR8dognit]

TFP=243 miles flown + .1 TFP for every 40 miles per leg. Days and legs are rigged so you may end up with more TFP than the actual miles flown (complicated.....most don't understand it....including me) & overfly for a leg is payed. Anything that lands 3+ hours past sheduled arrival time pays JA pay....1.5 TFP.

A lot of our pilots try to give away or trade their trips for others with less block and more pay. There are some trips that block a lot lower than actual pay. EG--I have a 4 day next month that blocks 22 hours and pays 29 TFP. Thats because the days are rigged and there are dead heads in the trip.

I have heard of some having over 200 tfp in one month...very rare but not unheard of. No life and available any time/anywhere. They had trip pulls for training and lots of VJA pay (Voluntary Junior Available...Junior manned as some call it....we can sign up for that and we will be the first to be called...pays 1.5 regular pay).

Most fly their line (~95-100 TFP total)and pick up a day or two extra (105-115 TFP total). Some pick up a lot....120-130 TFP in a month is about all I can muster.

Hope this helps.
FR8

 

[JohnQ]

Anything that lands 3+ hours past sheduled arrival time pays JA pay....1.5 TFP.

Does that refer to that specific leg, that day, or the entire trip?

 

[jetdawg]

just wondering why does SWA have such a complicated (at least for me) pay system? why not just pay per hour?

 

[puddlejumper101]

best way to understand it simply...we get paid per job not per hour.

 

[FR8dognit]

Does that refer to that specific leg, that day, or the entire trip?

Any leg that lands past the three hour mark is the way I understand it.

 

[FR8dognit]

just wondering why does SWA have such a complicated (at least for me) pay system? why not just pay per hour?

Ever wonder why the "other guys" taxi so slow?

 

[Dude]

ssssshhhhhh! DO NOT BRING UP THE HOURLY THING.

Our pay was set up this way as a result of our simple beginnings flying around Texas; DAL-SAT, DAL-HOU, SAT-HOU, etc..... They figured a rate for those legs or "trips" and there you have it. Here are some examples:

DAL-SAT blocks at 55 min and pays 1 trip.
DAL-AUS blocks at 50 min and pays 1 trip.
DAL-STL blocks at 1:35 and pays 1.8 trips.
PVD-PHX blocks at 5:50 and pays 6.9 trips.
LAS-SAT blocks at 2:30 and pays 3.1 trips.

Trips for pay, as we call it, works to serve us better than hourly. Most want to keep it this way.

 

[FDXer]

best way to understand it simply...we get paid per job not per hour.

Just like a hooker....

 

[Aubie]

It all sounds a lot more complicated than it really is.

The basic premise is that we get paid by the DISTANCE instead of the TIME. This was done to encourage on time or ealry arrivals a long time ago. (No matter how fast you get there Dallas isn't going to get less than 243 miles from Houston). That, BTW, is why 1 trip= 243mi. First flt was DAL-HOU and it became the standard unit of measure.

The cool thing is you can find trips that pay more relative to the block to make more $$$, either by being longhauls or having deadheads. More $$$ is cool.....

All these formulas (like 1.15 trip = 1 hour) are simply AVERAGES across all the lines. The game is to try and find a line that pays better relative to its block time.

 

[SWA GUY]

My April schedule:

124 trips for pay
79.08 hours

The 1.15 calculation is dependent upon how ambitious/creative the pilot is.

My conversion is more like 1.56:1, most of the time better than that.

 

[Captain X]

Excellent info (and trivia about the 243 NM thing) guys. Thanks!

Now on to the next question? What is the current pay rate per trip for say a:

1 year FO?

5 year FO?

6 year CA?

12 year CA?

 

[chris69]

Years in Service Captain Longevity Pay Rate FO Longevity Pay Rate
1 $153.02 $45.90
2 $154.88 $77.45
3 $156.77 $86.22
4 $158.63 $95.18
5 $160.39 $104.26
6 $162.39 $107.19
7 $164.26 $108.41
8 $166.13 $109.64
9 $168.01 $110.89
10 $169.87 $112.12
11 $171.76 $113.37
12 $173.63 $114.59

SWAPA rag had avg. hourly coversion around 1.17-1.19 on the score card page, so multiply the above by that for the hourly.

 

[Captain X]

Years in Service Captain Longevity Pay Rate FO Longevity Pay Rate
1 $153.02 $45.90
2 $154.88 $77.45
3 $156.77 $86.22
4 $158.63 $95.18
5 $160.39 $104.26
6 $162.39 $107.19
7 $164.26 $108.41
8 $166.13 $109.64
9 $168.01 $110.89
10 $169.87 $112.12
11 $171.76 $113.37
12 $173.63 $114.59

SWAPA rag had avg. hourly coversion around 1.17-1.19 on the score card page, so multiply the above by that for the hourly.

That's straight from your contract and no the "rates" from airlinepilotcontracts or whatever that website is correct?

 

[RedDogC130]

Those on airline pilot or corrected to an hourly rate...theX1.393...... that equals what is on that site. I would assume if you took TFP for a month and the correcte hourly, you should get pretty close to the same amount or within a car payment or good night on the town.

 

[Benhuntn]

I will add a couple of things about our pay. First yr FO's get paid 2nd yr pay if they pick up from the company. After that pilots pickup VJA and JA at a premium of trips x 1.5. So the 1000 hrs per yr = x is close unless you go out and hustle and then you can greatly boost your earnings.

 

[Alcatraz]

...and deadheads are paid at 100%, not 50% like some other places I've worked. Of course, deadheading does not count as block time... so deadheading is a GOOD thing, and you can maximize pay per block hour by having more deadheads.

And yeah, the rates at www.airlinepilotcentral.com are corrected to approximate an hourly rate, making an apples-to-apples comparison between companies much easier.

 

[328dude]

6 trips for pay each reserve day as well.