Pay Question

skyhigh · Post by **skyhigh** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:48 am

Airlinepilotpay.com mentions a first year wage of roughly 60k with a 25% option. Is this pretty accurate?

CCR · Post by **CCR** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:35 pm

First year = $40000 plus stock options
Second year = $50000 plus stock options

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 8:19 am

If that's the pay, why do people mention it's like $2000 take home? Is my number what guys were making before the huge pay increase?

Airbrake · Post by **Airbrake** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 8:42 am

The take home is largely dependent on what ESP % you chose. If at 40000 you choose the max of 20% then you are cutting out 8000 a year, That makes the take home a little skinny. You get the benefit of having 16000 invested at the end of the year.

Four1oh · Post by **Four1oh** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 10:12 am

because of the complexities in pay at WJ it would be simpler just to look at a pilot's T4 to get the real idea of what's going on.

Machiavelli · Post by **Machiavelli** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 12:56 am

No, it's not accurate. Buddy at pilot central forgot to include the first and second year pay.

First year pay at WestJet is this:

-$40,000 salary.
-Employee Share Purchase Plan at your discretion to a maximum of 20% of salary. You contribute what you want and the company matches dollar for dollar. First year maximum would be $8000.
-Option grant calculated using Black-Scholes, approximate value of $5000 cash after 2-4 years.
-Profit sharing. Difficult to say exactly how much. Varies with WestJet's profits which have tended to be seasonal. Paid twice per year.

Add them up for a total of $53,000, sort of.

Our months are blocked to 85 hours and you get your hourly rate beyond 80. Could be worth as much as $2500 in your first year. Train outside the block for about another $1500.

Second year is the same formula except salary is $50,000 etc etc.

I think I see how you got $60,000. Sorry, it's not that good in the first year. Second year you're looking at $65,000 ish. Third year is when you slide into that chart at airline pilot central.

And Bede, huge is relative. We got a 6% raise and that's it. Everything else was already there.

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:45 am

6% is huge by AC standards. We're used to seeing pay cuts.

Thanks for the info guys.

Red1 · Post by **Red1** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 3:49 pm

Remember though you first year pay is $40,000 period. You can't access your ESP for a year. Stock options can be accessed after two years. If you contribute %20 of your pay into the ESP your actual take home pay is quite low, but worth it in the end (remember you are now being taxed if you where making 48,000, 20% of 40,000 =8000). You can make it up though by working overtime.

thatdaveguy · Post by **thatdaveguy** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 1:34 am

What is the Westjet dispatcher salaries like?

Four1oh · Post by **Four1oh** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 8:36 am

all I know is they recently received a raise

thatdaveguy · Post by **thatdaveguy** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 12:26 am

Four1oh wrote:all I know is they recently received a raise

that's all i've heard as well. $7/hr to $8/hr still sucks though

wish someone knew more!

Machiavelli · Post by **Machiavelli** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 1:45 pm

I made a mistake in the first year pilot pay at WestJet. I miscalculated the Employee Share Purchase Plan (ESPP) compensation. You can't contribute for the first three months of employment so the maximum is $6000 and not $8000 for your first year.

Gross salary for the first year every two weeks is $1538 plus any time flown over 80 hours and plus per diems. After that, if you choose to max contribute to ESPP, that amount goes down by $307 to $1231.

Year 2 is $1923 and with ESPP maxed the decrease is $384 to $1539.

Year 3 is when there's some variation depending on your personal investment philosophy and lifestyle requirements. The gross annual compensation is the same, there's just four ways to get there. This is where airline pilot central has the right numbers.

P.S. WestJet dispatchers used to start in the neighbourhood of $40,000 for the first six months then around $45,000 for the next six then $48,000. A raise every year thereafter. That's around $19-21.50/hour, not $7-8 (WTF??) in first year. *Did some digging. These numbers are pretty much bang on for dispatchers. I can get details if required.

thatdaveguy · Post by **thatdaveguy** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 4:30 pm

i did not actually think they made $7/hr, it was just an example that a BIG raise for $7/hr would be to $12/hr...but it doesn't make the pay good!

that pay is pretty decent though. wonder how much vacation they get

phatbastard · Post by **phatbastard** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 10:06 am

How much gets taken off your cheque in deductions, not including income tax? Is the benefits plan really expensive and you have to join?