PreFlight

Welcome to the Rotate Newsletter. This newsletter is meant to provide insight to the aspiring aviator who wishes to join the commercial airline industry. This newsletter will provide the reader with the advantages and disadvantages of each airline and help determine the best airline suited to the needs of you and your family. Today, Rotate will cover Part 2 of United Airlines, Soft Pay.

Most airlines pay plus or minus 1% of each other, as mentioned in previous issues. Soft pay is the extra pay each company utilizes to incentivize the pilot to accept flights that the company is struggling to fill. As mentioned in the Delta issue, this form of pay is great and can add up quickly. However, it may cost the pilot time at home and his or her quality of life.

Premium Pay

The first type of Soft pay that comes to mind is Premium pay. As mentioned before, this is named something different at each company. At Delta, it is called Greenslips; at United, it is just called Premium Pay.  At United, Premium pay sits in open time (starting at the day prior to the trip). It is a first come first serve opportunity. It does move through the reserves silos. When it is finally offered at Premium pay it starts at 50 or 75% above the trip pay. It no one accepts the trip at that pay value it goes up to 100%. In the future, the company will have the option to offer the trip at 125% above the trip pay. One major difference at United from Delta, United only allows line holders the opportunity to accept premium trips. Like mention above, the trip is offered to everyone at 50 or 75%, so there is a big conversation as to whether pilots should accept the premium at 50%, 75%, or 100%.

United modeled a lot of their Soft pay after Delta’s contract. While the terms are different, the pay is the same. For all unaugmented Duty Periods (Narrow Body) in excess of ten hours, the pilots will Add pay at a rate of 1:1. For every minute over ten hours, the pilot receives one minute of pay. For every two minutes of scheduled sit time between flights on a rotation, the pilot will receive one minute of pay. This Add pay starts once the sit time has exceeded two hours on the ground. The first two hours are not paid. Holiday pay is pay that a pilot receives for working over a holiday. This is an additional 5:15 of pay on top of the trip’s value. Another great Add pay is deadhead pay. At United, if you are in a seat that is in the middle of a row, you receive a 50% Add pay for the scheduled flight time of the deadhead leg.

Reserve Pay

While reserves do not receive Premium pay, they do receive all the Add pay above. In addition, if a reserve is assigned Field Standby (four hours of standby at the airport), the pilot receives three hours. This pay is granted regardless of whether a trip is assigned or not. The company can offer two hours of Add pay for a reserve who aggressively picks up a Short Call period. The company also offers reserves extra pay for Voluntary Short Call and Voluntary Early Check. This allows reserves to check in early and receive pay that add to the minimum pay guarantee(MPG). This raises the MPG to 78:40 and 85:15 respectively.

Brake Set

Hopefully, this gives you an insight into the pay that can add to the quality of life for a pilot at United Airlines. This does not encompass all the pay that reside within the contract and is a basic overview. United has some of the best premium and additional pays in the airline industry. Next issue, Rotate will explore commuting at United Airlines.

1  John Collins has over 16 years of professional aviation experience. He currently serves as a Captain for a major airline. Previously, he served in the United States Marine Corps, flying AV-8B Harriers. John holds a Masters in Aeronautics.