Traditionally a pilot at a regional airline might start out earning less than $50,000 per year, but get hired on by a major airline and that goes up quickly into the six figures, and well over $300,000 for senior captains flying widebody aircraft overseas. Some earn over $400,000.
Yet we’ve heard a lot of complaining by pilots recently. Contracts are open for negotiation at American Airlines, Southwest, and United. In fact,
- United Airlines pilots have turned their back on CEO Scott Kirby who went to meet them personally while they were out protesting.
- Southwest Airlines pilots have made a show of walking out on their CEO more than once.
- American Airlines pilots call themselves exploited and even went on TV warning passengers to stay away from the airline.
Here are Southwest Airlines pilots complaining they’re underpaid (earning up to $270,000) because their airline flies only smaller 737s and doesn’t fly to far-flung destinations.
It’s hard to recruit the best pilots when @SouthwestAir's pay and benefits lag significantly behind the competition at other carriers… pic.twitter.com/il9Rz9nw3d
— Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (@swapapilots) February 23, 2023
To be sure, pilots ‘deserve’ the money they make in the sense that a private company offered them money and their representatives agreed they’d take it – and they show up to work in exchange for that check.
They make more than they otherwise would if they’d been less successful lobbying the government to limit the number of pilots by making it (1) harder to become a pilot than anywhere else in the world, including Europe and (2) requiring early retirement (age 65). Combined with the number of early retirements airlines paid for (with taxpayer funds meant to ensure employees stayed employed by their airline ironically) we have a pilot shortage and that gives pilots leverage.
Even in normal times pilots can easily throw a monkey wrench in an airline, by expressing concern about minor issues with an aircraft which don’t affect its airworthiness. A bit of that in coordinated fashion and the carrier can’t operate reliably.
As a result airlines work harder to keep pilots happy than they do other work groups. They often get more or better food during trips, nicer hotels, and other amenities not available for instance to cabin crew – who are far more easily and quickly replaceable.
However there’s a lot of jealousy between pilots and other work groups. One crewmember writes on social media,
“You guys are way overpaid just because you are a work group made up of almost exclusively white males. And you’re taking money from the rest of us. Who are struggling to survive.”
In response a Southwest Airlines pilot writes an open letter laying out how rough they have it.
- You have to pay for flight school and build up the necessary flight hours (which their own unions lobbied for!) to become a pilot. Some even join the military to get the flying in, and that’s risky!
- They have to pass tests, and continue to do that each year. And go through medical evaluations.
- Your schedules are based on seniority (again, thanks to their unions) and when you start you “will work weekends and holidays… [y]ou will get off-peak vacation weeks for a long time.
Privately many pilots realize that being entrusted with $100 million machines and flying them around for a living is a pretty great gig. It’s what kids dream of as their jobs growing up. Many also build side businesses in their time off (insurance is a common one).
There are absolutely legitimate beefs about the pilot lifestyle. If you have a family you spend a lot of time apart from them. If your airline is operationally unsound you wind up in cities you never expected to be flying to. And you may not even get your hotel scheduled properly (take matters into your own hands, book the room yourself, and fight for reimbursement which might take months).
Under no circumstances, though, are commercial airline pilots candidates for a sequel to Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath nor to claim the mantle of Cesar Chavez. They aren’t the exploited worker class, flying up to 80 hours per month.
Being a pilot, which is fun, and making six figures for 80 hours in the air isn’t “easy.” But it’s something people go into eyes open.
$1 million. That’s what I’d like the pilots to be paid when I’m onboard.
Some of your comments are profoundly prejudiced AND erroneous! I’m infuriated that ANYONE in their right mind would believe that Caucasian pilots have a scholastic aptitude advantage just as I am baffled that MANY citizens of the U,S. are selectively unaware of who invited blood plasma centrifuge extraction, THE internet as we know it, cell phone technology, home security alarm technology, the blue baby syndrome open and heart surgery technique, NASA mathematical calculations that John Glenn and Alan Shepard INSISTED on for their orbital journeys, and so much more that if you (the poster of that stupid racist comment) would be open to learning, you might be humbled. Signed, the Black female TOP student in my Naval Aviator class…aka “the girl with the velvet landings”. Please hush if you’re going to spew absurdities. It seems that you have been led astray in knowledge-based information arena.
Compare their relative contribution to society and scope of responsibility to overly compensated professional athletes.
Listen, I’m a pilot and a mechanic and an inspector. You discount pilots because familiarity breeds contempt. Yet your life is held in the hands of behind the scenes people for far longer than that of a surgeon. Get it together and realize that the pilot risks more than you even know. The pathogens and dangers passengers bring in that plane mixed against weather and mechanical issues means a pilot risks their life far more often and far longer than any of the people that get paid far higher for less risk. You better make sure merit and skill is what you pay for when your very life and that of every passenger is at stake. Even and up unto a child that would one day cure cancer. So 300k is not far fetched. They deserve more.
Foremost expert? Please. The next time you are flying, please think about what YOUR last advocate is worth.
I retired in 2020 after 35 years with a legacy carrier. I didn’t get paid enough!
GPG,
sounds like you were caught writing BS and so engage in incessant insults.
Nobody is arguing whether UAL has a larger international fleet. They do.
But they have contracted so much of their domestic network to regional airlines that any advantage in total salary benefits for UAL pilots is MORE THAN ERASED. That is a fact.
And UAL’s massive fleet spending is to replace its regional jets and its widebody fleet which is the oldest in the US carrier fleet.
And UAL is NOT growing faster than DAL internationally. You might want to check both carriers’ annual reports – which were just released.
Delta is putting more than a dozen international widebody aircraft into service this year (including the ex-Latam aircraft) and even more next year.
According to UAL’s own annual report, it has just TEN widebody aircraft being delivered over the next 2 years – 1/3 of what Delta will put into service.
and it is widely expected that Delta will place an order for new large twin aircraft. while the 787-10 is in the running, it is very likely going to be several dozen new A350-1000s which are far more capable.
The notion that UAL has a corner on growth in the US airline industry is simply a delusion of its fan club.
@ Tim Dunn. UAL has a fan club?
It looks to me that Gary. Did do enough research for this article. Private pilot license average 60 hrs $15K -20K. Instrument endorsement minimum 20 hrs flight instruction$10K-15K. Commercial license minimum hrs required 250 flight hrs anywhere $22K-30K. If you have been adding the flight time, we are at 250 hrs. We need 1250 hrs to get to ATP minimums.. Gary be you should have done your homework for this article… My time invested in this career. Shouldn’t I deserve a descent pay? Work holidays at regular pay, 80 hrs of flying a month requires me to be away from my family 4-5 days a week.
PS. I do read your articles most of them are descent but this one is just horse poop.
You chose the career. Everything takes time to get to the top. You do not become the VP of marketing over night just like you do jot become a captain of the B787 over night. Unfortunately if you do not like the pay and the job find another job that you like.
I am a union worker and I understand you want to get the most out of your paycheck as possible but sometimes the stability of the job knowing that the paycheck will be there every week always wins over when budgeting you family
I love how people compare a pilot to a physician as putting lives of others in their hands.
Are train operators paid 300-400k? Bus drivers? What about ride operators?
Do they deserve what they make? Sure because the market allows it. But I don’t rationalize it with such drivel. It is what it is. As someone else asked, Gary do you deserve what you make?
No comparison between pilots and physicians. Physicians are not part of a union, hence are exploited. The education required just to get into Medical school is way above pilots. Bottoming, pilots get what they earn because they can! They are union members.
@ Mr. Dunn & Mr. Guy. Yikes! I have to ask are either of you employed as a airline pilot? If you are then you know that pilots are worth exactly what the union (ALPA/APA/SWAPA) negotiates, not more not less. All the small airline’s pilots at the bargaining table often get the crumbs. Additionally, having been “junior” in both seats several times, I can tell you that spending Christmas Eve in a Detroit or BFE motel, away from my family, should have paid much, much more. When I asked my son if he wanted to take flying lessons and become an airline pilot, he said, “No Dad, you were gone to much.” Try that one on and think about it.
One Trippe,
I’m not sure what you are reading that I wrote that is contradictory to anything you wrote.
I specifically noted that US airline pilots get paid what they do because someone is willing to pay their salary. US airline pilots are not self-employed. There is a willing buyer to the services they are selling.
I specifically noted that the new Delta pilot contract significantly upped the salaries of Delta pilots and, according to American’s CEO, significantly impacts the labor economics of the US airline industry because pilot salaries are related to, even if higher than other airline labor groups.
As the first of the big 4 to settle a post-covid pilot contract, Delta’s labor moves are clearly being done from a basis of financial and strategic strength that does put pressure on other airlines. It is noteworthy than many of the low cost and regional airlines settled pilot contracts before Delta, a recognition that they cannot allow their salaries relative to the big 4 to fall. It is now up to AAL LUV and UAL to settle w/ their pilot groups – and then their other remaining labor groups.
1. It’s called capitalism. Employees are paid based on the revenue and profit they generate for their employer.
2. Gary’s job is to create click bait. We are all Gary’s suckers.
“No comparison between pilots and physicians. Physicians are not part of a union, hence are exploited. The education required just to get into Medical school is way above pilots.”
Let’s see: Same undergrad. 4 years med school is about equivalent to 4 years of earning ratings and building 1500 hours (at about the same cost). 5 years residency compared to 5 years at a regional, at about the same pay.
Professional airline pilot make thousands of decisions everyday to protect hundreds of lives, a $120,000,000 + machine, and the reputation and value of their company and safety of their employees and customers. You cannot show up to work and half ass even a single day as an airline pilot. The decisions pilots make are real-time. There is no pause button. There is no phone a friend. They are always thinking 5 steps ahead. Always making alternate plans. Always adapting.
You equate the job to a part-time passion project. You have no idea what it takes to get to the level of competency and experience that is required of a professional airline pilot.
And if you think pilots merely fly planes, you are wrong. They are the glue that holds an operation together before and after a flight. They coordinate between dispatch, maintenance, ground operations, customer service, etc. They are the singular locus of an entire airlines’ operation. Without proactive pilots (who aren’t even getting paid while not in flight, by the way), airline operations would grind to a halt.
Meanwhile CEOs and corporate managers can make many times a pilot’s salary, drive a company into the ground, and walk away with a golden parachute. Sales people can make a million dollars a year because they were right place right time. If you want to attack the value of a profession there are a thousand out there that are a better fit.
This article is not an accurate or thoughtful portrayal of anything other than the authors ability to write shoddy click bait.
Pilots are overpaid babies. Millions of professionals travel for their jobs too. To claim otherwise is just SAD!
To those noting “we pay Uber drivers more” on a per passenger basis is stupid and patently offensive to one of the most underpaid group of workers. Finally, why would the value of the aircraft have any bearing on pilot pay? Do we use that logic to pay bus and trash truck drivers more than say limo and van shuttle drivers? Of course not!
@Tim Dunn
FedEx pilots are paid more than Delta’s, just so you know…
Show me Gary Leff’s pilot license, and I’ll take this article seriously. Absent that, it’s just the musings of an uninformed spectator outside the airport fence.
@Jim Atkinson – what do you believe – specifically – in this piece is inaccurate? If you just don’t like the vibes, be honest about that.
Are airline CEO’s worth what they get paid?…from what I’ve seen their pay doesn’t seem to be predicated on performance.
@Steve – in some cases probably not, their boards get stacked with cronies who protect them despite underperformance Cf. Doug Parker
To those that complain about how high pilot pay is, if you think it’s so easy then go be a pilot yourself. If it’s an easy job and pays so well, do it yourself and stop complaining about your crap wages.
Writer ascertains that pilots get paid well because of union pressures. Mind you, pilot unions at AA and UA, among others, have been at the negotiating table for years. If they had so much leverage they’d have fat pensions, hazard pay, and double the salary. Instead you got pension losses and 401ks and multi year furloughs, moveable off days, 22/FLT hr starting wage, and crap health benefits.
I suppose we could go on strike but the RLA prevents us from going on strike. We literally have no leverage other than people not wanting to become pilots anymore because of how much the career sucked. It’s the only reason why regional pay has gone up. The pilot shortage is the result of management undervaluing the profession for so long.
Removing the retirement age would have little impact considering that most pilots wouldn’t pass a 1st class medical beyond the age of 70. When it comes to certification requirements, call me old fashioned but I believe pilots need to develop knowledge, skills, and some professional aviator experience, and earn an ATP before flying passenger 121. Freshly minted commercial pilot certificates or ab-initio cadets in Europe are like med school grads without residency. No thanks.
If you want to see an example of egregious leverage given by regulatory mandates, look no further than government labor (teachers, firefighters, police, fbi, air traffic controllers, irs, etc). Even non governmental workers in highly regulated environments benefit more than pilots by a long shot. The AMA goes a long way to make sure being a doctor is difficult by excluding foreign trained doctors and artificially limiting residency spots. The bar association too limits lawyer through put by requiring a law degree in order to be eligible for the bar exam.
All of those professions and provisions dont exist for professional pilots. Australian pilots with E3b visas have been coming in droves. There no laws preventing subcontractors at lower wages (regionals). You don’t have to have aviation 4 year degree to be eligible for an ATP exam.
The writer has poorly researched this article and simply looking for click bait. Job well done.
My spouse is a nurse who continues to work holidays and weekends for much less pay. Persons also place their lives in her hands daily. I’m unsure who is ‘underpaid’ and who is ‘overpaid’ but there is a serious pay disparity. Further, few nurses work past 62/65 as they can’t handle picking up patients, being on feet, etc.
Since you like numbers, I have a few for you to consider. We protect company assets and the tort associated with human life. The legal tort value of a human life ranges from tens of thousands of dollars to several million. An Airbus 321 NEO and 737MAX 8 carrying approximately 200 humans including crew, have a list prices of approximately $125M, a 777–300ER has a list price of over $300M carrying upwards of 400 people depending on configuration. The financial liability of a wide body over a populated city is over a billion dollars, a narrow body aircraft over a small town is hundreds of millions of dollars. Our pay deserves to be commensurate merely for these levels of responsibility alone not to mention the time, money, and effort it takes to achieve the level of skill, knowledge, and experience to handle these levels of responsibility. One thing we airline pilots are not, are bull malarkey artists like you.
What is your safety worth?
Shame on the writer of this petty jealousy article.
Thousands of miles above the earth, in a FRACTION of a second a gigantic tin can in which you are sitting is hurtling though the air and making a direct nosedive to the ground below.
I’ll bet you that pilot’s paycheck is going to be the last thing in your mind at that point.
Good luck!
And yes, those paltry hours airplane pilots put into training in something that is just another means of tin can transport – that training (which comes at a minimum cost of $200 per hour anywhere in the world) is the difference between YOUR life and YOUR death.
Now go drive a taxi across the Pacific Ocean.
Good luck.
I’ve never seen so much whining. Based on your numbers then a nuclear powered aircraft carrier captain should be paid millions. It any civilian reactor technician as well.
If you truly want to talk about paying for training the you need to Jackie’s the fact that the majority of pilots are former military. None of which “paid” for anything. Please get over yourselves.