Lindsay,
75hrs is your minimum monthly guarantee and it’s the min you’ll be paid regardless of your flight time. If you fly more than 75hrs in the month you’ll get that however frequently when airlines find themselves short they’ll offer premium pay ABOVE the 75hr min guarantee.
You could literally fly zero hours on your Reserve days but if they call you to fly on days off for premium say a 20hr trip. You’d get paid 95hrs while only flying the 20 premium. Make sense?
Adam
Adam,
Thanks! yes that makes sense. So any time flown above 75 hrs gets paid more even if its scheduled not during your days off, or do they usually not schedule you for more than 75?
Lindsay
Lindsay,
That’s hard to say. In reality the intent of Reserves is to be held in RESERVE and used for operational disruptions, sick calls etc. That however only works if the airline is properly staffed. If staffing levels are too low then there aren’t enough pilots to cover the trips and Reserves end up flying ALOT! What you’ll find is staffing formulas vary from airline to airline, many like to run lean but others don’t.
In my experience Reserves rarely break 75hrs (or even get near it), 50-60hrs a month is more the norm.
Adam
What about my same question for line pilots?
Lindsay,
As a line holder, you generally get paid what you fly. So if you fly 85 hours, you will be paid for 85 hours. Most line holders that I know of fly between 80 and 90 hours.
Chris
Lindsay,
If you’re a lineholder, with the rare exception of times like now you’ll ALWAYS fly at least 75hrs. When lines are constructed they use a minimum and maximum window and also median target (say 83hrs). The computer will attempt to build all the lines towards that median. You can bid min credit which will get you closer to the 75 or max which will put you in the 90s.
Airlines know they’ll have to pay Reserves even when they’re not flying because again they’re Reserve but they generally don’t like to pay for more than they have to.
Adam