In recent years, we’ve seen airline pilots in the United States (particularly at the “big three” carriers, as well as at regional carriers) get huge pay increases, and they’re now very well compensated. As you’d expect, not everyone realizes that, though, and sometimes it’s funny to see the reactions that people have to this reality.
American captain shares $458K+ compensation on Reddit
A Miami-based American Airlines Boeing 737 captain posted in the r/Salary subreddit, where… people seemingly just share their salaries with little context (the internet is a fascinating place, eh?). The pilot’s total year to date compensation has been $457,894.51, and the hourly pay is $360+ (this only applies to flight hours).
I’ve written in the past about how much airline pilots earn, and how their pay is structured. Generally speaking, pilots can fly up to 1,000 hours per year, so you can multiply their hourly pay by around 1,000, and then it only goes up from there, after adding in things like per diem pay, etc.
This pilot isn’t even maxed out in terms of earning potential. The pilot is at the top of the Boeing 737 captain pay scale (which currently maxes out at around $361 per hour). However:
- American pilots continue to get pay increases through 2027, under their current contract
- This pilot can get even higher pay if they move up to larger aircraft; for example, under the current pay scale, a Boeing 777 captain could earn up to $447 per hour, so that’s roughly 24% higher than the Boeing 737 captain pay
So a wide body captain can easily clear $500K per year. American, Delta, and United, all have virtually identical hourly pay, though they also have profit sharing. Since Delta is by far the most profitable, you can expect that Delta pilots are paid even better, and some very senior Delta captains are probably earning close to $600K, including profit sharing.
As you’d expect, the internet has quite some takes on this
I wasn’t surprised by these numbers, since I was familiar with pilot pay scales. However, understandably a lot of people weren’t expecting this. I think a lot of people have respect for pilots, but wouldn’t assume they’re that well compensated. The responses generally fall into one of two camps:
- “What on earth, they earn in a month what I earn into a year, how can they be paid that much?”
- “They have a lot of responsibility and it takes a lot of time before you get to these pay amounts, so they deserve it”
My opinion is somewhere in the middle. I respect pilots a lot, and ultimately their high pay is due to their very strong unions, plus our 1,500-hour rule for pilots, which greatly limits the pilot pipeline, and gives them a strong negotiating point.
I’m not a huge fan of trying to compare pay between people and assessing who “deserves” what, because all too often it’s not fair. Like, how much should a surgeon make, how much should a pilot make, and how much should a teacher make?
I will say this — I know a lot of management employees at airlines are rather frustrated about the massive pay raises that pilots have received, while they haven’t. At many airlines, your average captain is earning more than your average mid-level executive who is making some major decisions for the airline.
It’s also important to acknowledge that coming out of the pandemic was possibly the best time in history to be a pilot. Airlines were hiring like crazy, airline pilot pay increased massively, and the pathway from first officer to captain was also faster than ever before, due to the number of retirements.
Pilots have to invest quite a bit of time and money into their flight training (if they don’t go the military route, which requires time, but not money), both to get specific licenses and sufficient hours. Then they have to typically work at a regional airline for some amount of time, to build up hours. And then they can get a job at their “forever” airline, and work their way up the ranks there.
There’s no denying that the entire pathway has just been much faster than before in recent years. For example, you have pilots now who maybe spent a year or two at a regional airline, then a job at the legacy, and were then able to bid on a captain position within a year or two (though with limited seniority, and therefore, limited control over their schedule).
Also keep in mind that historically, airlines haven’t really been stable businesses. Pilots get these great contracts, but then in bankruptcy, everything is renegotiated. Of course we now have airline executives who claim their airlines will never be in bankruptcy again, their airlines will never lose money again, etc. I have a different take, but…
Bottom line
An American Airlines pilot shared their total compensation for the year on Reddit, which was around $458K. Unsurprisingly, many people don’t realize how well compensated pilots are nowadays, and this person isn’t even at the top of the pay scale yet.
This kind of pay tends to draw mixed reactions. One thing is for sure — it shows the strength of the pilot unions in the United States, that these kinds of contracts can be negotiated. It also shows the strength of the credit card market in the United States, that these contracts can be paid for. 😉
What do you make of this pilot compensation, and the internet’s response?
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