Congrats! You just got hired at an airline....unless you got hired at someplace uber cool like DAL, FEDEX, UPS or SWA you're on first year and it sucks......First things first you are automatically broke...no if's, ands, or buts, you better stop at McDonalds on the way home and pick up and app....not a latte you can't afford that now.
If there is anything worse than first year pay it's first year training pay. It blows, along with the funness of training...being away from your family, the stress of training and it costs you money you still have to eat don't you?
If you survive training you have to (most likely) look forward to living in a crashpad! Welcome to the wonderful life of crashpadding, it stinks and it's expensive. You have a house/apt/condo (you're already paying for) but all of the sudden you're living and paying $250 a month for hot bunking in beautiful Elizabeth NJ.
Even if you happen to be forutnate enough to live in base and be on reserve you still (in some airlines) have to look forward to sitting reserve in the airport! You may get lucky enough to NOT have to have a crashpad BUT you still don't get to sit at home, this also makes the job at McDonalds harder to get to!
Guess what?? Now it's Christmas/Birthday time! But there is a rule on first year pay....No holidays. Holidays cost money and unless that McDonalds you're working at gives you free gift cards for Christmas presents. Santa doesn't come on first year pay.
By this time in the game you should be nice and thin though, they don't pay you enough to eat...except Ramen...did you know they actually make a Rapid Ramen Cooker you probably didn't but you know now!
So all in all first year pay blows, but you can always look forward to second year pay!
Very very true. Our first year pay ends in June. Counting the days.
ReplyDeleteCongrats! Ours ends in Sept and we are counting the days too!
ReplyDeleteDid dh just get hired at the majors after being at the regionals?
ReplyDeleteAre you guys based & living at ORD too?
Same here...not about the majors... my pilot dh is still fiercely hoping to get that call...any day now...hopefully...
This lifestyle is truly challenging! It's really lonely being uprooted out of state from everything and everyone you know and love... how do you do it? It's so hard :'( watching him leave on a 4 day, after only having 2 short days together is excruciating. I'm really not coping well.. pliot wife life of a pilot at a regional is incredibly challenging, heartbreaking & depressingly lonely... how do all of you other wifies do it? Where are all these other wifies? We should band together, it'd be nice to know someone else in this boat :-/ .
Halp.