If I make the leap to go through training and flying as a First Officer I’m in the perhaps unusual situation of not needing medical coverage at all since I have health insurance from my service in the military.
Question: Can anyone tell me if higher payscales might be available for future (potential) First Officers like me since I don’t need that benefit? The pay at some regionals is scary-low and if I could negotiate 5 dollars an hour more per hour and opt out of specific benefits…that’s what I’d be wanting to do.
This is very typical in other career fields and is called a “cafeteria style” benefit set-up. Ex. Take NO benefits and your pay is $100,000, opt-in for medical and pay is $90,000, add 401K matching or other benefits pay is adjusted further etc.
Anyone here negotiated for a job where this sort of thing was mentioned, or have you talked to colleagues who have talked about benefit plans and what they were offered?
Your situation is not in any way unique, there are plenty of former military persons that fly and work for the airlines. Airline pilots do not negotiate their own contracts and pay rates, those are negotiated by the union on behalf of the pilot group and apply to all pilots.
What you can do is opt not to take any of the benefits and then you will not have to pay for your portion of those benefits, so you could in theory save several hundred dollars per month by using your military benefits.
If you think Regional FO pay is bad you should have seen it a few years ago. It’s actually doubled and tripled. As Chris ALL airline pilots operate under Collective Bargaining Agreements. While I was never in the military, for many years I was covered by my wife’s health insurance and actually received a small credit for not using the company’s but the amount was negligible.
All good answers. I appreciate the mention that pay has increased…I totally get that it’s supply and demand. If the comment taken as a dig on the people working for the wage it wasn’t meant that way. It’s not a significant detractor for me. I’m just looking to minimize the pain the first few years and a few hundred bucks saved a month would help. Sounds like negotiation isn’t exactly an option but opting out of specific benefits is possible and that’s what I was sort of asking. Thanks!
My benefits package, which includes health insurance for me and three children, plus dental and a few other things costs me about $500 per month. If I opted out, that is money that I would have as extra in my paycheck. Now each airline is different and I cannot begin to speak as to what benefits cost at other airlines.