One of the benefits of being an airline pilot is that you can more or less live anywhere you want. While it’s generally recommended to live in base to avoid the stress of commuting by air, it’s hardly necessary, which means that pilots often chase states with low taxes to maximize their earnings. Florida, Texas, and Nevada are particularly popular precisely due to their taxes and low cost of living. This works because airlines pay their crews the same salary regardless of where they’re based or live.

But while the direct compensation that pilots receive is the same across the country, this doesn’t mean that a pilot’s actual earnings are the same. In general, real salaries vary depending on how often a pilot flies and how much premium flying they pick up. In addition, while pay rates don’t change by base, they do vary depending on years of service, aircraft, and position. The base that a pilot is domiciled at matters hugely in regard to what aircraft or position they may hold, as well as the flying that they may pick up. This has a major impact on real salaries.

The Role Of Seniority At Airlines

Credit: Shutterstock

As an airline pilot, everything is determined by seniority. In essence, a pilot is placed on a seniority list upon hire, and their placement is determined by their date of hire. A pilot moves up the seniority list as senior airmen retire and new hires join the company, and seniority resets when a crew member joins a new company. This is why pilots tend to stay with their dream company for decades after joining, and the base hourly rate increases with each consecutive year of service.

Time with the company determines the hourly rate, but seniority is also important in determining a pilot’s base, aircraft, and position combination. Narrowbody first officer positions are the most junior, and crew members can also generally reach either a narrowbody captain or a widebody first officer position within a few years in some bases. Widebody captain positions, meanwhile, take decades to hold because there are far fewer positions, as US airlines staff long-haul flights with multiple first officers and only one captain in most cases.

The hourly rate is really determined by the combination of aircraft, position, and years of service, while a crew member’s chances of switching to a new base, position, and aircraft combination depend on their seniority, since these are awarded in order of date-of-hire. Meanwhile, a pilot’s schedule is determined by their relative seniority within their base, aircraft, and position combination, with more productive ‘lines’ going to the most senior pilots, while those who have the lowest relative seniority are often assigned a ‘reserve’ schedule.

The Factor That The Base Plays In Earnings

Credit: Shutterstock

What determines the seniority of an aircraft-based-position category depends on the size of the category, the productivity of the flying, and the desirability of the location. This is critically important because it can result in certain categories having widely different levels of seniority, even if the only difference is the base. Across all three US carriers, it’s their New York City bases that are by far the most junior, while United’s San Francisco base requires a similar level or even less seniority. However, the Los Angeles bases can be more senior due to the smaller sizes of the categories.

Flying a widebody to Europe, for example, is a three-day trip regardless of whether the origin airport is New York-JFK or Atlanta. However, the flights from and to Atlanta are longer, meaning that the trips originating out of Atlanta earn more money for the same amount of time away from home. What’s more, New York is one of the most expensive cities in the entire world, and commuting to New York can be extremely difficult due to airspace congestion as well as frequent poor weather.

Narrowbody flying tends to be more similar between certain bases, with the seniority differences being more due to the size of the category and the location. As a whole, however, schedule productivity can be critical to how much money a pilot actually earns, and this depends on the base.

As another example, United Airlines operates ‘756‘ (Boeing 757 and 767) bases in multiple hubs, including San Francisco and Newark. The San Francisco base is small, and the flying mainly consists of Hawaii routes as well as transcontinental frequencies, while the much larger Newark base has a huge amount of productive, desirable Europe flying. Both bases tend to be junior.

Why Junior Bases Can Earn Pilots Much More Money

Credit: Shutterstock

Some senior bases have more productive flying than what might be offered on the same aircraft at a junior domicile, but what makes junior bases appealing to some pilots is the relative seniority. Take, for example, a 777 first officer working for United Airlines, who may be in the top quarter of seniority if based out of Newark, while being in the bottom half of the seniority list in Houston. Some of the Houston trips might be more productive than the Newark trips, but a pilot can be awarded the top flying out of Newark due to their relative seniority and will therefore earn more money.

In addition, pilots are awarded overtime flying in order of relative seniority in their category, meaning that it’d be generally easier to be awarded these trips out of a junior base like Newark or San Francisco than in a senior base like Houston. What’s more, a junior base generally offers superior schedules, with quicker access to weekends and holidays off for junior pilots.

The biggest advantage of a senior base, however, is the career progression. A pilot who has been with their company for seven years may be able to hold a narrowbody first officer position at a senior base, like Denver, Dallas/Fort Worth, or Salt Lake City, or they can hold either a narrowbody captain or widebody first officer position at a junior base. These positions offer far more money than a narrowbody first officer category, upwards of $100,000 more. Of course, the downside is potentially lower relative seniority, as well as the commute (if applicable).

The Balance Between Pay And Quality Of Life

Credit: Shutterstock

The tradeoff that any pilot faces is pay versus quality of life. One of the benefits of working as a pilot is that crew members actually get a fairly high number of days off, but flying less means less money. Living in base is generally considered to be the best choice that a pilot can make, but this may not be possible depending on seniority. Even for those who hold the seniority to be based out of their home airport, it might not be the best choice depending on how senior that base may be.

Selecting a junior base comes with superior schedules, as well as the opportunity to advance to a higher-paying category. However, commuting can be a stressful task that adds time away from home, and given that a US airline’s most junior bases are, for the most part, on the coasts, this means that commutes are long. What’s more, the Northeast in particular is notorious for delays, which adds to the stress. It’s the classic choice for pilots on how to structure their lives at the airlines.

Regarding schedules, most pilots are assigned a line, consisting of scheduled trips and scheduled days off. A reserve schedule consists of set days off and days when a pilot is on-call to potentially cover an open trip. During these days, a crew member may be placed on long-call, short-call, or airport standby. Reserve schedules are fairly hard to manage for commuting crew members and typically go junior, but some pilots who live in-base actually prefer them since they might not actually fly as much, and they have a better chance of getting their desired days off.

How Pilots Deal With Income Taxes

Credit: Shutterstock

Airline pilots are treated as W-2 employees, with their employers withholding taxes for them. Generally, they simply file a tax return for the state in which they reside, which, again, makes certain states far more appealing. New York has one of the highest income taxes in the country, while Florida, famously, does not have any income taxes. Since salary doesn’t vary by where they live, a pilot saves huge amounts of money by living in a state with low to no income taxes.

Of course, a pilot will usually have to deal with commuting by living in a state with low income taxes, but this highlights the benefits of working as a pilot. Aviators working for the largest US airlines have practically full flexibility on where they can live, and career progression is as high as ever, particularly in the junior bases. In addition, pilots at these airlines can choose from a wide variety of different types of flying, ranging from domestic hops to intercontinental routes and everything in between.

Meanwhile, US legacy pilots have received massive pay raises in recent years, with first-year pilots making over $100,000 a year. Narrowbody captains and widebody first officers are regularly making over $200,000, while a widebody captain for American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, or United Airlines can be bringing in over half a million per year.