New York pilot breaks down how much he earns per trip

A New York pilot has shared the breakdown of exactly how much he earns per flight working for a major US airline.

Boeing 737 First Officer Garrett – who runs the flywithgarrett YouTube channel, regularly shares videos giving a cool insight into the life of a pilot. 

In one recent clip, he gave a breakdown of how much he earned per flight

He used a couple of common routes as examples and explained why he preferred some journeys to others.

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The New York pilot gave a detailed breakdown of his earnings

Thanks to social media, we’re learning all sorts of things about air travel – such as what pilots actually do during long-haul flights, or how you start up a Boeing 737. 

In a clip shared to his YouTube channel Boeing pilot Garrett even revealed how much he earns per trip. 

He kicked off by saying the airline pays him $213.87 an hour – not too shabby, right?

But – like with most things – it wasn’t quite as straightforward as that. 

He went on to use the example of the trip he had taken that day, which involved him ‘dead-heading’ – the term used to describe a pilot being flown as a passenger to where he was needed – from LaGuardia Airport in New York to  Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Texas. 

For the total journey, he was paid for seven hours and 16 minutes or $1,556. 

He then highlighted the ‘time away from base’, in this case just over nine hours, and said it was a good turnaround time as it meant he could be there and back on the same day without a lengthy layover.

Some journeys are more worthwhile financially

Garrett then shared another common route he flies, from JFK in New York to Phoenix, Arizona – in this case, he has a 24-hour layover at Phoenix before flying back to New York the next day. 

In total, he spends 40 hours away from base but only earns just above his airline’s ‘minimum guarantee’ pay. 

“So that scenario is not the best bang for the buck,” he said.

“That’s why right now I’m focusing on [the first journey] – yeah I had to get up super early but I’m back by 3pm and one of these [flights] is a dead-head so I can spend four hours doing other work and then the other leg I’m actually flying.”