Don’t forget to tip your airline pilot!
By Josh Barsch
So I’m out on the deck Sunday afternoon reading the paper while the dogs and kids frolic in the yard, and I notice that this week’s Parade magazine is the “What People Earn” issue. You know the one — the one with about 100 mugshots of regular folks and their jobs and salaries, with the occasional celebrity and her 8-figure salary tossed in every now and then, just to keep us awake. (Gisele the supermodel made $33 million this year. I wonder if she and Tom Brady split the electric bill right down the middle, or if she pays a heftier share because she makes more.)
This is the only time of year I read Parade, because I don’t really care what Hilary Swank’s favorite cheat-food is. I don’t want to know why Aretha Franklin chose “maple scone” for her bedroom paint color, and I already know that Marilyn vos Savant is so smart that she could stick an 8-ball under her armpit and squeeze out a unicorn’s paw (You know what? Screw you, Marilyn.).
But the “How Schlubs Like You Are Scraping Together Your Meager Existence” issue is one of my guilty pleasures, and if you’re reading this, it’s probably one of yours, too. You comb through the thing like crazy, looking to validate yourself against other chumps out there doing a similar job and making less than you. Or, even better, doing a really crappy job that pays squat. “Hey,” you say to your reassured self. “At least I’m not that guy,” with “that guy” being:
Herman Beckwith
Dog shit picker-upper
$6.75/hour
I’ll be honest: I was cruising right along, shaking my head at sucker after sucker and cursing their bad luck, until I was stopped dead in my tracks by Bridget Matarrese. Bridget is a regional airline pilot, and she makes $31,000 per year.
I don’t know Bridget or which airline she works for, but I’m going to make some assumptions here:
* Bridget flies airplanes.
* The airplanes Bridget flies are full of passengers like you and me: moms, dads, kids, sons, daughters, grandmas, etc., shuttling between small cities and the hub airports of larger cities.
* If Bridget screws up, everybody dies. Everybody.
* Terrorists are licking their chops at the site of Bridget and her pilot brethren, since you can kill a lot of people with one airplane. A few guys actually did this in New York back in ‘01. You may have read about it.
And for her trouble, Bridget makes $31,000.
I’m not quite ready to sing the praises of pilot unions just yet, but is this really what the market bears for even a first-year airline pilot? I live in Rapid City, South Dakota, and I can’t fly anywhere without hopping on a regional jet just like the ones that Bridget presumably flies. And I have to be honest, I felt a hell of a lot safer before I read that the pilots make significantly less than a Starbucks manager. Or a bartender. Or a magician.
I’m not trying to get all Che Guevara on you here, but it seems that a man or woman who knows how to fly a big-ole airplane full of people safely from one point to the next deserves a little more than barista money. Even a drunk pilot deserves a good $50k, I think, huh? I think that inflatable autopilot from “Airplane” even got paid $25k, and that’s still more than what Bridget’s making when you adjust for inflation from 1982 (although you could make an argument that he was worth the additional money for keeping the flight going smoothly while everyone got sick from eating the fish and Leave it to Beaver’s mom got into a scrap with those jive-talking guys.).
Seriously, though: we’re already on the subject of bartenders and baristas, and you can’t talk about either of those guys without thinking of tips. Tipping a bartender is second nature, and you can’t find a barista in a Starbucks or otherwise who doesn’t have a full tip jar sitting on the counter (even if they spike it full of singles from the register at 5:30 a.m., just to mindfuck you into shelling out a little bit more of your own cash than you were planning on spending).
So I ask you, good people of the United States: Why the hell aren’t we tipping our airline pilots? If anybody deserves an extra few bucks for a job well-done, it’s the guy who gets me back to my family in one piece. I’m not saying you’ve got to shell out 20% of your ticket price or anything, but as for me, I’m fine with slapping a five-spot to the pilot in any circumstance that doesn’t end with me pinned underneath the fuselage in a forest clearing, chewing on the seared leg-flesh of my seatmate to stay alive for another 10 hours. Seriously, man — take this $5 spot, and thank you very, very much for a job well-done.
Even if a mere 20 passengers did this per flight, that’s $100 per flight. I read that regional jets fly somewhere between 3 and 5 flights per day, so let’s settle on four, and that makes $400 per day of flying. And if the pilots are flying, say, 15 days per month, that’s $6,000 extra per month. Even if you split the take 50-50 with the copilot, that’s an extra $3,000 per month, $36,000 per year. That doubles Bridget’s salary, and, quite frankly, ought to make you feel a lot better about Bridget staying focused on doing her job well and not fretting about the rent and the electric bill and her kid’s college tuition and getting her car fixed and funding her 401(k), etc. (For the record, I don’t know Bridget — she could be the wealthy great niece of Leona Helmsley for all I know, but it’s all about the principle).
Would you be willing to tip your pilot? Sound off if you see fit. And if anyone out there knows Bridget, send her my appreciation for unwittingly serving as my guinea pig in this post.
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Josh Barsch founded StraightForward Media in 2001 after a brief career in print journalism. He now lives in the sticks of western South Dakota with his wife Christina, daughter Mia, son Ezra, two dogs Velvet & Holly, and cat Chanceux, all of whom he loves dearly. And four nameless hermit crabs, for whom he feels nothing.
24 Responses to “Don’t forget to tip your airline pilot!”
1 Xina 14 April 2008 @ 5:20 pm
Don’t forget about those silly money games that they play on the Allegiant Airlines flights. You know the ones where you put your seat number on a $1 and toss it into a bag and then they pull one out and that person gets the whole bag of loot. I have been on several legs of those flights and people other than me have won $100-$200 before.
Now can’t they change that to a 50/50 raffle? Where the person in the seat drinking diet coke and rum flipping through the latest issue of SkyMall gets only half and the person actually flying the plane gets the other half. I am totally down with that!
2 SFM Tracy 14 April 2008 @ 10:48 pm
You mean in my regular day job, I make less than a barista, a magician, a bartender, or Patti Pilot? Shit. So much for my fancy BHSU education.
3 Steve 15 April 2008 @ 3:35 pm
Hopefully Bridget is a pilot for UPS or FedEx and risks only the lives of her co-pilots — and possibly a few ground casualties — on each flight.
P.S. Herman Beckwith looks an awful lot like Rip Torn.
4 Amy 16 April 2008 @ 6:16 pm
There are so many people out there who don’t get paid near enough for what they do and people like Gisele who get paid way too much for what they don’t do. It makes me sick. But the consumerism and hype and idol worship of America perpetuates the situation.
P.S. I instantly thought the same thing…that’s gotta be Rip Torn.
5 lenoir 16 April 2008 @ 6:29 pm
I always thought pilots got paid a lot of money. In fact, this was a very well paid profession–so what has happened–de-regulation? I am not tipping any more people at the airport. I mean, we tip the baggage people per bag, everything we have to buy in the airport (bottled water, food) is sky high and the service just ain’t what it used to be. I think the airlines should be put on the spot for paying somebody that kind of chump change. Let’s organize, people!
6 Mauricio 16 April 2008 @ 6:36 pm
Thank you!
From A Pilot.
7 Kate 16 April 2008 @ 6:54 pm
Google Rip Torn and you will find that, indeed, that’s his mugshot photo (as I’m sure some of you have already discovered).
As for underpaid pilots it’s capitalism at its finest. Hear, hear on tipping.
8 Brian 16 April 2008 @ 7:12 pm
Coming from one who used to be a bartender a really really bad night shift in Vegas a bartender can clear over 2600.00 per month after taxes. Not bad for a shot and a beer huh? we make the road safe for everyonelol. But to be serious I’d refuse to lift a finger if I was an airline pilot making 31K per year but as long as people are willin to do a job for less we the people will continue to get paid like shit from greedy Fing company CEO’s who want nothing more than to pocket all the cash while asking you to take time off around christmas when you got a family. They disgust me personally.
9 Lee 16 April 2008 @ 7:46 pm
Well… it’s a catch 22. Leave the tip and the airline goes home laughing at another shmuck who paid not only 350 dollars for a two hour flight, but also took care of the underpaid pilot. I think there needs to be some more push on the part of the pilots to up the ante. If we don’t do anything, down goes the plane and we have the new post office problem on our hands, and we won’t need terrorists to crash the plans for us, some depressed, underpaid, pilot will do it for us. I don’t like picking up the slack on the fuel prices and low life higher ups at AA. I’d rather just drive.
10 Fernando Duran 17 April 2008 @ 1:52 am
On April 27th i’ll be flying home from my first semster in college. I’ll be in the hands of a US airway pilot from Burbank, CA to Phoenix, AZ. After reading this, i agree in that at least 20 people in the plane should put in 5 bucks. Or one hundred people put in one dollar.
Not only will i tip the pilot, but i will also write a flyer and print highlights of this article on the flyer to encourage people to do the same…(with the permission of Josh Barsch)
And i’ll let you know what happens…that is if the flight attendants let me pass out the flyer.
If not i’ll still try to do my part.
11 Richie 17 April 2008 @ 8:55 am
HAHA, you live in South Dakota just like me!! I had no clue that I would ever find anyone, or any site from my state lol. Well not as important as this one. OOH! I also believe you prove a very convincing argument!
Richie Lindstrom
*thinks to self* (hmmm i wonder how long till i get my scholarship information back on anything i’ve done…. i’ve applied to like fifty different scholarships with deadlines in the last three to four months…. oh well i’ll get this figured out some day. maybe i will have to take out a loan… lol i dont know why i’m even writing this)
12 Tara 17 April 2008 @ 10:16 am
As a pilot myself, I find it amusing how everyone thinks we make big bucks. People always figure we have hundreds of lives in our hands, both in air and on the ground, but that isn’t true. Airline planes have auto-pilot, so the people in the cockpit are really just there to make the passengers feel better. The big jets can fly without pilots, but who would get on a plane being operated by some guy in a dark control room at an undisclosed ground location? Of course, the salary of pilots isn’t so bad when you consider the benfits they get. All pilots are compensated fairly for their work, just like everyone else with a job.
13 SFM-Josh 17 April 2008 @ 2:40 pm
Yes indeed, that’s Rip Torn’s mugshot — I grabbed it for purposes of parody. I really didn’t think it looked like him, but apparently a lot of you guys have a sharper eye for Rip Torn than I.
Fernando: You are welcome to reprint and distribute anything I write on here. Free advertising for my blog is a total plus in all cases.
Richie: Yep, we’re trying to breathe some techo-life into this state, little by little. It’s slow going, but it’s going. I started the company in Phoenix in 2001, but I grew up in Rapid City and moved my family back here in 2006.
Tara: Well, you must admit that pilot pay can vary a great deal. Many experienced pilots make six-figure salaries. And I certainly don’t know this from experience, but I would expect that auto-pilot can do some things well without the presence of a human pilot, but not everything. You surely don’t mean that if the pilot and first officer were to both drop dead in the cockpit, then the plane would still lane smoothly and no passengers would notice? I doubt that. As for “All pilots are compensated fairly for their work, just like everyone else with a job” — eh, I’m not sure you and I inhabit the same world, Tara.
14 Jonathan 17 April 2008 @ 3:48 pm
Tara, I’m sorry but I believe you’re exaggerating the the issue of autopilot.
Tell me, does autopilot know how many pounds of fuel you will need to get from point A to point B? Can the autopilot taxi a multi million dollar airplane to the runway at safe speeds without hitting anything? Can an autopilot take off safety without the assistance of the pilot? What if a passenger has a medical emergency on board, do you ask the autopilot what to do?
Well Tara, it’s difficult to believe that you of all people, an airline pilot, have understated how much pilots really have to do. However, does a pilot fly the plane 100% for hours on end? Of course not. But, if the autopilot fails, would these pilots be qualified to fly in such circumstances. Without a doubt.
If you believe an automated machine flying an airplane will ever take the place of a human being, I pray that I will never have to fly on a plane flown by you… or should I say the autopilot?
15 Gma 17 April 2008 @ 5:29 pm
Way to go Josh !!!!!! I too think they should be paid better. Love ya Gma
16 Nick 17 April 2008 @ 9:04 pm
Thanks, from another pilot.
Also, I can guarantee that bridget does not fly for FedEX or UPS. In fact cargo companies are usually the best-payed flying jobs out there. And actually Bridget’s pay is not the bottom rung or first-year pay. Check out this youtube video for a comparison of other regional airlines first-year pilot salaries:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RayMaswju1A
17 Rob 28 April 2008 @ 4:32 pm
Scary stuff, now I have to think about that along with my 20,000 other fears while flying. Thanks buddy!!
18 Lass 29 April 2008 @ 8:56 pm
So, pilots are definitely important job and any mistake they make could result in tragedy–but how is that any different from a bus driver or a roller coster runner?
19 Lass 29 April 2008 @ 8:57 pm
We should probably tip them too
20 Bridget 16 July 2008 @ 12:50 pm
Imagine my surprise to see that I am the subject of a blog!!
Yes, that was me in Parade Magazine. Yes, that is my real salary. This is my second airline job and I have been with my current airline for over 4 years.
My first year pay was around $18,000/year. I had a $1/hour increase this year. Regional airline pilots are grossly underpaid. But it is one of the few, if not the only way to get to a major airline who are all currently laying off pilots and other employees. No, I do not have any rich relatives supplimenting my income. But I am willing to be adopting and given an allowance.
I am a single mom and my daughter leaves for her first year in college in about a month. She did well in school and will be on a scholarship since I have no money to help her with school.
Tara needs to get a reality check. I don’t know what plane she flys on but I would love to see the autopilot she talks about. She says she is a pilot, but didn’t say airline pilot. I am assumming than that she flys general aviation. Which is wonderful and very costly to do.
In my limited experience, I do not know of any plane that can takeoff on autopilot. Need a real person for that. Also, there are just a few airplanes that can autoland. The plane must be rated for that, the pilot must be rated for that, and the airport must have navigational equipment for that type of landing. As you can guess, this would be a very small percentage of flights where all this would come together. Why do you think you go around and divert for bad weather? Because we don’t have autoland!!
There are many aspects of flying that an autopilot just can’t do. And as mentioned, what if it fails?
I think of being a pilot like being a baseball player. Its a pyramid with everyone trying to get to the top. Unfortunately only a few make it to the show for the big bucks. The rest of us are doing the same job at the bottom for a lot less money.
Thank you Josh for a very insiteful blog.
PS. Wish they had used one of the pictures where I was smiling.
21 Airline Employee 16 September 2008 @ 11:23 pm
Wow Tara you really nailed that on the head.
Quoting you: “All pilots are compensated fairly for their work, just like everyone else with a job.”
That is far from the true for any airline employee.
22 GMR 17 September 2008 @ 11:17 am
As a Captain with a couple of decades of experience, I am finally at a salary level that allows me to live a relatively descent life, but I have flown with more and more first officer (also fully rated, Highly trained, well educated professionals) that receives food stamps, energy assistants, gets furniture from goodwill stores, as well as rooming up together as many as four in a one bedroom apartments that would rattle ASPCA if it was used as a dog house.
Tara; I believe is either a Student pilot or a fresh Private/recreational pilot.. If so congratulations.
Although expensive, it’s an awesome hobby, but I would NOT recommend it as profession to anyone.
Bridget’s salary, although abysmal, is really not that bad compared to the industry average for first officers. There are Airline pilots starting out with salaries close to half of what she makes now.
So why would people want to do this job?
I can think of a couple of reasons: -Aviation is in our blood and we can’t imagine doing anything else. It’s like an addiction, although these days, a lot of us are starting to recover.
-Also, somewhere out there, is this person making $200,000+ a year.
For everyone of those, there are thousands qualifying for food stamps hoping to one day fill that seat.
A while ago, I read a statistic somewhere that only two percent of those who starts training for a pilot career actually achieves their goal.
And then, when you finally get that leg in the door with your first $18.000 a year job, there will be a myriad of traps waiting for you, trying to kick you off the ladder: Simulator checks, oral tests, written tests, medical exams are all tests you will do once or more per year and any one of them can snuff your career away just like that.
Why can’t the unions do anything about this? They try and they try hard, but there is this one huge, fat, ridiculous, idiotic road block called the RLA, but that’s a whole other story.
So do I think flying is safe?
Well: Not nearly as safe as it could be, If I’m not in the front of the airplane, even I am a little nervous, riding on a “regional” (if you can really call it that, considering that some of them takes close to a hundred passengers and fly long domestic and international routes.).
The airlines, in an attempt keep the salaries as low as they are, keep lowering and lowering the requirements for their pilots in order to fill the vacancies.
So if you take that lowered experience/education and add, long work days followed by short nights along with a few other unexpected stressors and there’s your level of safety.
If you take your child to the doctor. Would you rather take him/her to the highly trained , highly experienced, happy rested doctor, or the one who’s overworked, glad to just have a job , but charges a few dollars less?
By the way: “Most” of the pilots I fly with are top notch.
23 peter vee 30 September 2008 @ 11:40 pm
Tara, you obviously are not an experienced pilot. With over 8000 hours I have seen auto pilots do some scarey things. I have been in a cargo plane when the auto pilot decided to roll the plane inverted. I was in an airliner when the auto pilot decide to go into a 14 degree nose up attitude at 27000 feet. I disconnected it and hand flew the rest of the flight. The list goes on. Whenever we save the day and don’t crash, you never hear about it. We bat a lot better than any major league player who makes millions. I instruct at an airline and I teach the pilots, when in doubt, hand fly it. The russians lost an Airbus A300 because of the auto pilot and that the pilots didn’t know how to fly.
24 Greg 25 November 2008 @ 1:07 am
I am a regional airline pilot. I have been flying for a living for 8 years. I must first say that Tara has little to no knowledge of which she speaks. Modern airliners do not require super-humans to fly. Nor do they just fly themselves around the sky with the pilots half-asleep. The airplanes are skill-intensive and the environment they operate in requires experienced people to operate safely. Again, I am not saying pilots are even close to super-humans performing an incredible feet. However, they need to be experienced professionals.
Anyway, back to my point. I have been a regional airline pilot for 3 of the 8 years I have been a paid professional in the occupation. This year I will have a taxable income of $36,000. For this wage I was required to have a very expensive education and 5-years experience in the industry. And this is year 3 pay. My first year pay was $26,000. I work for the highest paying regional airline in the United States; a point they often like to make when they constantly tell my co-workers and I they consider us 30% overpaid.
We as pilots have been fighting hard to keep our wages and quality-of-life from degrading. However, we have been hurt a great deal by the Railway Labor Act (RLA), by binding arbitration, and by bankruptcy rulings following the prior rounds of airline mis-management.
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