I tracked every euro and every duty for 12 months at a European low cost base: real hours, real pay, real savings
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#1 There are a lot of salary threads on here and most are 'I earn about X' from memory. I kept a spreadsheet for a full year, every duty, every payslip, every euro spent, because I wanted to know if this job actually adds up. Here it is. Central European base, low cost carrier, second year crew, so not the very bottom of the scale but nowhere near senior. Numbers are rounded to keep it readable and converted to euros where the contract was in local currency.
The roster, over 12 months
- Duty days: 211
- Days off: 154 (this includes annual leave, 27 days)
- Block hours flown: 812
- Sectors: 1,118
- Standby days: 38, of which 14 were called out
- Earliest report: 04:10. Latest finish: 01:45
- Longest duty: 13h 20m, a four sector day with a two hour delay on sector three
- Average sectors per duty day: 5.3 on flying days
- Months with the most hours: July (94 block hours), August (91)
- Months with the fewest: February (48), November (52)
The seasonal swing is the thing nobody explains before you join. Summer is exhausting and pays well. Winter is quiet, boring, and pays badly, and a chunk of the winter days off are really the company keeping you cheap. Plan money around the year, not the month.
The pay, over 12 months
- Basic salary: 13,200 (that is 1,100 a month, and yes, that is the number that scares people)
- Sector pay: 11,740
- Sales commission: 2,890
- Standby and call out allowances: 640
- Night stop and out of base allowances: 410
- Summer performance bonus: 500
- Gross total: 29,380
- Tax and social contributions: 6,120
- Net in the bank: 23,260, so about 1,940 a month averaged, but ranging from 1,410 in February to 2,610 in July.
For anyone comparing with the Gulf threads: yes, that is a lot less than a Doha or Dubai payslip. But I pay 640 a month for a shared flat ten minutes from the airport, my family is a three hour drive away, and I am not living in a company building with curfews. Different job, different trade.
What the job costs
This is the part the recruitment page will not tell you.
- Uniform: provided, but two pairs of shoes at my own cost, 190
- Commuting to the airport: 1,180 for the year (car share and parking; the 4am reports kill public transport as an option)
- Food on duty: I budgeted 6 a day on flying days and mostly stuck to it, 1,270. Crew who buy at the airport every day spend three times this.
- Crew meals on board: staff price, included above
- Phone and roster apps: 220
- Grooming, hair, nails, the stuff the standards require: 480
- Training cost: none, my contract did not have it. Check yours, some do and it comes out of the first year's pay.
About 3,340 for the year that I would not have spent in an office job. So the real net is more like 19,900.
What I saved
Rent 7,680, bills and phone about 1,400, food at home 2,600, going out and the occasional trip about 3,100. That left roughly 5,100 saved over the year. Not amazing, not nothing. In the Gulf threads people are saving three or four times that and that is real, but they are also 5,000km from home and living under a different set of rules.
Things the spreadsheet taught me
Sector pay is the whole game at a low cost carrier. A four sector day pays roughly double a two sector day for the same hours awake. When bidding opens, the senior crew bid for the four sector days for a reason.
Sales commission is real money if you actually try. The crew who treat the trolley as a chore make about 100 a month. I made about 240 a month by being pleasant and actually asking. That is nearly 1,700 a year for the same walk down the aisle.
Standby that never gets called is paid at a rate that is basically nothing. 24 uncalled standby days across the year earned me under 300. That is the hidden pay cut in a roster with a lot of standby.
Delays cost you money at my carrier, not just time. Duty pay is per sector, not per hour, so a two hour delay on the ground is two hours unpaid. Long haul crews on hourly duty pay have it differently, and better in that respect.
Would I do it again
Yes, for now. The money is honest rather than good. What the spreadsheet cannot show is the eight countries I ate lunch in this year, the friends on the crew WhatsApp who are closer than my school friends, and the fact that I have never once dreaded a Monday. But I would tell anyone joining at 1,100 basic: know the seasonal swing, learn to sell, budget the winter in July, and keep your own spreadsheet, because the payslip on its own will never tell you the whole story.
Happy to break down any line if it helps someone decide.
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#2 This is the most useful pay post on the forum and I have been here since it opened. The standby line is the one that people never calculate. Uncalled standby is a pay cut with extra steps.
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#3 UK numbers are structurally the same: low basic, sector pay does the heavy lifting, winter is grim. Our commission is a bit better and our rent is a lot worse. Your 'budget the winter in July' line should be on the induction slides.
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#4 Can I ask what the 1,100 basic is before or after the airline's probation period? I have an offer with a similar basic and I cannot tell if it goes up after year one.
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#6 Dubai crew here and I appreciate the honest framing of the comparison. My net is roughly double yours and my savings are triple, and I also have not seen my mum in seven months and I live in a building with a sign in desk. Both true. People should pick with their eyes open, which is exactly what this post lets them do.
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#7 US reserve life comparison: our guarantee covers uncalled standby much better, our per diem covers the food line entirely, and our commuting costs are worse because the bases are giant. Everything else lines up. The per sector vs per hour point about delays is a real difference and worth asking about at interview.
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#8 Legacy carrier in Germany: basic is much higher, sector pay is much lower, commission does not exist. Net ends up not far from your number in year two, weirdly. The low cost model just moves the money to a different line.
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#9 The commission difference between 100 and 240 a month for the same job is such a good detail. Is it actually about asking, or is it routes? I assumed the beach routes sell more.
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#10 @amaraacc routes matter, a Saturday to a party island sells itself. But over a year everyone gets a mix. The gap is mostly the crew who say 'anything from the trolley' with their eyes down versus the ones who say 'the sandwiches are actually decent today, and it is a long one'. That sentence is worth about 1,500 a year at my carrier.
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#11 Saving 5,100 on that income with rent that low is honestly good going. I earned more and saved less in my second year because I treated every layover like a holiday. Your food on duty line is where I lost most of it.
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#12 The delay point needs shouting about. Ask at interview: is duty pay per sector or per hour, and is ground delay paid. The answer changes what a bad summer of delays does to your bank account.
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#13 Merci for this. French low cost base, year one, my numbers are within ten percent of yours on every line except rent, which is double. Sending this to two friends who are about to apply.
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#14 Left flying two years ago for an office and I still miss never dreading Monday. The spreadsheet is right and so is the last paragraph. Both things are true.