my understanding is that flight crew gets paid from gate to gate. is that correct? If so, do they usually get paid more going west than east since its usually longer? likewise, would they get paid more for slower flights (NYC-LON on babybus) vs faster flights (744 NYC-LHR)? Just curious. TIA.

It's hourly, so if a plane circles for an extra hour, they get an extra hour pay over somebody on another plane that goes right in. If the plane gets in early, they make less money that trip than if it got in late.

As an add-on to cordelli's post, the clock doesn't start until the plane takes off. If the plane is delayed, they make less money.

It depends on the specific contract terms with each airline. Some agreements start the clock when the plane leaves the gate and stop when it arrives at the new gate.

Also, some international trips with layovers provide for payment of a per-diem allowance for each day a crew is gone.

Every company has a different contract. At my airline, there is a "scheduled block" time for each flight for which payment is guaranteed, even if the actual block time is less. Hence, there's no penalty for an early arrival. Of course, overblocking always means more pay.

Can't speak for everybody but we get paid from the time we leave the gate until we block in at the arrival city. If we're late we get the extra time, if we're early we get what the flight was actually scheduled for. Our per diem starts at our check in time for the trip, 1 hour before departure on domestic and 1 1/2 hrs before international and ends 15 minutes after block in of our last flight. No pay for boarding, or sitting at the gate delayed for maintenance, weather or ATC. Our typical 4 day trip pays 20 hrs.

That depends on the airline. At least for the crew at the pointy end, I know some airlines base it on the time the parking brake is released to the time it's activated at the destination. So yes, some airlines do pay for time spent taxiing, sitting in the penalty box, etc.

wow, feels like a part time job. I always thought it was more salaried so that it was more like a full time job or you at least got paid a decent wage, considering could be away from the house more than a regular job, it would seem

Our hourly rate is fairly high, it's definitely a full time job

So if you're on a few day trip, do you have to pay for hotel or how does that work?

I would think that you would get paid from the time you show up for your job...for workers comp reasons if nothing else...for instance, you stand there waving at people and welcoming them when they board (generally) and you spend time before and after the flight getting it ready for people...if something happened where you were hurt during that non-paid time, how would it be covered by worker's comp?

The airline provides a hotel room for each night away from home and also a per diem for food, something in the range of $1-2 per hour (real hours starting when you show up) I think.

A couple of years ago a woman I work with slipped on the ice in the parking lot after work and broke her wrist. Worker's comp covered that and I assume the same would apply. Since the worker is on company property any injury should be covered by the company.

This is very much a US-centric way of paying crew.

In many (most) parts of the world, flight crew are paid a monthly salary and are expected to work up to a specified maximum number of hours. Per diems and allowances are paid for nights spent away from base.

Keep in mind that it's 20 hours of paid flight time. Let's say on Day 1 of a trip, you have MSP-ATL-SAV-ATL. That's roughly 5 hours of paid flight time. However, you need to be at MSP a minimum of 60 minutes before departure for check-in (which tends to be around 75 minutes). Then you get to Atlanta and you might have a two hour sit from arrival time from MSP to departure time to SAV. Then it's an hour turn in SAV. Then it takes 15 minutes to get everyone off the plane in ATL and another 15 minutes to get to the curb.

All told, you're spending 5 hours flying and then nearly another 5 hours of not getting paid waiting for flights. Multiply this out over a 4 day trip, and it's closer to working for 40 hours, while getting paid for 20.

Hence why long international trips go rather senior - a MSP-NRT-MSP takes less than 48 hours to do (officially it's a three day trip), it's about 24 hours of flight time. Do that once a week and you are at 100 hours or so a month, little time wasted (no layovers at airports, one flight a day, etc.) and you get 4 days off a week.

yeah. i guess the wording i originally work didnt convey my surprise, but I was rather surprised by only 20 hours of paid time too. but Galley did mention the pay rate is pretty high, to be like a full time job, which I would hope so considering the time spent not on the actual flight itself.

It depends quite a bit on the airline. Regional carriers in the US are notorious for paying abysmally low wages (often well under $20K/year for starting pilots).