FA Trip Pay Calc — User Guide

Welcome! This guide walks you through the whole app in plain English. You don't need to be techy or know your contract by heart. Take it one section at a time.

A quick promise about numbers: everything here is an estimate. Real payroll can differ based on your airline's rules, taxes, and how your company processes pay. This app isn't tax, legal, or financial advice — always check against your actual pay stub.

1. What this app does

It helps a flight attendant estimate and track pay:

Block pay — your block hours times your hourly rate.
Per diem — an allowance for your time away from base.
Monthly totals — add up your trips for the month.
Paychecks — split your month into the checks you actually receive.
Take-home (net) pay — an optional estimate after taxes and deductions.
A block-hour bonus — an optional incentive on hours above a threshold.

The app is airline-neutral. It doesn't know your specific airline or contract — you enter your own numbers (hourly rate, per diem rate, guarantee, and so on). That keeps it simple and works no matter who you fly for.

What it doesn't do (so you're not surprised)

To keep things honest:

It works in block hours. It doesn't track "credit time" separately (rigs, minimums, deadhead credit). If your airline pays you on a credited number, just enter that number as your block hours.
It doesn't have reserve-specific rules (reserve guarantee, standby, duty days). A reserve FA can still use it by entering credited or guaranteed hours.
There's no duty-time field and no domestic vs. international per-diem split.

2. Two ways to use it

Free, no account — estimate a single trip. Great for a quick "what's this trip worth?"
Pro (sign in) — save trips, see monthly roll-ups, simulate your paychecks, estimate take-home pay with taxes and deductions, and turn on the block-hour bonus.

Sign-in is by Google and access is granted by the app owner, so Pro is invite-based.

3. Estimate one trip (no account needed)

On the home screen, tap Estimate My Trip Pay.
Choose how to enter the trip:
- Upload a screenshot of your pairing/trip — the app reads the block time, time away from base, and flight legs for you.
- Enter manually — type in your block time and time away from base yourself.
Review and edit everything. Nothing is final until you say so.
See your result:
- Block pay = block hours × hourly rate
- Per diem = time-away hours × per diem rate
- Manual adjustment (optional) — anything extra you want to add
- Estimated total
- Effective hourly rate — your total divided by time-away hours (a reality check; it looks lower on trips with long layovers)

4. The fields when you enter a trip

Trip dates — when the trip happens.
Check-in (report) time — when you report.
Check-out (release) time — when you're released.
Flight legs (when read from a screenshot) — date, flight number, departure and arrival airports, scheduled times, and block time for each leg.
Total block time — the sum of your legs, or type your own.
Time away from base (TAFB) — figured from your check-in and check-out, or you can override it.
Hourly rate and per diem rate — your pay numbers.
Manual adjustment (optional).

How they affect your estimate:

Block time → block pay.
Time away from base → per diem.
Rates scale both.
Manual adjustment is simply added to the total.

You can edit any field. There's a "use sum of legs" option to recompute total block time, and the app handles overnights and red-eyes for you.

5. Block time (in plain English)

Block time is the time from when the aircraft pushes back to when it parks at the gate (the exact definition can vary slightly by airline). It's the time you're paid on.

Enter the block time from your schedule or pairing. If you uploaded a screenshot, the app fills it in — just double-check it. The app pays block hours × your hourly rate.

If your airline pays you on a credited number (minimums, rigs, deadhead credit), enter that credited value here. The app uses one "block/credit hours" figure.

6. Time away from base (TAFB)

This is the time from report to release — and it includes layovers and rest, so it's usually larger than your block time.

It's what drives your per diem.

Example: You report at 6:00 AM Monday and are released at 10:00 PM Tuesday. That's 40 hours of time away. At a $2.00/hr per diem, that's $80.00 in per diem — even though you may have only flown 12 block hours.

7. Per diem

Per diem is a per-hour allowance for your time away from base:

Per diem = time-away hours × per diem rate.

Set your per diem rate in Settings, or change it on a trip. Per diem is often non-taxable when you're away overnight, and taxable on same-day turns. In the net-pay section you can choose how much of your per diem to treat as taxable. (The app uses one per diem rate — no separate domestic/international rate.)

8. Settings — set these once

Open Settings (you'll be signed in) and set:

Default hourly rate and per diem rate — used to pre-fill new trips so you're not re-typing them.
Pay period type — Calendar months (the default; each month is one period) or Fixed number of days (set a start date and a length, e.g. every 14 days).
Monthly minimum guarantee (MMG) — the hours your contract guarantees each period.
Paycheck schedule — how your period splits into checks (for example, an advance at month-end plus a true-up on the 15th).
Net pay estimate — optional taxes and deductions (see Section 11).
Block-hour bonus — optional incentive (see Section 13).

There's no airline name or base airport to set — that's on purpose (the app is airline-neutral).

9. The Saved Trips dashboard

When you're signed in, Saved trips is your home base. At the top you'll see a roll-up for the period you're viewing:

Block time and Time away from base — your totals.
Block pay, Per diem, Total — your estimated gross for the period.
MMG progress — a bar showing your credited hours versus your guarantee. It turns green once you're above your guarantee ("premium territory").
Paychecks for this period — each check's gross and estimated take-home, and when it pays.
Estimated bonus — if you've set up the block-hour bonus.
Year-end pace — a rough projection of annual earnings.
Per-trip "Pays on…" badges — which check each trip lands on.

Use the filter buttons to switch between This period / Last period / This month / Last month / Custom.

10. Monthly guarantee (MMG)

Your monthly guarantee is the number of hours your contract pays you for each period, even if you fly fewer. The MMG bar shows how close you are:

Below the guarantee — you're still paid for the guarantee (set your MMG and rate so the estimate reflects that).
Above the guarantee — every extra credit hour adds to your pay.

11. Paycheck simulator

Many airlines pay your month in more than one check — often a guarantee advance at month-end and a true-up later. Set that up under Paycheck schedule in Settings.

On the dashboard, each check shows its gross and estimated net, plus the date it pays. Each check is estimated separately — your percentage taxes scale with each check, per diem flows through the true-up check, and flat monthly deductions (like a cell-phone deduction) hit one check instead of both.

12. Net pay — your estimated take-home

This optional layer estimates what actually hits your bank after taxes and deductions. Turn it on in Settings → Net pay estimate, then set:

Work / tax state — pre-loads your state's payroll items.
Per diem tax treatment — how much of your per diem is taxable.
Filing status — sets an estimated federal withholding starting point.

It then estimates:

Employee taxes — Social Security (6.2%), Medicare (1.45%), federal withholding (estimated from your filing status), and state taxes.
Pre-tax deductions — traditional 401(k), health/dental/vision, HSA/FSA.
Post-tax deductions — Roth 401(k), cell phone, voluntary life, union dues, and any custom rows you add.
Employer-paid benefits (like a 401(k) match) — shown for reference, not subtracted from your take-home.

Net pay = gross − taxes − pre-tax − post-tax. You can also enter your actual net pay to compare and fine-tune your settings.

Pre-tax vs. post-tax, simply: pre-tax deductions come out before taxes (and lower your taxable wages); post-tax come out after taxes.

Calibrate from a pay stub. The fastest way to make your net-pay estimate match reality: in the net-pay section, tap Upload stub photo and snap a recent pay stub. The app reads the printed tax and deduction amounts, turns them into your real effective rates, and shows you each suggested change — nothing is applied until you check the lines you want. Your stub photo is read once and immediately discarded; it is never stored anywhere. Every applied value stays editable afterward.

13. State payroll deductions (all 50 states)

Some states require employee payroll deductions beyond income tax — things like paid family/medical leave or disability insurance. In the State Payroll Deductions panel you can:

Pick your resident state and work/domicile state, and a tax year.
See your state's deductions pre-loaded as editable rows.
Edit any rate, cap, or amount — these are estimates, so confirm them against a real pay stub.

States with no extra deduction simply say so.

14. Block-hour bonus (optional)

If your airline runs an incentive that pays an extra percentage on block hours above a certain number, turn this on in Settings → Block-hour bonus and set two things:

Bonus % — the extra percentage.
Above hours — the bonus applies to hours over this number.

Estimated bonus = (your monthly block hours − the threshold) × your hourly rate × the bonus %.

It shows as a separate "Estimated bonus (paid separately)" line on your monthly roll-up, or a friendly nudge telling you how many more hours to fly to start earning it. It's an estimate — know your program's exact rule.

15. Picking up and dropping trips

Picked up an extra trip? Just add it like any other trip. Your monthly totals — hours, guarantee progress, bonus, and pay — update automatically.
Dropped a trip, called in sick, or had a change? Delete that trip (or simply don't save it). You can also edit any saved trip at any time.

There's no special "picked-up" or "reserve" tag — every trip is just a trip, and the monthly totals do the rest.

16. Comparing to your real paycheck

In the net-pay section, enter your actual net pay and the app shows the difference from its estimate. If your estimate is off, check these in order:

Hourly rate
Monthly guarantee
Block hours
Per diem rate
Tax settings
Deduction settings

Small mismatches are normal — payroll has rounding and timing quirks.

17. Common mistakes to avoid

Mixing up block time and time away from base. Block time = paid flying hours; time away = report-to-release (drives per diem).
Forgetting to set your per diem rate or time away.
Treating non-taxable per diem as taxable in the net-pay section.
Not setting your guarantee or pay-period type, so the roll-up looks off.
Forgetting deductions or not updating your tax settings when life changes.
Expecting reserve or credit-specific math — the app uses block hours; enter your credited hours instead.

18. Quick examples

A scheduled trip: 13:48 block at $28.50/hr = $393.30 block pay; 40:27 away at $2.00/hr = $80.90 per diem; estimated total $474.20.
A multi-day trip with per diem: longer time-away hours mean more per diem, even if block hours are modest.
A month under guarantee: you fly 60 credit hours with a 70-hour guarantee — you're still paid for 70.
A month over guarantee with a bonus: if your airline runs a block-hour incentive — say "50% above 70 hours" — and you fly 76 block hours at $30.00/hr → bonus = (76 − 70) × $30.00 × 50% = $90.00, shown separately from your checks. Enter your own program's percent and threshold in Settings; the bonus is off until you do.

19. Glossary

Terms the app uses:

Block time — pushback-to-parking flying time; what you're paid on.
Time away from base (TAFB) — report to release; drives per diem.
Per diem — a per-hour allowance for time away.
Monthly guarantee (MMG) — hours your contract pays each period.
Gross pay — pay before taxes and deductions.
Net pay — estimated take-home after taxes and deductions.
Pre-tax deduction — taken out before taxes (lowers taxable wages).
Post-tax deduction — taken out after taxes.
Paycheck schedule — how your period splits into checks.
Effective hourly rate — total pay ÷ time-away hours (a reality check).
Block-hour bonus — an optional extra % on hours above a threshold.

General FA terms you might hear (not separate features here):

Credit time — paid time that may include minimums/rigs/deadhead; in this app, enter it as your block hours.
Duty time — your whole on-duty day.
Reserve / Lineholder — on-call vs. a fixed schedule.
Deadhead — traveling as a passenger for work.
Premium / incentive pay — extra pay above your base rate.
Taxable income — the wages your taxes are figured on.

20. One last reminder

Everything here is an estimate to help you plan and sanity-check your pay. Your real paycheck can differ because of airline rules, tax law, deductions, and payroll processing. When in doubt, trust your official pay stub — and use this app to understand it.

Happy flying. ✈️