Flight Pay for Reservists

[BUSTED]

Upfront: I'm an idiot for not noticing this sooner.

Question 1: Should I have received Aviation Career Incentive Pay ("Flight Pay") for both IDT (UTA/AFTP) and AT Days? (Or is it just for AT days?)

Question 2: what's the best way to go about getting back pay for Flight Pay from a Unit that I've since left? (I'm still in AFRC, just another unit)

Background:

I left AD and joined the Reserves in January 2014. Since that point, I've done all of my UTA's and AFTP's, as well as AT days; but it has always been in strings of 2-5 days at a time. I've never done a continuous order. Which means that my pay has always trickled in as relatively small deposits (so, I've never received a full month's pay as a reservist... so I've never noticed it was slightly less than it should be).

Last month, I left my previous unit and began initial qual training for a new unit and new airframe. Now that I've received a full month's pay, it was easy to see that I wasn't getting my Flight Pay. This sparked me to do something I should have done long ago... review my previous LES. It looks like I haven't received Flight Pay since leaving AD in 2014.

I called my new unit, and they said that they would look into getting it corrected for the orders I'm currently on. But, I'm not sure the best way to go about getting paid by my old unit. Any suggestions?

[WerD2234]

As a 1C, I can help with this question. 

You will need to talk to yours HARM office. They're the ones who track your flight pay. As far as you being a reservist, you're on "conditional" flight pay. That means you get paid for how much you fly. Generally you have to fly 4 hours a month to get paid. If you fly more, it'll roll over to the next month or apply backwards if you didn't get it previously. It won't matter about your AT weekend. However, if you're on active orders then you should be prorated as a result. Finance will not know the answer to your question. It's trucked by your HARM office who pushes the info to them. It should be easy to find since your info will be in your FRF.

[JS]

9 hours ago, WerD2234 said:

being a reservist, you're on "conditional" flight pay. That means you get paid for how much you fly. Generally you have to fly 4 hours a month to get paid. If you fly more, it'll roll over to the next month or apply backwards if you didn't get it previously. It won't matter about your AT weekend. However, if you're on active orders then you should be prorated as a result. 

I do not believe this is accurate at all.  As long as you have a valid flight physical on file with the HARM, they control the strings with flight pay and you should ALWAYS get your flight pay (assuming you met gates, etc. - the same gates game you played in active duty).  Over the past decade in the Reserves, I have never heard of conditional flight pay, getting paid only when you fly, or any of that.  I am well into my second year of not flying and still get ACIP - on IDTs, UTAs, AT, MPA, RPA, and every other status under the sun.  

The prorated part is correct, of course.  So for each IDT period and for each AT day, you should get 1/30th of your ACIP monthly pay commensurate with your years in flying status.  

And he is correct in telling you to work with the HARM - they should get it turned back on.  It would help if you had your current and previous 1042 or 2992 medical forms, or whatever they call it today.  While you are at it, you may as well go in fully armed (could not resist the pun) when you meet with the ARM guys, so I would read AFI 11-401, especially Chapter 2 where it talks about Aviation Specialty Codes to at least be familiar with the terms and see if there are some hidden gremlins in there that might be what got your flight pay turned off.  That reg is what they are going to quote as their bible in the HARM office.    

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.  

   

[KrustyFck]

With less than 25 years of aviation service you will receive continuous ACIP.  (With some minor flying gate qualifiers).  This is assuming you have an active AO.   

At 25 years of aviation service you need to fly a certain amount of hours every thirty days based on your total of IDT/ADT served each month.  It get complicated for your HARM folks but isn't an issue if you're at least flying once or twice a month.

As mentioned, your HARM folks will keep you straight.

[BUSTED]

Thanks, guys!

I'll let you know how it plays out...


Cheers,
Busted


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[WerD2234]

On 10/5/2016 at 5:43 PM, JS said:

I do not believe this is accurate at all.  As long as you have a valid flight physical on file with the HARM, they control the strings with flight pay and you should ALWAYS get your flight pay (assuming you met gates, etc. - the same gates game you played in active duty).  Over the past decade in the Reserves, I have never heard of conditional flight pay, getting paid only when you fly, or any of that.  I am well into my second year of not flying and still get ACIP - on IDTs, UTAs, AT, MPA, RPA, and every other status under the sun.  

The prorated part is correct, of course.  So for each IDT period and for each AT day, you should get 1/30th of your ACIP monthly pay commensurate with your years in flying status.  

And he is correct in telling you to work with the HARM - they should get it turned back on.  It would help if you had your current and previous 1042 or 2992 medical forms, or whatever they call it today.  While you are at it, you may as well go in fully armed (could not resist the pun) when you meet with the ARM guys, so I would read AFI 11-401, especially Chapter 2 where it talks about Aviation Specialty Codes to at least be familiar with the terms and see if there are some hidden gremlins in there that might be what got your flight pay turned off.  That reg is what they are going to quote as their bible in the HARM office.    

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.  

   

I'll need to refresh myself on the regs, I don't work with reservists that often. So forgive me for misinformation. Regardless the HARM is where he needs to start.