Crew pay audit on every statement, not a sample — each error found, sourced and corrected before payday
Every crew statement recomputed from flown times and the contract, before payday.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Crew pay audit is checking that every pilot and flight attendant was paid what the union contract says for the time they actually flew. Crew Pay Audit recomputes every monthly statement line by line from flown times and the agreement and letters in force each day, finds errors both ways before payday, and drafts each correction for Crew Payroll to approve and sign.
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A crew pay audit checks pilots' and flight attendants' monthly statements, each built from credited hours, trip and duty rigs, premiums, guarantees, per diem, reassignment and junior-assignment pay, which are defined in the collective bargaining agreement and its letters of agreement. Payroll calculates the settlement from a feed out of crew scheduling. A crew pay auditor then re-keys a small sample against the contract in spreadsheets, and most errors surface only when a crew member asks or the union files a grievance.
The errors that cost the most are the quiet ones. A letter of agreement raises a rate on the first of the month and the earning-code table still holds the old one. A pairing is reissued after a schedule change and loses its international flag in the pay feed. A reassignment is saved without a link to the original trip. Each one repeats every month until someone notices a pattern — and by then underpaid crew are owed back pay, and an overpayment already paid can be recovered only on the terms the agreement sets.
Estimated split of a crew pay team's working days between the settlement and the payroll cut-off, by hand and with the solution.
Seven agents recompute every statement, check each other and draft every correction; Crew Payroll approves and signs.
Corvane Airways, a fictional network carrier of about 300 aircraft and 17,280 crew, calculated its October settlement on Mon 2 Nov. Payday is Fri 13 Nov; corrections close Mon 9 Nov, 17:00. Here is Wednesday morning, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Overnight the pay agents recomputed all 17,280 October statements. Her home screen shows 764 crew paid too little ($184,834.27), 328 paid too much ($113,300.36) and 1,092 corrections waiting for a decision. Beside it the agents report in plain words: the checker traced the differences to 8 causes and held 3 disagreements for her, and the crew answer agent drafted 7 replies to crew pay questions. She can ask them anything from the same box — “Why was Camille Rhodes underpaid?”
“FA Camille Rhodes was underpaid $212.40 for October … The same cause touches 152 attendants.”
Camille Rhodes, a JFK purser in her 17th year, flew four pairings in October, two of them to Tokyo: J4127 and J4180. The month strip marks both, and a note says they were reissued on Oct 2. Every pay line shows how it is computed, what the statement paid, what the agents recomputed and the contract section behind it. One line differs: international premium, $0.00 against $212.40. The total moves from $8,130.18 to $8,342.58.
Checker: “I recomputed it on my own from the aircraft data link: agree to the cent.”
Megan clicks the line. The working reads 59:00 credited × $3.60. The clause is FA Agreement §5.F.2 as amended by LOA 26-03, which raised the premium from $3.25 on Oct 1, with the rate highlighted. The sources read are listed: the pay feed records for J4127 and J4180, the data link for CV 96 and her October statement.
“The statement shows no premium: both pairings were reissued on Oct 2 and arrived in the pay feed without their international flag.”
Megan asks the agents in the statement's own conversation. The checker answers with its source: per diem comes from the crew expense system, which reads the layover station rather than the pairing's flag. Both Tokyo pairings were paid at the international rate, $3.10 an hour for 153:20 — $475.33, correct to the cent.
Correction C-1001, +$212.40, earning code INTL-PREM, pays on the Fri 13 Nov settlement. Megan picks the reason “Feed or table error corrected”, ticks “I confirm this decision” and signs. The correction is approved, and the decision goes on the audit trail with her name and the time.
The agents draft; only Crew Payroll approves a change to pay.
The cause page lists everyone the reissued pairings touched: 152 flight attendants, +$22,902.60, no paid month affected. Megan can approve every ready correction in one signature. The fix — carry the international flag when crew scheduling reissues a pairing — goes to its owner, Ray Tolliver, and the agents re-check the pattern every night until he accepts it.
“Crew Scheduler decides; the agents watch for the pattern every night until then.”
Camille asked about her two Tokyo trips on Mon 2 Nov (Q-3318). The crew answer agent drafted the reply with the clause, the pay feed record and her statement attached. It could not be sent until C-1001 was approved; now it can, and a person sends it through the crew portal.
“Hi Camille — you are right … The correction is on your November 13 settlement.”
The flight attendants' union filed G-26-114 on Tue 3 Nov for 41 named attendants. Denise Whitaker, Labor Relations Manager, asks the grievance evidence agent why it found more. It matched the grievance to the cause, not the names, and recomputing every attendant found 152. Its proposed position: settle by paying every affected crew member through the October corrections and share the calculation. Denise decides.
“Settling through the corrections pays all of them on the Fri 13 Nov settlement, so no second grievance follows.”
For First Officer Hannah Kessler, crew tracking says CV 119 blocked in at 23:58 on Oct 24; the aircraft data link and the gate system say 23:12. The pay calculator drafted +$248.88 for a reassignment override; the checker disagrees and puts it at +$164.70. Approve is blocked: Megan edits the amount or rejects it.
“Two of three sources agree on 23:12. I have held this for a person.”
Captain Russell Haynes was paid both trip protection and his replacement flying in September: $3,974.40 overpaid. Because it was already paid, the correction drafter plans four deductions of $993.60 — 10% of his $9,936.00 average net — starting Tue 15 Dec, and drafts the notice with the calculation. Curtis Vaughn approves the plan; Labor Relations signs the notice.
“30 days’ written notice with the calculation, and no more than 10% of net pay per period.”
The same pay month, seen by the five people who carry it — what it looked like with a sample and a spreadsheet, and what it looks like now.
Seven agents recompute every statement, check each other and draft every correction; Crew Payroll approves and signs.
Collects every leg, pairing, trade, reassignment, reserve and sick record for the month, and reconciles crew tracking against the aircraft data link's out, off, on and in times and the gate system.
Redoes the crew pay calculation for every pay line of every statement from flown times, HR records and the pilot and flight attendant agreements and letters of agreement in force on each day.
Maps every pay rule to its section; reads each new letter of agreement, drafts the rule change beside the old rule and replays it on last month.
Recomputes every differing line on its own from different sources, explains it or traces it to a cause, looks back 12 months and sends the fix to the cause's owner.
Drafts each correction with its earning code, plans recoveries of overpayments already paid inside the notice period and the 10% cap, and builds the payroll corrections file.
Drafts the reply to each crew pay question from the same evidence as the audit — and says so when the statement is right.
Matches each pay grievance to its cause and the crew actually affected, builds the evidence file and proposes a position.
Approves every correction; the manager signs the month. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Every screen has the agents in a conversation: ask about any crew member, cause, clause, grievance or decision, or tell them what to show you. Each answer cites the pay feed record, data-link message or contract section it came from, and offers the next step.
Why was Camille Rhodes underpaid?
Her two Tokyo pairings, J4127 and J4180, were reissued after the Oct 2 schedule change and reached payroll with the international flag set to N. The premium is $3.60 for every credited hour on a pairing with an international segment: 59:00 × $3.60 = $212.40. The same cause touches 152 attendants.
Which corrections can I approve in bulk?
726 additions up to $1,000 where two agents agree to the cent — $139,588.15 in all. 363 go to Curtis Vaughn (over your limit or a reduction) and 3 need you to settle a disagreement first.
Why wasn't her per diem affected too?
Per diem comes from the crew expense system, which reads the layover station (HND) rather than the pairing's flag. Both Tokyo pairings were paid at the international rate, $3.10 an hour for 153:20 — $475.33, correct to the cent.
Why did you find more crew than the union named?
G-26-114 names 41 attendants. I matched it to the cause, not the names: every pairing reissued after the Oct 2 schedule change lost its international flag, and recomputing every attendant found 152. Settling through the corrections pays all of them on the Fri 13 Nov settlement, so no second grievance follows.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
Limits, clocks and what the agents may do are settings. Only a manager or the crew systems administrator changes them, and every change is on the audit trail.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Analyst approval limit | $1,000 | $0 to $25,000; additions above it go to the Manager, Crew Payroll, and reductions always do |
| Not adjusted below | $0.50 | Set by the rounding rule in the agreement (FA §5.A.4) |
| Spot-check of explained differences | 5% | Share a person reviews each month |
| Agents draft corrections on their own | On | On · Off — drafts only; a person always approves |
| Tell crew the same day a reduction is approved | On | On · Off — a notice with the calculation, through the crew portal |
| Answer crew pay questions within | 5 business days | Any number of business days; the clock shows on every question |
| Escalate a correction waiting over 2 days | On | On · Off — to the Manager, Crew Payroll |
| Pay grievance deadline | 60 days from the statement | From the agreement (FA §27); the agents warn 10 days before |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate ($113,300.36 a month of overpayments found before payday × 12, for a carrier the size of the demo airline; and the split of days) · “typical” = published figures (a large US network carrier's 2024 Form 10-K: salaries, wages and benefits about 31% of operating expense). Airline crew are exempt from FLSA overtime under 29 U.S.C. 213(b)(3), so the agreement, not the statute, defines their pay; pay disputes go to boards of adjustment under the Railway Labor Act. Corvane Airways, its agreements and letters, and the people named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Crew pay audit is checking that every pilot and flight attendant was paid what the union contract says for the time they actually flew. Crew Pay Audit recomputes every monthly statement line by line from flown times and the agreement and letters in force each day, finds errors both ways before payday, and drafts each correction for Crew Payroll to approve and sign.
Most crew pay auditors re-key a small sample of statements against the contract in spreadsheets, and the rest of the errors surface as crew pay questions or grievances. Here the agents recompute every statement after the month closes, a second agent recomputes every difference on its own, and crew pay discrepancies are each explained or traced to a cause.
The pay calculator recomputes credit, rigs, premiums, guarantees, per diem, reassignment and junior assignment pay from crew tracking, the aircraft data link and HR records. Every line that differs from payroll's statement goes to the checker, which explains it, traces it to a cause such as a lost flag on a reissued pairing, and looks back 12 months.
Overpayments found on a settlement not yet paid are stopped before payday, with a notice to the crew member. An overpayment already paid is recouped only on the agreement's terms — in the demo airline's agreements, 30 days' written notice with the calculation and no more than 10% of net pay per period. The manager approves the plan and Labor Relations signs the notice.
The contract reader drafts the rule change beside the old rule and replays it on last month — for a reserve guarantee raised to 75:00, it showed 1,212 reserves would gain $171,640.25 a month. A crew systems administrator switches it on only after the replay.
Yes. The agents never change a statement, send anything to payroll, reply to a crew member or switch on a pay rule without a person. Every correction is approved, edited or rejected with a reason and an e-signature, within limits by role, and the manager signs the month before the corrections file goes to payroll.
Yes. The grievance evidence agent matches each pay grievance to its cause and to every crew member affected — 152 found where the union named 41 — builds the evidence file and proposes a position. Labor Relations decides, and can settle through the same corrections.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys this crew pay audit software from your requirements and documents — your pilot and flight attendant agreements, letters of agreement and a past month of statements and flown times — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own pay month first.
Every broken pairing re-crewed legally before it costs a flight, crew told in 20 minutes.
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