TRZ06

Exactly, more money for less flying. Unfortunately that generally means backside of the clock flying and some undesirable layovers, however brief. Deep South fits the bill as do some Asian places.
In the end though its hard to beat days off!

R57 relay

Or it could speak to how bad a reserve system is, bases that no one wants to live in...

A large # of guys will never hit WB captain. LAA guys will use their WB bump in different ways. Just the way it is.

Name User

If pay were equal I'd be curious to know what would be senior and junior. I'm guessing a select few would stay on the w/b's but most older folks would probably choose to remain on a n/b and fly domestically.

Sliceback

It might balance out but IMO long haul w/b would still be senior, especially the Asia four man trips - six flights, 90 hrs, 3 on/7 off? Kick in vacation, training, displaced for FNG training, and you'll drop 6-12 of the 36 annual trips.

The biggest hassle is getting off the gate. Domestically that includes switching gates.

W/b long haul? Eight to ten flights a month. The downside is the alarm clock in Europe. Time at home is better. That's the trade off guys make.

Sliceback

W/b for me is 3 on, 3 off, 80-85 hrs of pay. Leave the house after lunch on day one, home for dinner on day three. That's hard to match domestically. Yes, the alarm clocks s*ck.

aa73

Slice, I get 3 on 3 off on domestic 737 all the time. It's not just an Intl WB thing. Exception is when I trade around for certain days off, but if I don't, 3 on 3 off for 85hrs is quite achievable.

I chatted with a 787 FO last week and asked him why the number one DFW 787 FO could actually be a line holding 787 CA, why doesn't he bid the CA job since he is leaving so much money on the table? His answer was that he's really not leaving any money on the table. Whaaaaa??? Going from $200/hr to $290/hr and no money left on table???? The answer was that the number one FO can bid fly thru and 117 conflicts and can actually get paid for 185 hrs per month doing that. My jaw dropped, I had no idea that was even achievable. Apparently one has to know how to work the contract and it takes some effort but it's doable.

Well, when it was explained to me THAT way, it all started making sense as to why so many WB FOs choose to stay FO even when they can hold a line as a CA on the same equipment.

I still wouldn't bid it. Sure, work 9 days a month but those 9 days are pure hell on the body. Much rather work 15 days and feel normal! But more power to them, the more they bypass CA, the better chances I have of snagging it.

PRS Guitars

I've heard of this stuff before, but will this be possible with PBS? Since PBS actually looks at your previous months schedule? I know on the reserve side, you can no longer bid to have 7+ days (so that you get a free day off) on at the monthly changeover.

aa73

Yeah PRS, that was the catch, I forgot to mention he did tell me that DFW was not on PBS yet and when it happens, they won't be able to do that anymore. So maybe the WB will start going more junior at that point.

DesertDog

KLM had seniority pay at one point. Junior staff was 747 FO. All the garden spots for layover - Jarkarta, Kuala Lampur, Karachi & Bombay. All senior captains flew turns out of Amsterdam on 737s.

DD

Sliceback

European airlines also had long trips, 4-11 days, followed by a short time off. So flying turns got you home every day.

aa73 - those domestic three day trips cost another dinner at home every trip vs European trips for a no commuting pilot. Five dinners a month.

PBS will bring the cash cow game to an end. I think most of the guys will stay in the same seat(G4 FO vs G2 CA). We'll know in 1-2 years.