82spukram

FWIW

I know two couples that are married with kids, all work for airlines as pilots. They are happy well adjusted people, but marriage is hard and this job will make things complicated at times. It can be done.

I personally am married with a 6 month at home and a wife who owns her own business. My in laws live about 25 minutes away. We decided to not go down the day care route. So I work 12-13 days a month on weekends my wife works 4-5 days a week (Monday-Friday) and my mother in law covers the 2-3 days a month we both work. It's hard but doable.


Best of luck and remember don't put the cart before the horse. If you go civilian it truely is a journey of a thousand miles with many descions. (Can't speak for mil guys and gals) Delta May or may not be your end goal in 10-15 years so keep all the doors open.

Best of luck.

Melissa2832

Thank you for your inputs everyone. I really appreciate it! It seems like being married to another pilot with kids is doable; just challenging at times. I've always wanted a family, but I've always wanted to be a pilot. 82spnkram, it seems like you've found a system that works for you and your family and I appreciate your insight. ShyGuy, thank you for excellent advice as well! It seems like there's so much negative being said about being an airline pilot, which has made me question my dreams. But like someone told me before, "if you want something bad enough, you'll find a way to make it work". Thanks again everyone!

MasterOfPuppets

there is nothing negative about being a pilot best job/career in the world......once you make it. It's a long hard road that can destroy your personal life if you are not with the right person. It takes a special person to put up with the type A pilot that leaves on a whim.

With that said I grew up an airline kid my dad was rarely off for thanksgiving,Christmas or birthdays but you know what? They always happenened. Never did we miss christmas but it wasn't necesarily on the 25th and we were ok with that. A Holliday is a Holliday as long as it's celebrated we as kids didn't mind. My mom and dad are still happily married after 31 years and I can tell you looking back I can't think of a time my dad wasn't there. It's all what you make of it as a family.

Don't use this forum as a place to judge what it's like to be an airline pilot.......This is where airline pilots come to be entertained. just look at the names there's a 100 guys that always post and 36,000 pilots between UA, AA and DL alone.

Enjoy the journey and don't get married tell 30 that will give you time to find a patient mature person. Good luck

Sink r8

Melissa,

My uncle likes to tell the story of an old and wise college professor who said, during his last lecture: "you can forget everything I tried to teach you, but please don't forget this: pick your career well, and pick your spouse well; the rest will take care of itself".

If you want to be a pilot, be a pilot. Find a good husband, and be a good partner. Nothing will make family life better than two well-adjusted parents. The details won't matter.

Most parents see a conflict between work and family. Not being a pilot won't let you escape this. It'll just make you regret not following your dreams. The best part about this job is that when we're home, we're 100% home.

tsquare

Anybody who gets hired here in the next 5-10 years will only have to worry about working major holidays if they either bid for trips then or upgrade to more senior equipment. We are entering the greatest hiring binge in this industry in 30 years. Get your tickets, build flight time, and I'll teach you how to fly over the ocean.

polly

Well it's not tough, I have a couple of friends that have two completely different families in two different countries. No problem you just have to be able to hold lines that will allow you to do that. Preferably a wide body. Just bid for overnights where your second family is and viola no problem. Also you need two cell phones (minimum). So pursue your dream, have a family or two. Also you need two bank accounts. Good luck

iaflyer

Here's another perspective - I've both commuted and lived in base (DTW) here at Delta. For time at home - living in base wins hands down. It's like a different job being in base. I probably spend 2 more days a week at home by living in base. I am usually on reserve (and now that I am more senior and don't have to be, I still bid reserve) so not commuting to another base saves me from early shows/late checkouts and sitting short-call reserve in another base.

Also - on reserve at Delta on a narrowbody I don't fly all the time. Typically, I fly ten days a month. There are more days than that where I'm on call - but only being 30 minutes to DTW, I can do most anything I want and still make my report time.

I won't sugarcoat it, it's tough for one one being home - being gone when family problems crop up, the kid(s) are driving my wife nuts or the water heater pilot light blew out - makes for a tough road for your spouse. Like someone said, it's like a single-parent while the pilot is gone. We are making it work - my wife works and we have some steep nanny bills, but it's the cost of a two-career household.

hockeypilot44

Lol. I'm hoping this year is the last Christmas I work. I managed to get Thanksgiving off so I have that going for me. I'm not a big fan of Thanksgiving, but working it sucks as everything is closed.

Denny Crane

I'm going to give away junior in category bidding secrets that I'll probably regret but here goes...

Bid a week of vacation in November and December and then put in a vacation move-up after the initial vacation bids close February(?). Gives you most of the year to get it. It's worked for me this year and last year for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. The higher the priority of your vacation week (primary, secondary etc), the more likely you are to get it.

Denny

Melissa2832

Thank you very much everyone! I really appreciate all the advice and input! If you don't mind me asking, how many days on, days off do you get (on average) per month?