Sounds

Pick one, family or career. Despite what the society tells you, it's not possible to have your cake and eat it too. (And since you're a woman it's even harder for you to have a family while flying)


Both my parents flew for delta, all my friends fly for delta. I'm not married but none of the marriages I've seen are still around.

Melissa2832

What about flying cargo (FedEx or UPS) instead of airlines? Does that make family life any better? Also, I'm very fortunate to have my family supporting me, and if I worked for Delta and flew out of DTW, they would literally be next door to me (or at most 10 minutes away) to watch the kids if my husband and I were out of town.

Sputnik

Just to clarify, your parents and all your friends are divorced? And you are never getting married?

Purple Drank

Would this thread be the same if the OP was a 19 year old male? I suspect not. We would be encouraging him to use the search function, since all of this stuff has been discussed for every conceivable airline combination. #doublestandard

DAL 88 Driver

I've never done that type of flying, but it doesn't sound like a good idea to me. A lot of their flying is back side of the clock (at night), which means it takes a day or two after a trip to "recover" and get back to a normal sleep pattern where you're up during the day and sleeping at night. With kids, I could see that really being a nightmare for you.

Best of luck to you! Flying is the best job in the world and IMO is worth some sacrifice.

PRS Guitars

Don't rely on your parents for childcare. This seems to be the trendy thing nowadays. Why would you burden your parents with that, or even assume they'd want to do it? I've had two siblings go this route and it creates lots of issues. You basically remain an economic dependent of your parents, unable to function on your own. It pretty much makes you a moocher.

On the grandparent side, it takes away from their retirement, they can't travel freely, they have more of a parental role with the grand child, they get less time with other grand children. Many mothers will tell there daughters that they want to do this (and maybe they do). But, I've seen it pretty much ruin the parent's (daughter/son in law) character and the quality of life of the grandparent.

Melissa2832

I completely agree with you. One of my friends (non-pilot) had suggested it, but I thought the airlines would be better as well. I just thought I'd ask for some input to see if I was wrong! Thanks!

Sounds

Yep to all. The three recently married couples in that list are on their way out too. I'll avoid ranting much more, but more and more people I know are moving away from the traditional marriage scene.

My advice would be nearly identical.

Maddoggin

My wife is also a pilot and so far we have been able to make it work. Our timing on meeting was good though. I was already at a major and she had been at a regional for several years. The first couple years we matched our schedules to be off the same times and used that time to travel around. Now we have a two year old and scheduling is always a challenge. I wish we had family around but have been successful finding nannies to fill in when we couldn't be there. My wife is pretty senior now and is able to drop a lot of trips and make it more a part time job. The problem with that is in the summer and min staffing you can't drop trips the same as shoulder months. So we try and bid vacation then to compensate for that. So far I think we end up spending more time together as a family than most of my friends that work 9-5.

Melissa2832

Thank you very much everyone! I appreciate the advice and stories! It seems like it can be done; it may be difficult at times, but worth it in the end!