Thanks everyone who commented with their opinions on the way Allegiant is running the crew staffing and schedules. It is interesting to hear the ins and outs of this segment of the industry.

sailingfun -
No - I've never worked long term at an airline, in fact I've never worked at an airline. I spent a long time in a job that had me away for extended periods of time and then I moved to a job that had me on the road quite a lot as a contract pilot and now I find myself in a career job that still has me traveling to different degrees.
You seem to come out defensive with your post and telling me that an airline schedule is vastly different from some 9-5 schedule with weekends off and not missing any holidays and birthdays. Did I leave you with the impression somewhere is any of my posts that I thought they were similar? Maybe you didn't like the points that I made which are echoed when talking to people outside of the industry? You say in your post that "there is nothing like being home every night." I hope you aren't one of those who chose an airline career and now bemoan the lifestyle and time spent traveling. If that is truly how you feel and it is that important, why do you stay?

Not all companies treat their road warriors in the same manner as you describe. I know of a few who are on the road nearly 3 weeks out of every month - Monday through Friday - away from home, friends, and family and aren't compensated any better than a majority of regional airline pilots and certainly don't get the number of days off to make up the time.

So pilots at airlines don't have any other positions that they may move into for a break from the line? If not - I'll chalk that up as another positive for reasons I don't want to move to an airline job even if there were to be big movement in the industry. I like the having the opportunity to take a break from the line should I chose for any variety of reasons.

Good luck to the Allegiant employees. I had heard the rumors of recently messed up training programs and such but I didn't know the details of the sim issues that you brought to light in your posts and the increased use of the TDYs. I hope it all gets worked out for all.