My new personal rules of thumb are to

- never leave home without at least a weeks worth of clothes

- expect a 14 hour duty day every day on rotation

- never trust your schedule until 1 - 2 days out

- on a busy day, eat when you can, sometimes its tough to get food with quick turns everywhere

- request vacation at the max allowable mark ( 6 months) for big events/holidays/etc

- don't hassle with booking hotels/rental cars etc until the night before, the day of being more desirable ( to avoid cancellation woes left and right)

- facetime is an invaluable tool to see the kid / wife / friends / pet ferret (?)


remember the schedule is extremely fluid and our schedulers are playing a game of chess with half the pieces missing right now. one person calls off or one jet breaks and the system collapses. once staffing comes up things should get a little bit better, but schedule changes are still required for pilot longevity in mine and others humble opinions


EAS is a diamond in the rough, with patience and a bit of luck i think we could all be very happy here eventually