I'm looking for real world advice here. Flame away if you must, but this is a very big decision for my wife and I. I know that I'll trade frequent time away for larger blocks of time off. Is it worth it? Was it worth it to you?
Thanks in advance for all your replies, guidance, and advice.
-BYOB
My experience is not typical of most Atlas pilots, but I'll throw my $.02 in anyway.
I spent about 10 years at a regional before coming to Atlas 3 years ago. I am on the 767, CVG based. The reason my experience is likely atypical of most Atlas pilots is that I live in domicile.
I do not regret coming here for one moment. It is a radically different work environment from the regionals (and all 121 scheduled domestic flying). Knowing how exhausted I was after a 4 day trip at my regional, I couldn't imagine what it would be like after 17 days. The truth is, I am less exhausted after an Atlas 17 day trip than I was after a mere 4 days at my previous carrier. A "short" layover here is typically around 14-18 hours, and I've had many, many layovers that were 24+ (some as much as 5 days). Even with the time changes, I find I am fully recovered from a long trip in the same, or less, time than it took to recover from a regional trip.
Being at work at Atlas is far more enjoyable than it was at my former regional carrier. The crews are all excellent (yes, we do have those 2%-ers that you find everywhere else, too). Every time I'm in an airport taking a commercial flight to my next assignment, I am reminded of why I don't miss those 121 days.
For me and my wife (no kids), even the 17 day long trips (which are not nearly as numerous as they used to be) are totally worth the 13-14 days off in a row. By bidding a trip at the start of month 1 and one at the end of month 2, it's possible to get up to 4 weeks off in a row, without using any vacation. Of course, that all depends on the trip mix offered, and your relative seniority in your base, but it can and does happen here.
And with the amount of growth management claims to want for next year, anyone hired in the next few months should see a sizable cushion of pilots below them by the time they are off probation. Of course, like everything in this industry, you can't count on that until it actually happens, but this company has seen incredible growth over the last 3-4 years, and every indication points to it continuing (if not accelerating) over the near term.
Regarding your travel, this year alone I have accumulated enough frequent flyer miles to buy 2 round trip domestic tickets for a sister-in-law and her husband, 2 round trip domestic tickets for my wife, and a one way domestic ticket for myself. I currently have enough miles on my preferred carrier to purchase another domestic round trip ticket. Since Atlas is in CASS, I can jumpseat on all the major airlines (and most of the minor ones), which means we can usually get away with purchasing just a single mileage ticket for the wife. Having mentioned you like to go on a couple of vacations each year, I would think that your frequent flyer miles should be able to cover those tickets, and the best part is you are positive space, not standby. And with the large chunks of time off, you don't even have to burn any vacation weeks to go on vacation. Both of my vacations this year were taken on regular days off. Oh yeah, and then there's the hotel points you will accumulate here as well.
I can't tell you which decision to make. All I can say is that my decision to come to Atlas has been the best one of my career. But don't get me wrong. There are a number of things at Atlas I'd like to see changed. You asked if it was worth it to me to come here, and my personal answer is a resounding yes.
I'm sure others will chime in with a different perspective (different equipment/base/commuters), but the bottom line is that Atlas is far from perfect, but it's perfect for me.