Originally Posted by
iaflyer
Exactly. While there are plenty of people who can hold M88 or 717 Captain in NYC on reserve, who wants to? Covering 2-3 airports, with trips that can get pretty bad with a reroute, for a bit more pay and less days off? No thanks...
I've seen and heard of some pretty nasty reroutes on those airplanes - on the ER or larger, there really isn't much to go wrong. When the schedule gets really bad, they just recrew it and send it off.
Of course, the company would say, "statistics say that's a rare event" or "it's within the PWA and FARs". Sure it's legal, but safe or restful?
No thanks - I see why plenty of Int'l FOs want to stay right there near the top of the list, do a GS or pick up a WS if they need some extra dough. Meanwhile they enjoy the summer vacation and holidays off.
And unlike in past years, now you have PBS, so if you're not in the top half of a category, you are working most or every weekend, every month, every holiday, and forget meaningful vacation weeks. So being a jr. Capt for a couple of bucks more is worth that hassle? I guess if you can add LCA pay to it maybe. But that's just a handful of guys. You can work 10 days on a 777 roster for the same hours as 14 or 15 days on a narrowbody. That's why I think the company would do well to consider some QOL improvements that would mitigate the 'juniority' issue for NB captains. Keep in mind, most of that demographic is 40 ish, young kids at home, and they need flexibility and time at home. They get that on the international fleet. They just don't on the domestic side.