Originally Posted by
vroll1800
I'm not sure if that paragraph was directed at me. If it was, thanks for making insinuations about me without knowing me, or checking my profile. (The later would have dispelled at least one of your notions.)
Furthermore, I don't think prioritizing the innate human desire to exercise a certain degree of control over one's life makes one a crybaby, or prima donna.
OP mentioned that he found cargo airlines (K4 and 5Y in particular wrt this thread) to be interesting. Besides the boilerplate cargo ops vs passenger ops, he may have found home basing, and a long singular stretch off to be appealing. The later singular stretch off is the velvet glove.
The 16 to 17 day stretch on the road is the "hammer." Your A#$ belongs to company during that stretch. So, you're "ON" 1-16 June, but would like to have the 11th- 16th off and pick up 6 days somewhere else. Good luck with that. ACMI schedules are made with the assumption that you will be on that 16 day stretch.
Contrast this with many ULCC posts on tremendous flexibility, and ability to trade, pick up , and drop trips.
Also several ULCC posts talk of working less than 16 days, often 12 to 14. Again, on that 16 day stretch you're at company disposal. There will be some nice layovers (you'll need at least 2 - 24 hour blocks off in the 16 day tour.) You'll also likely get multiple time zone/body clock changes. Are you required to monitor company cell phone on layovers ?
Whereas on passenger side, ~ 1/4 or so of working days involve either a post 1500 show time, or a pre 1300 release. If you live in domicile, several chances to squeeze in a tennis game prior to your 3-4 day trip, or catch an afternoon baseball game upon completion of your work block. Furthermore, can tweak your schedule to get more AM's or PM's depending on whether you're a morning or night person.
OP should weigh whether he enjoys having some flexible control in his schedule, or if like maxjet can readily accept being at company disposal for 16 straight days, often on polar opposite body clock cycles within a few days.
The paragraph you refer to was not about you. You are right I don’t know you. What my question for you was, is what was your point? You have now answered that question. The way you originally wrote your comments was to me, unnecessarily critical. Every job in every industry has its good and bad. If the bad out weighs the good, and you have a choice, you move on. If the opposite is true, you stay. Things in ACMI are neither good nor bad. They just are. You either accept this or move on.