Originally Posted by
UAL97
I had heard that same thing so I decided to check out the schedules of the guys at my same seniority level in GUM. I've been at UAL coming up on 4 years, and it appeared if I wanted to bid a line it would be all redeye turns. No thanks!
There are redeye turns for the Jr Lineholder. So what...
They are also normally 9-10 hr 3 man crew redeye turns. They are also very efficient. They are cake to do in a 3 man crew.
For those moderately senior, you can easily pickup an extra 7-10 hr turn each month for extra money. If you are junior and you want to fly less, you can drop those redeye turns when you like and get even more days off. People will pick them up because they are easy to do and extremely efficient.
I was a junior lineholder when I was out there and I generally did one island hopper a month, and then mostly redeye turns. I got a smattering of Japan day turns, but you had to be better than 50% at the time to have a full line of Japan turns. (I hear the island hopper isn't junior anymore, it's more moderate.)
It's a small base. You will get to know everyone there for better or for worse.
If you wanna whine about 6-10 turns a month for a full line then I can't help you. Yes, if you are junior, most will be in the middle of the night, but if you want you can split them up into 2-3 blocks in a month, so basically you are working 2-3 3 day blocks and you are at home each day with your family.
When you do lay over, generally it's off the island hopper and you get 24-48 hrs in HNL, which is pretty sweet.
When you are on your days off, you are just a few short hrs from Australia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, New Zealand, Hawaii, etc.
I'm not trying to sell anyone on the whole deal. It's not for everyone. But if you like efficient flying, there were guys out there years ago that were making more than 777 guys due to the way they worked their schedule. It's an opportunity to make some good money and have a lot of days off, especially as a relatively junior guy.
If you don't like money, time off, or traveling to exotic locations, then newhires will have fun going to MEX and POS.
If you and your family don't like to travel, I wouldn't suggest it, because "island fever" is a real thing. But if you are adventurous, it's a sweet deal. It's not like you have to live there forever. If you have no kids, or the kids are preschool age, it's also great for traveling.