Originally Posted by
bitwiser
I'm an ORD 145 FO that's been with the company a little over a year. Flying time on reserve seems to vary quite a bit, but in general the 145 is heavily overstaffed on the FO side. There was a three month stretch while I was on reserve that I flew a TOTAL of two hours, and it was not for lack of trying. As a lineholder it's obviously much better, 70-75 hrs/month.
This is really interesting. I flew with a guy the other day who is married to a CA at a regional (not saying if it's this one or not, don't want to get anyone in trouble)... and he said that she almost NEVER flies for months at a time, and will then bid turns for a month to get some time, then go back to bidding reserves.
I couldn't believe it! She's very senior, 20 plus years, absolutely ZERO desire to get into the grind of a lifestyle like Southwest or Jet Blue, where it's not as golden as it has been in the past, but it's still not hard to break $400k with bonus and clever bidding, working holidays, selling back vacation. I had 2 years that tipped $500k! This year will be a lot less because I am simply tired.
But man, it just made me think, that's a clever move if you wanted to be with someone who gets the airline lifestyle, yet want to have a family with a wife who is home with the kids most of the time. They have grandparents who can step in at a moments notice if she were to get called.