Originally Posted by
biigD
This is commonly quoted about the career, but if you live in base it's not really half the month. I tend to work 14 day months and lay it out as four 3 day trips and a pair of day trips. So that's 8 nights. My average TAFB for 2018 (including training) was about 230 hours, which works out to be roughly 31.5% of the year. And I tend to be busy (by choice) - lots of guys work less, and if on reserve - far less.
To your point, it's still not a lifestyle for everyone and the 8 nights away sucks, but I tend to think the time away is overblown for those living in base at a major airline. A guy working 9-5 has a "TAFB" of 26.7% of the year, and just about any career choice that pays major airline money isn't merely a 9-5 job.
Add in the advantages laid out by Sliceback, and I feel our families actually have it pretty good compared to a lot of people out there earning what we do.
I moved to base in July and did short call reserve the last 5 months of the year. My TAFB ranged from 65 hours to 262 hours. The month with 262 hours I picked up multiple trips on off days. Average TAFB was 135 hours per month. Living in base and bidding short call reserve it would be pretty easy to be away from home less than 8 nights per month for most airlines.