Originally Posted by
Guard
They also have had a pretty significant fail rate in initial training. One reason I came here over a major was I know my schedule for 4 months at a time and airline to your starting point and home. You can make a lot more money at a major but I like working 5 1/2 months first year on track to make $95-100K. Its not for everyone though. I would say FDP has added a third pay check every month. Fatti Latti is busy though, got 8 hours of flying today of FDP. If you need to know where your going to be every night don't come here, I've been from Baham overnight to Jackson Hole this las tour.
Please excuse my terseness, but let's cut the "I only work 5 1/2 months" and make $100K crap! You do NOT work 5 1/2 months. Nobody does. When you work January through May and are DONE for the year, you then and only then work 5 1/2 months. Just because you get a 7/7 schedule and vacations does NOT mean you do not work each month.
The pay is good, yes. The benefits are very good, yes. BUT YOU WORK THE WHOLE YEAR. Would I leave? Yes, for SWA: very short time commuting as junior bases are all places I can deal with or live in. But not for UAL or DAL: Both involve long periods in baaaaaad bases commuting. At NutJets I enjoy the seniority I have, even as a junior PIC. There are things I like and things I don't like but that's just how any job is. But I am fully aware of reality that
we all work every month except for the few guys who know how to "work things" with changing schedules and vacation bidding. "Work things" means being smart, flexible and patient enough to sit down and do the math to figure out how to use the CBA---IOW legal and agreed by the company---methods to get the most drip from the turnip. Just like Scheds does every day. Its not "gaming the system", its being smart.