Originally Posted by Joebob21

A few reasons I think a lot of people consider fractionals.

1) As you mentioned home basing. This is a big one. Fact is that most bases, especially junior bases are in high cost of living, sometimes less than desirable places to live. It’s like they always say, location, location, location.

2)Pay. Now before I get ripped apart on this one hear me out. Flexjet advertises

100K starting pay. That’s not bad when you consider regional level pay even up through multiple year seniority captain. Now if you’re talking long term, of course there is no argument, pay at a major will likely surpass what you can make here. But for some of us, time is not a luxury we can afford. 3). Captain Upgrade. In as little as 2 years you can upgrade to captain, meaning better pay. Regional is 1000hrs min. which can vary significantly depending on airline. 1.5 years likely being the average at a regional. Compare the Captain pay at the regionals vs. fractional. 4)flight benefits. You may say that 121 outright wins this, with perks like KCM and CASS it’s great, I agree. On the other hand fractionals keep all points for travel, hotel points, and car rental points. When they travel they have positive space seating, that they didn’t have to pay for. No standby, no wearing a monkey suit to ride shotgun. 5)the flying. You mentioned how much more a fractional pilot works, some people enjoy flying. Maybe not those that fly between LGA, EWR, ORD, DCA, MSP etc. The guys that fly to the Bahamas, Hawaii, Mexico, and get paid to stay there with a healthy per diem policy, they enjoy their job. It comes down to your timeline as an individual, the young 20 something that has time to invest will undoubtedly be rewarded after sacrificing the first decade of their career to climb the ladder, the others may see the fractional as a way to enjoy life now, and hold the QOL from the get go.