Originally Posted by
crewdawg
Not at all, I'm extremely senior in my seat, live an hour from base and have no kids, I have no problems jumping on an advantageous GS. I have my August schedule set up nicely for a GS opportunity and I'll likely pass on a few before taking the best GS for me. I just know lots of pilots don't partake as many just don't have the time available and/or can't deal with the uncertainty of the reserve GS game (family situation). Some just don't want to work that much and would prefer the days they do work, pay them more. Also, it comes back to the fact that GS's can (and likely will) dry up at any time on your fleet. Counting on them for those high earnings, it's a great plan.
That said, I much prefer an airline that is staffed properly. You mentioned flexibility, nothing provides more flexibility than having proper staffing. If that drives down the number of GS's handed out, I'm OK with that.
They also favor many non-commuters, especially if you can sit SC at home...that's A LOT of time spent at home. I don't disagree that international has its downsides wrt to sleep, it's actually something I've voiced on here before. However, so do domestic trips that flip-flop between am/pm flying. Domestic multi-leg, 7+ block hour days are extremely detrimental to ones health as well, especially when you end up on the opposite coast. I found recovering from a long, international leg is not much different than recovering from a transcon redeye.
Oh I don't disagree with you there. I just don't automatically dismiss people that say they'll make more in the right seat than the left...mainly because I view "earnings" through the lens of pay/day worked. Relying on GS or working 15+ days/month for that, isn't great either.
Overall I think the key flexibility is Seniority. There's days worked and also quality of days worked. As a senior domestic A told me why do I need to go all the way to Tokyo when I can just go to Savanah in the evening and fly back in the morning for 10:30. Granted I wouldn't want to do that my whole career he did make an excellent point. As a senior 73NB, I can vouch for the QOL benefits of "block hour surfing" aka drop all your trips, WS turns, out and backs to get to GS trigger and GS here and there on the weekends. Beautiful thing about this airline is there is something for everyone. Heck if I became independently wealthy and no longer needed to work my next bid would definitely be Widebody B. Preferably somewhere I'd be the most senior on Reserve.
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