Originally Posted by
duvie
Bottom line, your “competition” for NB captain seats are WB guys like me. Bottom widebody line older versus bottom captain lineholder trips just don’t even compare. If you’re going to be away from home for four days/3 nights, might as well make 25+ hours and get paid to nap for two legs, rather than doing 8+ legs with 14 hour overnights in BFE.
anything that sweetens the pot for widebody first officers or senior narrowbody FOs, by definition does not achieve the objectives on the company’s end. Throw in the fact that flowing crews through other domiciles will undoubtedly lead to more hotel stays in SF/LA/NYC. Three of the most expensive places in the world to pay for hotels.
A lot of our first officers who are hired just prior to Covid didn’t fly much in the last year and a half, so as they reach 500 hours and self certify, I think this problem will largely go away on its own
There are also people like myself who will be leaving NB captain seats to go back to the right seat of a heavy when their training freeze is up. I upgraded to avoid all of the international hotel room lockdown hassles. My thinking was that if I’m going to be stuck flying domestic while the dust settles, I might as well make more money. You’re absolutely right about the NB captain vs WB first. I commute and don’t pick up extra flying, so just based on an 80 hour line, I might make more money as a captain, but it is earned by making less per day and simply working more days.