Originally Posted by
DoubleDoink
It's actually simple math. I was a wide body triple seven fo in San Francisco. I was bidding at around 65%. I was able to bid a 90-hour credit line or very close to it every month in 12 days of work. With the difference in pay rates between the wide body fo and the narrow body captain, I have to work at least 14 days as an a320 captain in San Francisco bidding at about 30% to make the same as I was in actual dollars working 12 days a month as a wide body fo, and in fact I probably have to work 15 days a month as the narrow body captain to make the same.
And there's no comparison to the quality of life. I was flying eight sectors a month on the triple, and in the bunk for about 40% of the time. I had at least a 24-hour layover after every leg, I was never reassigned, and if the airplane is broke and you don't have a replacement, you run out of time very quickly and you get to go home.
As a narrow body captain, it seems I get reassigned on a daily basis, I fly a lot more at night than I ever did as a wide body fo, I have 10 hour layovers sometimes, I do all nighters at least a couple times a month with a day sleep and then one or two more legs that evening.
Now every base isn't as good as San Francisco! Because in San Francisco when you go east it's at least a 22 hour 3 day, and when you go west it can be up to a 28 hour 3-day or some 30-hour 4 days. The bottom line is you can average 7 and 1/2 hours of credit each day you work, whereas a narrow body captain it seems we average less than 5.5 credit per day.
So doing 3 3-day trips out of San Francisco and making 75 hours is certainly not out of the question, and I'm sure plenty are doing it. You can download the awards for San Francisco and just have a look and see what your seniority level is being awarded. I never cared if I was in the front seat or the back seat, I just wanted the highest pay for the least amount of days. But I never had to go to landing's clasps, even at 65% seniority.
My numbers are not meant to be accurate; it's more the gist of the idea that's important.
As an Airbus captain, 99% of my flying occurred in between the hours of 6 AM and midnight, and I almost 100% of the time was asleep between the hours of midnight and 5 AM. On the 777 more than 90% of my flying has some period of work between the hours of midnight and 6 AM. Clearly long haul WB trips are more productive, but the price one pays is working on the back side of the clock. Now, as a young man it wasn't too terrible. As an older pilot I HATE flying at night, but sadly it's the price I pay to get paid better than I ever have before.
When I was able to choose, I chose NOT to fly the most efficient trips on the 777 as an FO to avoid ANF. I used to fly the early Tel Aviv. It left at 5:30 or so meaning the flying guys worked until about 11:00 and then got a 4 hour nap right when one is in their WOCL. If I had had to fly a steady diet of Delhi or Hong Kong I would NOT have taken that job for ANY amount of efficiency.
Yes, WB is more efficient, but it is NOT the same job, and it is therefore not for everyone, and that's a good thing
