Originally Posted by
goingbald
I hope this doesn’t come off as a 121 vs fractional hate thread, but having done both I can weigh in on the UAL commute vs Flex.
1. Fractional flying is wildly diverse. We go places that are amazing, as well as places that are boring. We go all over the Americas, and you never know when you’ll get an overnight in St Lucia or Curaçao, or Dublin, or Reykjavik. You’ll get more nights in Teterboro than you want, too. I NEVER hear of a 121 pilot talking about their over nights.
Never heard about a 121 guy talk about his layovers? Rome? London? Paris? Berlin? Dubrovnik? Madrid? Barcelona? Rio? Buenos Aires? Maui? Kona? Barbados? Antigua? St. Maarten? Athens? Zurich? Prague? Lisbon? I remember the guys that were part of the regular softball games in Hyde Park. There was a standing softball game and he'd bid that for his layover. Later on he becamea baseball coach in......Santiago, Chile! That was his layover gig.
We call guys 'Mayor' when they fly to one location a lot and know a lot of people. Walking in the terminal and the Customs people knew the FO by name, the car rental people, etc. He eventually ended up marrying one of the ticket agents.
In 121 you can choose to fly to a handful of cities, for decades, or fly to as many as you can. The ability to control one's life is much greater. I made more of my kids school, and after school, events than my wife and my wife had a part time job in our town. Coaching? Three days a week? Did that for two seasons as a junior line holder. One guy would bid the lousy SFO layover once a month. "I go see my parents and help them out for a day." Fly in on day 1, fly all nighter back on day 2. Maybe 30 hrs at his parents house? Not a bad gig if you live 2000 miles away. Another guy, fairly senior, said "I'll trade any trip for your weekend trips." Wife was a big shot lawyer. He'd fly Friday PM departures and return Sunday. He'd have the kids Monday until Friday afternoon. Wife would leave work early on Friday (3 ish?) to take charge of the kids.
W/b crews stay in the great cities of the world with a 24-30 hr layover, and most importantly, a SET schedule and NO company phone or contact. There's a LOT to do if you're so inclined. Double layover? All bets are off as the options are vastly greater.
Some guys slam click and some guys have the entire day, Happy Hour and dinner planned out. Talking with a buddy and he mentioned an FO that I wasn't familiar with - "he's the coordinator. He always has the entire layover schedule planned out." Sometimes it's pre-planned, sometimes it's figured out enroute and sometimes it's pot luck.
Part 135, with a 2 hr call out once the 12 hr break is over, doesn't provide the opportunity that the airline's known time off on the layover provides. Part 135/91 there's a LOT of hanging around at the hotel or the FBO as the schedule morphs. Had an 8 day cycle - I think 18 cities were removed and 15 added. Impossible to plan to do anything and you're min breaking most layovers.