Originally Posted by
BlueScholar
I’m a DEN 737 FO thinking long and hard about these SFO 787 FO vacancies.
I realize commuting sucks, but if I can commute to a line and I’m willing to buy tickets to minimize stress, how will the stress/work/frustration of a 1 leg commute to a widebody trip compare to a typical 3 or 4 day, 4-6 leg trip on the guppy? I assume it would still be easier, but I don’t have much experience crossing that many time zones and commuting while that exhausted.
Then these 25-30 hour layovers in Tokyo or London or Australia sound great, but how much awake time during normal business hours do you get on the typical layover to explore the city and do tourist stuff?
You're going to hear a variety of opinions. Hopefully the people who chime in have done both NB and WB schedules here. I have.
It's a completely different airline. Not even a platitude, it really is. If you switch to SFO 787, you'll almost never see a reassignment again. You'll always have an MRD on time, and ETOPS inspection will prevent any deferred items being snuck in. No more wheels-up time. The meals are better by an order of magnitude. You'll never wait for a gate again. If there's even a whiff of a delay, you're looking at FRMS add-pay. The radios are silent once you coast out, go ahead and put your Bose A-20s on eBay. You can expense the WiFi you buy when you set up for break in the bunk. International transportation and hotels are generally a whole tier better than domestic.
Yes, crossing 10 time zones in three days, and back again, can induce some whiplash. Just sleep when you're tired. You know what's really tiring? Three legs in a day across three different tail numbers on the NB. Hustling to another gate to get set up again, then having an EDCT into the east coast, and a sketchy van ride on a clapped-out airport shuttle to an 11-hour rest where you'll wake up at odd hours anyway.
It's not for everyone. Nothing ever is, right? Don't sweat the commute. It's 3 times a month, maximum. If you think it's for you, go for it.