Originally Posted by
duvie
flyboy1987 -
Commuting hub to hub is very unpredictable. There are quite a few CAL pilots that do it so you can bumped very easily as a junior pilot. There are alot of flights between the two locations, but the status of these flights in terms of loads change more than any other two destinations CAL serves.
I'm not as familiar with the Houston 756 lines, as a 756 pilot I'm sure Otto could add some better input, but a lot of the lines are domestic, MCO - IAH 757. EWR - IAH 762 for example. One of the only problems of being a 756 EWR pilot is that you may get stuck being an IRO. You might never get to land and currently the newest contract killed the dead-head pay.
On that note I really don't envy the newhires going to the 777. Less dead-heading, but they'll basically be an FE.
Commuting between CAL hubs is difficult. There are a lot of crews doing it plus the dead heading crews that are must rides. Most of the planes are 737's with an occasional 757 and 767. The 756 lines in IAH are mostly domestic and there is not very many lines there. I just flew with a guy that was former IAH that bid EWR because of the flying-he's 59 years old. Dead head pay for pilots is at 75% of full pay. Next July it goes back to 100%. IRO lines usually have at least one trip per month where they land the plane (usually a Florida turn). New hires going to the 777 are IRO's getting full wide-body pay both ways (no deadhead). Sure, you'll do your landings in the sim every few months, but after the first year, the pay is good. I don't want 16 hour legs, so I'll stay in the 756. 767 flying is very hard to get. You might get IRO in it, but it is real senior for FO's. Most of them can hold Captain on the 737, but stay in the 767 for the lifestyle. The 767 does the best flying in all of Continental. Honolulu, Rome, Amsterdam, etc. I can't hold it, but I scored a Frankfurt trip next week in it on the trip trade window. In the 777 you go to very few places and Tel Aviv and New Dehli are not garden spots.