Not necessarily. And if it had I would not have bid it. The 756 might. But on the 737 if an IRO is required it is because it is a turn. Not an overnight then the return leg against the winds exceeds 8 hours. See OTTO obviously never gained enough seniority on the 737 to know what he is talking about. An IRO actually flys more than the FO on the 73 if the CA takes the first break. But again flying an autopilot isn't flying. Before I bid CA, I either bid the 10:50 FO turns or the IRO turns to Cabo and PVR. Working 80 days per year is what it is about at full pay. I did that until I was at 50% on the CA side.

So while Otto flys 180-200 days per year and made the same pay, I on the other hand was home with my family. But I'm glad that being on the road an extra 100 days per year is worth it so he can hand fly a 756 20 minutes per day.

But nothing wrong with that. That is seniority and gives us choice but I'd still bet that he doesn't tell the IRO to come up and babysit for him when the CA takes the break.