Sounds like you should try international flying. I feel the same way you do when ever I fly domestic.

 

7 + years reading these posts. I have never been inclined to add my minimal and probably faulty perspective to this foray. This one pushed me over. Fed Ex, and UPS will tell you it is not ALL night freight flying. There
are many banks that are all day trips. Very true. I am curious, to whom do they go to? New hires? Maybe not so much.
As a furloughed major airline pilot after 9/11, I had the dubious honor of being a contract pilot on a 747 for UPS. It was, hands down, the absolute worst flying assignment that I ever had the misfortune to sign onto. Walking Dead about sums it up. That flying regimen HAS to take years off of your life. It is beyond my comprehension how you can have a family and work those reverse hours.
BTW, UPS and FED EX will be the front runners of one pilot crew over the Pacific. Hong Kong - San Fran. Look it up. One half of your union just went bye bye. Good luck, I have many friends at both, no ill will intended.

 

A close friend of mine is just finishing his first year at FedEx, and by his logbook he flew 53% nights and 47% days as an FO on the A300.

 

Well that's what you brought to both dances, congrats on the lottery win.

 

Some of you Debbie Downers need a fresh perspective reboot. You guys act like flying for AA is the worst job in the world. You know what, talk to some of our guys who have lost their medical and would kill to come back to the line...they probably read this stuff and just shake their heads. Or talk to the guys that are stuck at regionals or Emirates or wherever, trying to break into the big 3. Truth is, you guys don't know just how dang good you have it here. Yes our contract and culture both need work...news flash, EVERY airline has gone through these kinds of cycles. American will turn it around eventually... don't lose perspective, take a good look around at how good you have it, go out, fly your trip, smile a little, treat others how you want to be treated, sit back and enjoy your job at a legacy that pays right up there with the other big boys. (And never stop fighting for a better contract.)

The biggest disservice you can do to yourself and the folks around you - and it'll make you a miserable human being - is to constantly yearn for what others have instead of focusing on the great things you have.

This AA gig needs work but overall it's still a great job.

signed, counting my blessings every day.

 

He still flew more than half of the time at night though. That just isn't for everyone.

Don't get me wrong Fedex is a great job and I wish I would have been hired there back when I got hired at AA. I would have figured out/ dealt with the night stuff.

But flying for a company that operates mostly at night just isn't for some people, regardless of the pay.

 

Well said! In Jamaican slang they have a saying that goes like this--

"Wanti Wanti No Getty--Getty Getty No Wanti."!

 

^^ Ya Mon!

 

The furloughed guys definitely have a reason to be bitter. Their careers have not been close to what they expected. That said, things for new guys should be much different. If there's an event that happens that causes stagnation it will hit all of the carriers.

I think AA is a pretty good gig now and should turn out well. It's a bet. I'm betting on the retirements. For new guys it may be worth it to jump somewhere if you don't mind giving up a few percentage in retirement. But it's really a toss up.

To think management at other companies cares about their employees is just naive. There was a huge billboard in ATL that ALPA put out about how management treated their pilots badly. Newsflash: no management teams at mega companies really care about employees. We're a line item cost, that's it.

Bottom line is AA has a lot of retirements coming up. If you're already here it's probably worth staying. If you're job hunting I'd take the easiest commute or the airline that has a domicile where you live.

 

Really? I just did my log book....65% and night and 35% day flying. Welcome to reserve and redeyes only thing in open time. Also, now that I can hold a line, the schedule sodimiser builds many trips with red eyes to day rest to late night flying!!! You are working more on the same day.....just in the dark!

Give me a break everyone, I've flown more at night at AA then I ever did at a regional. So many of our schedules start or end with a redeye, that I've had entire monthly schedules with at least one on each trip. Going from night schedules to day flying over 3-4 days is far worse on the human body then what FEDEX bulids. Far worse.