Seeking advice
 

Hey all,

I’m a current regional FO. This is my 2nd regional. I now have a family with 2 kiddos. The regional life (especially my current airline) makes having any sort of QOL very difficult. I’m wondering what would y’all recommend for the best QOL given my current experience. I have no checkride failures, 4 year degree, no skeletons in my closet, etc. For this post, I’m only concerned about QOL. The allure of pay is great, but time at home is infinitely more important. I’m considering Flex, Netjets, Frontier, JB, and Spirit... but am certainly not limited to those. Wondering what the community thinks.

And before anyone says it, I know that not flying at all would give me the most time at home, but that’s not currently a good option.

Thanks!

Where do you live or are willing to live.
The best qol is living base to start..

I’ll be flamed for this idea, but look into local (see Rama’spost) corporates. There are plenty of marginal or poor ones, but they’re also plenty of good ones IF you do your research and network.

Many jobs going begging lately.

GF

What's your seniority? A decent regional can still give you 15-16 days off a month, and if you live in base you aren't going to beat that at FlexJet, NetJets, etc. You could certainly apply to JB and Spirit, but it doesn't sound like you are competitive. At JB, you can plan on being on reserve for six months, and if you don't live in BOS or JFK, that's gonna suck.

It all depends on where you live, what EXACTLY you want, and where you are currently at at your regional now. In the long run, nothing is going to beat the QOL of a major airline with even a little seniority.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I should have included in my original post that I live 2.5 hours drive from my current base and that I’m very junior at my current airline. My first regional I lived in base and it was glorious. The 2nd, haven’t been so lucky. My wife IS willing to move, but we just bought a house, are 15 min from family, she has a business here, etc. It would be difficult.

How much TPIC do you have? Total time? Might be worth flying a metro or 1900 for a year or two with a home base schedule, bump your PIC and make you more competitive for a LLC or NetJets. Your family would likely see you more, you’d have less stress, your wife would have her business and you wouldn’t have to move in the short term. Pay would probably be more too.

0 tpic. 2320 tt.

You could consider 135 feeder cargo with home base. You’d be gone 2 weeks, home 2 weeks I’d think. You be bumping total time and TPIC. I think PIC would be the best addition to your logbook, if you want to scale back on the 121 and be home more.

Just about every place you mentioned would give you more time off. You won’t get better QOL if you don’t apply.

I’m sorry to say with those numbers I think you need to embrace the suck.
Too much jumping around is not going to help you.