Phantom Flyer

A lot of your questions have already been answered and I won't repeat what's been said.

Once you get hired at a major carrier, EVERYTHING is predicated on your seniority number. You have that number from your first day of Basic Indoc until you cut the cake and make a speech at your retirement party.

As you move up the ladder, you'll have choices to make. After checking out in a narrow body, you may like it and find the quality of life suits you. Don't forget that "Quality of Life" is huge at any carrier. If you live in the domicile and don't have to commute, your stress level just went WAY down. You may find that you're comfortable where you are and stay in a seat for several years. When the opportunity comes, you'll have decisions to make. There is increased pay for heavier equipment but that may be offset by a loss of bidding power on the new equipment.

As for being an International wide body Captain,it's going to take time...anywhere you go. I flew international for over 8 years. Some of it was relatively easy; for example, Western Europe. With an augmented crew, it was not that hard on the body. South America was easy in that you rarely traversed more than one time zone but the flying was all at night. For me, flying the Middle East was a bear. JFK-LHR-DEL was a ball buster. Yes, you only flew two 6-day trips a month plus one 3 day Europe trip but it took 3 or 4 days to get your body "unscrewed" after you got back to CONUS. I don't know how the guys and gals fly west coast to Australia (16+ hours) and maintain their sanity.

Just my two cents. G'Luck Mate