Life as junior ATL 75/76 FO.
 

Just out of curiosity, wondering if someone could chime in on their experience as a junior ATL 75/76 FO. QOL, type of trips, usage rate, etc.....

I can't speak for ATL specifically, but in general the 75/76 (7ER) fleet seems to fluctuate the most in terms of monthly block hours vs other fleets. You will fly your a$$ off during the summer and then wonder if you still have a job in the winter.

As far as trip types, ATL is like most other 75/76 bases. Lots of 2, 3, 4 and 5 day domestic trips with between 1 and 4 (rare) legs per day. Lots of Florida and West Coast/Trans-cons. Some Caribbean/South/Central America flying mixed in there too. Quite a few red eyes but avoidable if you don't like 'em. International trips typically run 3-6 days over to Europe and some deep South America. A three-day might be something like ATL-MUC-ATL whereas a six-day might look more like ATL-AMS-BOS-CDG-ATL. As you might suspect, the international stuff tends to go more senior but it can be had in some form at almost all seniority levels, if that's your jam.

I should have added, I think most the Africa trips originate in ATL and NYC. I don't usually see much Pacific flying out of ATL especially compared to some of the other bases.

Any idea if ER trips are generally built commutable? For example as a general rule I've heard ATL 320 has LOTS of early starts and late finishes.

If you're on reserve, you'll
Be doing a lot of short call

Junior atl er fo here. I worked a good bit all summer. One month I yellow slipped and ended up at 99 hours, another was 85ish, and lowest was August at 76 I believe. I was able to do a few 6 days that were atl-lhr-nyc(or phl)-lhr-atl. Had a few trips to ANC, which was really nice, but it’s a long red eye back to atl. A few Paris, Brussels, and one Amsterdam. I haven’t done anything further south then Mexico City, and no Africa for me. Not that I’ve tried to avoid it, but I yellow slip trips that start late and or end early if I can so I can commute. There are plenty of 4 days that start with a 0600 check in, but I haven’t been doing many. I get bumped to short call often rather then sitting long call.

I was fortunate enough to get this category as a new hire this spring and haven’t regretted my choice yet.

What would you say is you average days off per month? Average pay credit per month? For someone who doesn't want to sit endles days in a crash pad and wants to actually fly do you recommend the category? Thanks.

Unfortunately I have not been here long enough to make any honest recommendations. I do know this.... I have been home much more now, as a reserve guy being used often, then when I was a regional captain. I have made slightly more then reserve guarantee twice, and other months been right up to the limit, I fully anticipate that to drop off over the winter though. Over the summer, I was flying much more then the MD88, A320, and 737 folks in my crash pad.

I’ve been enjoying the category and have no desire to change.