Pilots just love telling anyone who didn't do it their way that they are not just wrong, but immorally and dangerously wrong

Yeah, I woke up on the troll side of the bed this morning too. This is probably just my displaced anger over yet another paycheck being wrong. Carry on all.

But seriously there's no way to make this work? Consider yourself a cargo ACMI based in SYD and getting lucky with a 2 week on 2 week off schedule with known stops at home. That's a dream for some.

I wasn't trolling you. I'm referring to the guy a few posts back who is outraged that anyone even asked if it was possible and to be a man and tell his wife to deal

Applying our own personal logic to other peoples' situation won't always give us the full picture. A friend of mine from my 135 days called me a year or so ago asking for a rec letter. He lives in Anchorage and was flying the 747 at Atlas based in ANC. I told him I would be happy to but to seriously consider the implication of commuting for your entire life, especially when getting hired at the back of our wave. He said he did and it was what he wanted, so I sent it in. He's SEA73N now and happy as a clam. Everyone has their own unique circumstances and what they prioritize in their life and career.

I don't think it's that. Everyone assumes they're smarter than the average bear, they can beat the odds, and they can be the outlier that succeeds. By that same token, there's certainly no harm in people stepping up to say "hey, yea, that might not be the best idea. Technically it might work, but have you considered the long term effects of XYZ".

As the demotivator says "If you try to beat the odds, make sure you can survive the odds beating you."

Absolutely. There are plenty of people here who have said that. I wouldn't do it but it's physically possible. It's the people like Bahamas that say he needs to just tell his wife what to do and grow a pair and that even considering it is dangerous that I have a problem with

Ya, I'm all for living wherever they want and where they're most happy. I think in situations like these, most just want the pilot to go in eyes wide open. I couldn't even stand the thought of doing a DTW-LGA o DTW-ORD commute, so I came to Delta when offered a job. Others don't mind commuting from across the globe. Biggest thing they'd need to look at is a no bs, accounting of home much time away from family this would cause. Include the occasional canceled flight or missed connection and more nights in hotels not getting paid, etc... I did it for an "easy" commute and the extra time away was staggering. If the OP is also weighing the the idea of moving to a base, it's worth accounting for all the extra time you can spend at home that living in base allows. But if the family decides it's still worth it, then great, enjoy it Europe. I've flown with a few guys who do it and they're as happy as can be. Of course one lived about 20 min from AMS and was a 330 pilot, so that's as good as it gets.

The problem with the internet forums is someone posts some thing "Hey, I commute from the Arctic to Antarctic and make it work, and it is an amazing quality of life, no taxes and all the Arctic penguins you can eat!". So people buy into it without really doing some important due diligence, and they find out that the person doing the commute has a very wealthy spouse that is Antarctic Royalty, so they really don't need to work and only commute twice during the Antarctic summer solstice, there are taxes, they're just called "compulsory environmental impact fees" and there aren't, in fact, any penguins in the Arctic.

That and people hear what they want to.

What I say: "I live in base in ATL"

What they hear: "I live in the absolute most dangerous crap hole you hear about in the news within city limits. I love crime!"

LOL, so true. You're a DTW local, how do you survive life on 8 mile?

I can hear you wearing your hat while defending company shenanigans.

The hat is a mild annoyance. Call me when we're fighting the mandatory horse blanket battle. That's the hill I'll die on. But if I wear my hat with an out of regs moustache, Lulus and slightly visible tattoos, does it cancel out?

You are describing 50% of the new hires hired in the last 4 years. When is the tattoo wall going to fall? The same time that WB A wall falls?

Unless it's a trip through MSP, SLC or DTW, I'm on a Carribean, Africa, Australia, South America, etc trip during jacket season. If that doesn't cover it, I was rerouted. If that doesn't cover it, I was preparing for a reroute.

Man I can't wait to sweat in my jacket walking in ATL from A to B under the little forest lights in November when it's 70 outside and the airport decided it's adequate temperature to turn the AC off...

That's every day on the PlaneTrain it seems!

I just looked for that reference, but didn’t find. Can you point me to the correct paragraph?

That’s the point - “jumpseat riders will only be accommodated at the captain’s discretion” is no longer in the FOM. The FOM gives us the responsibility to verify that jumpseaters meet the requirements listed in the book, and nothing more.

Refusing a qualified jumpseater simply because the captain doesn’t feel like having one on a long flight merely sets the captain up for a carpet dance. It’s no different from booting any other passenger or crewmember off a flight without a valid reason.

Not that I agree with it, but that probably wouldn't be much of a carpet dance. All they'd have to do is pull out the safety card and it would likely stop right there.

Let’s say the jumpseater is a qualified Delta pilot, going to work, who stops by and politely requests to ride the jumpseat while presenting all required documents. How exactly do you use safety to justify a refusal in that instance?

The CPO isn’t going to be thrilled when they need to give the pilot a PS seat on the next flight for no apparent reason.

Beats me, but for those types that don't want people up there on long flights probably would come up with something. I generally enjoy having the company and tell guys they can ride up front even if there is a seat in the back, their choice.

Same here. I just can’t think of any way to justify that in terms of safety, especially when all requirements are met and all equipment (jumpseat, add’l O2 mask, etc.) is in working order.

Wasn't there a captain the refused another DL pilot the JS during negotiations because he was mad about the contract or something to that effect? What happened to that guy?