Not quite. the plug is currently under 5.5 years.

 

It's a big moving target, right now it's at 5-6 years, but in 2017 it was 2 years. You can expect 18-19 days off a month as a line holder, maybe closer to 15-16 in the summer. As a reserve guy, you'll likely put on a uniform a lot less and have to hit the sim to keep landing currency. On reserve, I think I averaged 6ish days/month. QOL was amazing, especially if you live in base. My only complaint is that I hated 6+ day trips, which made up most of the bid packet. Sleep is an issue that you'll have to figure out.

 

What sort of legs does a 6 day trip consist of?

 

You may hear them called W trips. Four legs, two crossings to Europe, three overnights. The second overnight is some base in the states other than your home base. Sometimes they turn it into a seven day trip by making the last crossing to a base other than home base and overnighting you before DHing you home. Most guys just deviate DH and make it home on the 6th day anyway.

 

DTW-AMS-SEA-CDG-DTW
DTW-HND-LAX-HND-DTW
DTW-AMS-BOS-AMS-BOS dh DTW or AMS-DTW with no DH
DTW-HNL-SLC-HNL-DTW

The trips however change month to month and there are big seasonal shifts. The trips with a DH at the end if it’s on day 7 are often sought after by commuters. You get a extra day of pay and positive space home. If the DH is on day 6 which happens you lose a bit of pay. Some trips are a 7 day because one of the layovers is 48 hours. In the winter you might even see 72 hours and a 8 day. Depending on the whims of network you sometimes get really strange trips in and out of other hubs.
dh SEA to JFK, JFK-ATH-JFK dh SEA as a example.
These long trips are often broken up with even more DH’s to cover with reserves or double pay GS’s. Our reserve system is very good and it makes covering long trips difficult for crew scheduling. That is why international reserve is such a good deal. One 6 day trip becomes two 4 or 5 day trips. I would often drop a trip or two off my line to cherry-pick those trips.

 

Just `gotta love out-of-base white slips when green slips are flowing like wine in said base.......

 

OOB WS is step # 6 in coverage.....GS is #18 and OOB GS is #20.

Assuming the pilots lives at the Out base, the OOB-WS will pay him more than the in base GS that you are snagging will pay him, because it won't ever get to him for OOB-GS if they are flowing line wine at step 18.

 

Right, and if a pilot is used to having to commute a day ahead or stay a day after the trip, a 2 day base GS may be the same as working (pay wise) as a 4 day OOB WS.

I once met a pilot in NYC crew lounge that I knew, he was happy about a 2 day OOB-GS, but was incommutable on both ends. When I pointed out that all he agreed to was an OOB WS where he picked up the hotel on the first and last day......his enthusiasm definitely dipped about the trip.

 

If you work at Delta and you know who Captain George "hollywood" is please PM me, or email [email protected]

We're trying to get him on the podcast for an epic interview.


Captain's Only Podcast

 

I saw N156DL sitting over at TOC north the other day. The tail and logos were painted over and according to FlightAware it came in from SBD. The owner is listed as some cargo company. Anyone know if we’re getting it back? Or is it just over here for some work before it goes over to its new owner?