In your original post, you stated that you made in the low 300's without working to hard. You may not think that working extra is working to hard, but as you pointed out, you do have to work more than your BLG to do it. That is all I was trying to point out to the OP. I also count selling back vacation as working extra because you could have had those days off with pay, but chose to work them instead to make more money. I am not making a judgement here, I am just trying to clarify to the OP that if you want to make in the low 300's as a junior 75 captain, you will have to pick up extra days of work. If you only work your line and take your vacation, you will make closer to 1000 times your hourly rate in the 757. Everyone has to do what works best for them.

 

To the Original Poster... it's largely a personal decision. You can take the upgrade to 75C or 77F. Both offer advantages and disadvantages.

I will say a few things.. I moved over to 77F over 9 years ago. And I didn't really understand the mechanisms of how extra compensation worked in the international system form until I flew the trips for a few months. So a lot of the simplistic calculations in this discussion are erroneous. I'm one of those 77F who made more than the examples described here.. and I just went back and looked at my past year.. and I averaged 14.4 days/month on trips (blue line). That did include days worked for recurrent training and since I'm over 10 years, I did take and use my 29 days of vacation.. no sell backs. That doesn't count the days I was able to shave off of pairing with front or back end deadheads throughout the year. But of course those opportunities are based on seniority. So I think the 20 days a month on the road is overstated.

I too have ambitions to move to the left seat. But I want to do it on the 777. I enjoy the international flying and the crews on the 777 have been great to work with. But that's my opinion. And the payoff of ever increasing seniority in the 77F seat offset me delaying my upgrade opportunities in other seats. . FOR ME.. again.. largely personal decisions.

If you want to move to base and try to bid reserve and not work as much for the $$$.. then I think the 75C seat is best. Other people would have to speak to how much Reserves are getting used in that seat.

I wish you the best in your decision making process. It's nice to have opportunities to make choices.

And also... at the same time I can be mindful and focused on the task at hand.

JP

 

That seems like a lot of extra work

 

Your math is way off bubba. First of RLG on the 777 is not the same as the 757, then you’re leaving out all the intl override and extra perks. The only way you’ll make more as a 757C than a 777FO with same seniority is by working extra or draft.

 

This is a perfect example of “what's best” for me may not be for you. Same goes for the contract in numerous areas. Some want language that advantages a person in one scenario but may not advantage a person in another scenario.

 

I’m curious how far you’d be out as a 767 Capt? Seems like that’s the best of both worlds, having both international and domestic, with wide body pay. Sweet looking cockpit (except for that jumpseaters/bathroom thing).

 

Let me reattack. I apologize for coming off as the 757C seat is better than the 777FO. That's not at all what I meant to imply. It would be more accurate to to state that it's best for me, and I'll try and explain why.

The math is not way off, the math is the math. I think StarClipper stopped reading my response at the baseline RLG/BLG comparison. And you're correct BLG/RLG is different for each. That's why the important comparison is what it takes for each to make $300K at the 6 year pay scale. For a 777FO that's 112 hours in a 4 week month and 140 in a 5. For a 757C it's 86 in a 4 week month and 108 in a five.

Now, and this is the crux of the discussion, and probably what the OP needs to make an informed decision--how do you get there? In the 777 it's likely single departure lines gone 12-14 days a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. Exotic locations included of course (both good and bad). The gravy comes in the form of trip revisions, extensions, grid penalties, and BKO. In the 75C seat, for a local guy, it's mostly 1-2 day trips and a shotgun schedule to less desirable locations. Blended VTOs mixing reserve and trips. Yes, in many cases, the destinations are way less desirable, but for me it's 100% about days off and trip footprint. I could care less where I'm going or the quality of the hotel because I won't be there very long. It's very easy to pick up a few dozing for dollars at draft, and a couple of extra PM O+Bs some at draft of course. Yes it's extra, and at the current time, I recommend we all take a haircut and be team players, but again, this will pass. I have kids at home who are very involved in sports. I rarely miss anything. Heck I coached competitive baseball and football, and can count on one had the number of practices and games I missed this year. I'm sitting reserve while coaching, and always have a backup plan, but that's what you can do in base. If OP was a commuter, it completely changes the discussion, I would not and do not recommend early upgrade to commuters. I actually recommend most stay WB FOs until you can hold WB captain at acceptable percentage.

Here's the crux--BOTH CHOICES ARE GOOD! Our own cognitive biases means we will argue and validate what we have chosen. I'm guilty of this and apologize for he original tone. For the OP, look at the math, and look at the lifestyle you want for you and your family then make a decision. If that decision doesn't work, in a couple of years, change it! It's awesome to have so much variety available. Best wishes to all of you and best of luck with your decisions.

 

Thanks to everyone who has responded and sent PMs.

I cannot hold 76C yet, but I do have all WB CA at 100% hoping for a bit of luck. I’ll take the scheduling QOL hit for a WB CA position. I’m optimistic I can hold WB CA on the next bid, so I’m trying to decide if I should enjoy a bit of seniority as a 77F on this bid, but just want to make sure I’m not leaving too much money on the table passing on 75C. One poster recommended using the monthly SIG bid guides, so I added up all the 75C RLG(assumed worst case since I’d be so junior) to 77F BLG for 2021. I came up with a 29kish difference. The unknown would be how much BKO would close that gap. It’s definitely a marathon and not a sprint for me with 25+ years left, so making a few grand less and controlling my days off and vacation weeks would be preferable.

I’m still wrestling with the decision, so if you have been sitting on the sidelines and feel like you have something useful to contribute, please jump in and share.

Feel very lucky to be at my dream job and already have these type of decisions to make so early into my time here.

 

I would definitely consider how much the training would suck. If you’re already on the 75 and like it, easy decision, easy upgrade. I would guess with all the additional pay on the 777, pay will come close. The positions/type of flying you’re considering are so different, I would think long and hard about what you’d prefer. Long trips/holding a line on the 777, shorter domestic reserve on the 757. If you’re already on a wide body and like it, personally I’d hold out for captain on that. Waiting an extra year or so, is it a big deal? They’re hiring so fast, you’ll probably hold whatever you want soon.

 

That literally sounds like the first thing that would come out of the mouth of a bad captain.

No offense.