Just wondering for you guys that work for the FRACs how is it being gone from the family for 7 straight days? I am guessing the 7 days at home are great but what about the time away?

After 20 years in the Navy I am no stranger to being away from home. Just not sure how my girlfriend/ some day wife will handle it. She didn't live through any Navy deployments.

 

You have to choose the wife carefully. There are many women who say they don't mind you being gone and after a few years make your life miserable. At the junior end of a seniority list you will be gone MOST of the month. Don't drink the kool-aid most 121 guys give you about being home. That takes seniority.

That being said, my wife understands the schedule and is independent enough she enjoys it almost as much as I enjoy my profession. It's not the 7 days away that will annoy her, or you. It's the being away. If she is alright with that, keep flying! You love it or wouldn't be doing it. If she ain't alright with it and you love her more, time to pick a new profession.

Fractionals treat you better than ANY 121 carrier. Personal experience speaking here. On the job you are happier. Off the job, I hope you get that one figured out. Good luck and best wishes!

 

Very well put TimSmith!

 

how does it work at netjets if you need a certain day off? can you trip trade or are you just out of luck?

 

Time away does get long. I occasionally get a few days of home reserve while on tour, which helps.

My wife is usually ready to get rid of me after 7 at home and ready to welcome me back after 7 away. For us, it works well.

I'm at home much more than I was while flying 121. And the time at home is quality time. I have time to leave town for a weekend and can do more than just pick up clean clothes and repack my bag.

 

We have PTO (preferred time off) that is rolling out in June. I think the tried and true method of taking your temp, making a gasp when you read the thermometer, and then calling the DNIF hotline will continue to be the norm at NJA. There is really no incentive to use the PTO program. I think that the days are not guaranteed.

 

Don't forget, it's a 7 and 7 schedule but you're home 8 nights and then gone 6. I average departing Day 1 around 9 AM and arriving home Day 7 around noon-3 PM. Better schedule than 98% of corporate flight departments and my airline pilot wife would have killed for this schedule.

 

Flexjet's schedule actually gives you more options to get a day off for a wedding, graduation or whatever that the 7/7 offers. No temperature-faking required. Bid reserve for the month, ask for the time off on the PBS and if that doesn't work call the ACP and ask nicely. In my experience, it seems to work.

I prefer 4 day rotations. Time home is only 3 days - but only 3 nights on the road. Easier to pack, easier on the family.

 

The 7/7 schedule is the only thing preventing me from applying to a fractional. I have pretty good QOL right now with my regional (believe it or not) and I usually can't wait to get home by the end of a four day trip. I can usually mix up having 4-3-2 day trips during the month so it's not too hard on the family. I have a wife and 18 month old daughter, I just don't know how any of us would deal with me being gone a week at a time. Anybody else in a similar situation at a frac that could give more insight?

 

The 7/7 is definitely not as bad as it might appear on the surface. I had a tour a few weeks back where I didn't show til 3 pm on day 1 (Sunday) and I walked in my front door on day 7 (Saturday) at 9:45 am. Don't get me wrong, that is definitely not the norm but you're not really on the road half your life as it would appear. With 2 weeks vacation and 1 week of "sick" time, you actually would spend only 138 (23 tours x 6) nights in a hotel in a year.