howard500

Curious if anyone currently pulling this off and keeping their sanity that would be willing to share insight and experience. I’m from Spain and have been living and flying A320s in the US for a while now, but family and I would love to go back home. So I’m considering moving to Spain but keeping US major job, since conversion to EASA license seems a nightmare, and EU salaries generally not competitive. Any input is appreciated!

FrknLaserSharks

I’ve been doing it for a couple of years, possible but a lot of issues. Can you arrange your schedule for 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off? If not, is it worth to go back and forth for less time? How much time will you end up spending at home?How is the tax situation with you living in Spain but working the US? Are you willing to subject your body to the constant time change?

jstanotherpilot

What airline do you work for and what base? Where do you commute from? Just curious as this is also something I would want to achieve pretty soon... Does it always work out for you?

avi8orco

One of our guys does it from Greece. I think he might be Orlando based or FLL, has a house in FL and somewhere near Athens.

C11DCA

I knew a captain who would go back and forth to Spain. He would bid his schedule to work the last half of the month, then swap to the first half the next month, and so on. So would have 4 weeks on, then 4 weeks off.

The wife wants to live in Europe before retirement so I would attempt to commute but cant see any way a weekly commute would work without being fatigued. Once or maybe twice a month maybe.

Sluggo_63

I don't know where any of you work and how long you've been with your current employer, but FedEx has a pilot domicile centered in Köln, Germany. They have over a hundred pilots living and working over there.

Just food for thought...

jstanotherpilot

is it junior? Heard you can only be based there a certain amount of time though before having to go back to a US base.

Dixie320

I commuted from Spain for two years. I never missed a commute, and I tried to move my schedule around to have big blocks of days off together. I have the benefit of being able to reserve the jumpseat on my own company metal, and my company operates a non-stop between my city in Spain and my domicile. The time zone changes are rough. But the whole commuting thing was a lot rougher on my wife (mentally) than it was for me (mentally, physically, etc). She didn’t handle me being gone for long stretches at a time.

I also have an EASA license, but there’s no way I’d leave a legacy to go to any European carrier at this time.

If you aren’t at one of the big three that has flights to Spain, you may find commuting very challenging at times, especially during peak tourist travel times. And being able to ZED can be hit or miss. In the past when I worked for a regional, I found Iberia and Lufthansa to be pretty reliable for ZED travel, but something like an ATC strike in France, or an airport worker strike in Germany, can make last minute commuting very stressful.

AllYourBaseAreB

Knew a guy commuting from PHL to England. Seemed pretty miserable and eventually moved the family to the states

FrknLaserSharks

Narrowbody operator with no flights to Europe. Doesn’t really matter where in the US you commute to, as you are spending a whole day commuting anyway. Use StaffTraveler to get accurate loads and then be willing to be flexible with your route to get to and from work (multiple legs etc). There are a crap load of flights between Europe and the US, never had to call in sick for not making the commute.