B73H

Question for legacy pilots, do most senior pilots like to fly domestic? Is it easier to upgrade to a international F/O position than a domestic Captain?

CVG767A

Its largely a matter of personal preference. Guys seem to either love or hate international flying. The layovers are great, you fly one leg per day, and the trips are very commuteable.

That being said, you have to be able to sleep at odd hours. Guys who who can't overcome their circadian cycle, or are unable to take naps, have some trouble.

Domestic captain generally goes senior to int'l F/O ( take a look at the pay rates to see why), but we have a surprising number of guys who get on the 767ER in the right seat, and stay until they can hold the ER left seat. I'm guessing that about the top 1/3 of the int'l F/O list can hold captain somewhere.

fireman0174

I flew international from JFK and lived about an hour away on Long Island.

European trips were relatively easy. Most of my Euro flights were JFK to LHR. Did some AMS, BRU, CDG, DUS, and FRA from ORD and IAD. A handful of Euro flights were from SFO/LAX.

European flights were not bad at all to me with the exception of a few. Recovery afterwards was one day at the most. Usually woke up the morning after getting home in pretty good shape.

Two "back-to-back" sequences were a little tough on days 5-6.

However, Asia was a very different animal. I was always tired!

Did some JFK to NRT and JFK to HKG. Anywhere from 14:30 to 15:55 and those were really tough on me. Never got used to them as I couldn't get comfortable in the crew bunks, especially in the 777. Sleeping on Asian layovers was a series of 2-3 hour naps for me.

I was always tired on an Asia sequence and for days after getting home.

As you say, personal preferences.

HSLD

To echo the other posts, it's a pilot's personal preference. Some airlines have/had an "up or out" policy that requires a pilot to upgrade to Capt. within a certain time window of his peers, although it's rare.

That policy aside, it's personal preference based largely on the perceive lifestyle and benefit (that could be different for each pilot).

As far as "ease" of upgrade....a school is a school but for the initial Capt. ride you'll have a few more eyes on you.

Kill Bill

amen to this... we have an 8 day that goes thru guam and narita that i used to fly on the 767. it took me DAYS to recover afterwards--9 or 10 time zones away plus the way the pairing was constructed--yeck.

i haven't done any euro flying in years but the red-eye over and day trip back are FAR more civilized.