Damn, dude. It's amazing to see the disparity between categories at the same company...

 

What are the schedules like for junior line-holders on the domestic 757/767 in ATL? How's the QOL if you are living in ATL?

 

Quite well.
Three days or four days once a week.
Weekend trips. Max of four leg days. Normally there is only one day like that and then two days are one leg trans cons. with a three leg day on the end.
Red eyes occasionally, but with all of the DFW commuters those go quite senior.

 

The last time I touched an airplane was 9/10 on the last day of a 3 day trip, which was my only trip this month. Sat short call (read this as slept in and went around life as normal) about 4 times since then. Bout it.

In October, on reserve again, I have 3 of the 4 weekends off. I'm expecting just a tad more activity than Sept.

 

I'm a CVG MD-88 FO that's been with DAL since April. I live in the midwest and commute to reserve. Almost all of our reserve lines are 2, 3 or 4 days off. Problem is it's not commutable for reserve (unless you want to roll the dice). That said, I usually have to come in the day before. So in all essence, take a day off of all the above for days truly spent at home. Last month I had 2, two days off. Problem was I didn't get back to CVG in time to commute home post trip and it wasn't worth going home for 24 hrs just to come right back. Last month I flew over 80 hours and slept in my own bed 6nights; OUCH!

There are very few options for crashpads in CVG but hotels are cheap. The Comfort Inn is $35/night. This month has been pretty rough as I had 5 overnights and have spent over 2 weeks on hotels on my own dime.

If you look at your guarentee of 70hrs@ $50/hr you are guaranteed roughly $3500 a month, plus per diem. Take out about $250 for insurance and another $600 for taxes and I bring home about $2650 a month.

Now take out as much as $35/night plus eating out all the time and you'll spend about $60/day on your own money if you're not called up. So, like this month, 14 days at $60/day and you spend about $840 per month as a commuter.

Finally subtract your commuting expenses from your take home pay $2650-840 and you truly earn about $1810 a month after everything.

And the true kicker. You are required to be on reserve 18 days a month. Each reserve day can be considered to be 12 hours. So 18x12 equals about 216 hours a month. Sure, you're not working all this time but you're gone way more than that. So, if you only take home $1810/month but are "on duty" for 216 hrs you really make just over $8/hr.

Damn near having to pay to go to work. Oh, and one last thing. I tapped out a 8 short calls this month and was called up on long call once, had 5 days on, 1 day off and 4 days on. Out of all 10 days all I did was 1 out and back so I didn't even get a hotel out of it.

 

You might want to look at your base choice in the next AE if possible... you should be able to sit at home on long call in most places in the country (or at least roll the dice... I personally would have only had to burn one sick call on a long callout over the past year and 3 months if I were still commuting from DTW).

Regardless... something isn't right with your situation and is about the worst I've seen- you might also consider that you're playing things a bit too conservative?

 

I'm NYC88B and I've spent 3 nights in the crashpad all month on my reserve line. I fly maybe 30 hrs/mo, but then again I commute on the shuttle.

 

Your post brings up several questions:

1. Did you know the conditions when you applied for the job?
2. If the conditions are so onerous, why are you still here?
3. Have you considered moving to base? It appears that would greatly enhance your quality of life...
4. What are you doing to attempt to change the conditions you find onerous?

Your math is interesting. I came out with a different answer. What I'm seeing is that your choice to commute is worth the personal cost to you.

 

Quick fix: CVG 737 = home. (At least for now anyway

 

Sure, it's been a rough few months. In many respects I have been playing it ultra conservative. All my commuting is on CRJs which have frequently been completely full. I have taken the jumpseat many times but have also been bumped due to priority or weight and balance issues.

Even with all that said, I truly like the job. Things are rough now but there are prospects on the horizon to increase QOL. First, I was recently accepted in to the Air Nataional Guard. Second, eventually the day will come when I am a line holder. I might not get commutable lines right away but with a set schedule and being off probabation I'll feel more comfortable in taking a later flight and not being so conservative. Third, if and when the day comes that I can bid MSP everything will turn around. MSP is drivable if required with many flights per day to and from.