AboveAndBeyond

I do not find your post to be truthful at all. The majority of the trips this summer have been very good, with many crediting far above 20 hours. If you are on reserve, then you will be left with disjointed flying that may total 12 hours over 4 days, but line holders are crediting far more.

It is easy to get 15 days a month off as a line holder, at least in the big bases, and often even more. I don't think I've flown a trip that credited less than 5 hours a day in close to a year. Most every trip is at least 22 hours, with some 25's and 27's mixed in. With overblock and cancellation on a leg by leg basis, I have credited over 30 hours on a 4 day with afternoon thunderstorms, ground stops, and a cancellation.

As far as a 10 year flow, we all know that it will not happen for at least 2-3 decades to come. It will hang right around 6 years until the retirements start to decline and the industry plateaus. That will take at least 15 years to happen, and flow will remain at about 6 years until it does.

ZeroTT

Can I bid/sap in your universe? It’s way better than mine

AboveAndBeyond

CLT CA. There were still 20+ hour trips in the open time pot when SAP closed. It isn't hard.

24hr, 22hr, 23hr, and then an 11 hour 2 day. 80 hours with 16 days off, and no trip has more than 11 legs Not the greatest, but I'll take it.

arbalist1

This all depends immensely on whether you're round 1 and get SAP or not.

At current rates of seniority for CLT: About the time you get Round 1 and SAP, you'll be preparing for a forced upgrade. Then probably commute to CA reserve for a few months before getting CLT CA reserve almost indefinitely.

You can get more than 11 days off for the few months you can SAP. There's usually a couple round 2 lines that have 12 or 13 days off and credit between 75-90 hours.

ZeroTT

That isn’t normal or easy. Throw in something exotic like “my brother is getting married on X weekend” and it gets harder.

cfimechanic

The twist to my situation is I'll be 35 when I get hired and if I get stuck for to long I'm probably just going to stay at whatever regional I am at. My end goal is SW and Republic seams to be the regional version of SW, but of course wouldn't say no to AA.

AboveAndBeyond

It actually is pretty normal, but I could see it being more difficult if I had lots of brothers and they get married on a regular basis.

In all of the people that I talk to that complain about low credit trips, they usually have 1000 other priorities. "I don't work late nights, I don't work weekends, I don't fly trips with overnights in OAJ/JAN/PIA/etc..., I need these 4 particular days off every month, I won't fly trips that have a DH in them, etc...".

If you have a lot of other priorities, then it is very difficult to get lots of good trips. This is 100% true. Personally, I want to be paid as much money as possible and have as much time at home as I can get. MMMTO.

The June/July/August lines were very good with lots of 20+ hour trips. September was a little less, but there is a reason for that. Flying decreased in September, and as a result the trip credit did as well. If it did not, there would have been quite a few less lines, which would have meant more pilots on reserve and fewer sapping.

We can't have it both ways, unfortunately. If all trips credited 24+ hours, there would be dozens less R1 lines and it would be even longer on reserve. The middle ground that we have is pretty good.

chrisreedrules

Exactly. I get a great schedule (for me) because I don’t mind waking up at 3:30AM to commute in day 1 and I don’t mind getting home late on day 4. I rarely need specific days off and I actually prefer to work over the weekends. The less you “need” things in your schedule the fewer you become to pick up food trips no matter when/where they fall in the month. As far as overnights I could care less where I stay as long as you pay me. 3 x OAJ overnights but it’s worth 22+ hours? Sounds good to me.

ZeroTT

All those people with spouses who work weekdays and kids with soccer games on the weekends. Total prima donnas.

chrisreedrules

Hey man, I hustle. I almost never have an actual day off. I manage my own rental properties, volunteer in a couple different organizations, and I’m about to hopefully take a position with a growing consulting firm. My wife wanted to stay home with our daughter for the first couple years. So I do what I have to to make that happen and then some. A day off for me is having to only make 4-5 phone calls and not go anywhere.