Airline Pilot Central Forums - Which Two Perks Are Better In An Airline?

Quote:

Originally Posted by hindsight2020 (Post 2960592)

You can say that again. I had to read it twice to make sure it wasn't trolling. This one I have intimate knowledge of, with my family resembling the remark of the OP's "scenario" to a literal level, about 4 years ago. In our case, I forewent the airline industry entirely in order to allow my wife the ability to go to nursing school with an infant/toddler at home. Let's get real, ain't nobody up in here going to nursing school in this scenario unless someone has banker's hours and can take care of that infant when the daycare center closes for the day.

New hire Regional FO, concurrent with nursing school for the other spouse? Yeah, this isn't going anywhere without grandparental time charity. And I call it charity because extended family is under no legal obligation to fulfill an infant-raising role when two people want to play Chief in a relationship, which is what this ask is tantamount to.

I'm not chucking stones from the cheap seats. I got the receipts on this one as someone who went/paid thru/for the exact scenario for years. It was by far the hardest and most unpleasant chapter of my entire life, to include USAF UPT or engineering grad school decades before. I will never do it again, and I told my wife that in no uncertain terms.

BL: The airline pilot will not be able to care for the infant period dot. As a nursing student you need a spouse who is home every night, period dot. Airline work is flexible, but people need to have the intellectual honesty to recognize it has very real limitations. There are a myriad of life circumstances for which the job just doesn't work outright. I bet my bottom dollar there's gotta be an unpaid grandparent somewhere on this fantasy, pulling Deus ex machina. Otherwise, either he's not going to a regional, or the OP ain't going to nursing school.

Sounds harsh, but this is reality. The number one determinant on where you should live is wherever your parents live. Commuting is a hassle but it’s a sacrifice many of us make for our families. A lot of people say live in base no matter what but that’s just not at all realistic for many. Commuting isn’t that bad. There are days it really sucks but figure out which airline domicile has the most flights per day to where you live and apply to whichever airline offers the shortest path to that domicile. Forget the rest of the factors you are considering.