freezingflyboy

Less than a year and averaging 13-14 days off a month. You must be doing it wrong.

bla bla bla

Not worth a explanation....

SkyHigh

Everyone has things different. Even operating different equipment in the same company can have huge effects upon the quality of life. At Horizon Air the Dash 8 guys were slaving away for 14 hours with fewer days off since the leg lengths were so short. The RJ guys would fly three simple legs and be off to the hotel room since they averaged much longer leg lengths.

Things can change too. If your company redesigns the schedule overnight you could go from a nice 18 days off a month down to 12. It all can go away with the flick of a pen.

SkyHigh

bla bla bla

Yeah Im a line holder to. This is not typical, but when it does happen life sucks.

MEMFO4Ever

Except they come home every day after work. With an hour commute each way and 8.5 hours of work, that's still 13.5 hours at home on work days. With only 10 days off, he should complain.

Are you even an airline pilot?

Sanchez

WOW, what part of we're not talking about regular people do you not understand? And as far as pilots only having 8 days off a month, to my knowledge only the class act management at MESA does that.

rickair7777

Average month has 30.4 days, that's 8.7 weekend days/ month for civilians.

However, civilians get to go home at 5 pm, and probably go to bed at 11 pm...so they get 6 hours or so at home each day to do whatever, even on a workday. Most pilots do not get to go home on a workday...he may get home on his last work day, but he probably had to start his commute on his last day off.

So, 6 hours/day x 21.7 workdays/month = 130.4 hours at home on work days = 5.4 extra days at home that a pilot with 8 days off does NOT get...

BTW, most civilian professions that involve working at remote locations have a standard 2 weeks on/two weeks off (oil rigs, etc).

flynavyj

i don't think we should be comparing ourselves to oil rig operators, infact, we simply enjoy the luxury of being able to commute. in the normal world, if a person wants a job, they have to relocate to where the job is, we on the other hand have this ability to live in one city, and travel to another city.

If the average person was trying to do that with their office job, their quality of life would be just as depressing (and that would be even considering that they have the company buying the tickets). The only thing is, we will stay @ the city that we end up @ overnite, then on to it again.

Just seems odd to think, if i was to find a nice job in chicago, and say..."yeh, i'll commute outta st. louis" cause that good job in chicago would say, your crazy, or, "no...you'll move you and your family to chicago"

RedeyeAV8r

2 things....

Pilots don't like to think of themselves as "Blue Collar" because of their generally higher educational background and Previous "Managerial Status" if they were formal Military Officers. The sad fact is that in the eyes of our Airline Managments, we are just that.......Blue Collar hourly employees.
So comparing us to Oil Rig Workers is that not Far off the mark. Just like airline Pilots, Oil workers can often spend a lot of time away from their families in remote locations on Rigs in the North SEA, Gulf of Mexico, Prudoe Bay and Destinations in the Middle East.

I have a neighbor who is a "Rough Neck" Supervisor. He works for AMMCO (now "BP" I think). He is gone about as much as I am. He spends a lot of time In Dubai and other exotic Mideast Destinations like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. We met for dinner in DXB once while I was on a layover. He says he has crewmembers who live all over the world. They commute to most destinations and are often on site for 6 weeks at a time sometime as long as 6 months.........but they get paid a good premium for the Separation.


Commuting. It is true Most 9 to 5 ers cannot commute easily but many do. It is not unheard of for people to work Mon-FRI in one city and commute home for weekends. SWA makes it a little easier to do........It is more rare in 9-5 than Airline Pilots and usually temporary.
In the civilian world (meaning earthbound types) if one lands that " job position" in Chicago, generally that person gets a corporate relocation and if that person gets a promotion or is offerd another position in another city or in many cases if that person is a victim of corporate cutbacks and is told "you are moving to Cleveland", generally that person has a choice to relocate of find another job.......but the relocation is usually paid for by the Corporation.

As for Pilots commuting.....many choose to do it and many are/were forced to.

As new hires, how many Airlines say your first base is MEM or ORD or DEN and say they will relocate you and your family? None that I know of.

Lets not forget that Layoffs, Furloughs cause displacements. Many pilots are forced to commute to keep their pay......I.e Can't hold CAPT or WB FO in LAX anymore so they are forced to Commute to ORD (with hopes they will some day be able to hold LAX again").
Most Airlines do not pay for a transfer to another domicile as they view this as Voluntary (in most cases).
The reverse is true when things are more positive and the company is growing.........Upgrades or higher paying seats are available in another Domicile than where you live and often when the good news of a recall comes to a furloughed Pilot, it is often to another city from where the furlough took place. Part of the Game??

In the Good old days many Airlines paid for a move once or twice, but it is rare now a days.

rickair7777

In the regional world the instability of domiciles and code-share partnerships, and the eventual need to upgrade, makes it very impractical for many pilots to live in domicile and relocate their families every time the winds change. Also many domiclies are not garden spots.

In the real world, if you want a potential employee to rip his family out of their home, spouse's job, and schools and relocate to some major metropolitan toliet you have to incentivize it...with very large amounts of cash.

The military goes to great effort and expense to take care of the families of servicemembers.

Airlines don't do that any of that, they just assume you will commute. You can't compare it with anything else, cuz it is what it is.

Look at it this way...if the TSA outlawed jumpseating overnight, what would happen? Think pilots would buy their own tickets to work? Not a chance in h*ll...there would be a whole bunch of planes parked the next day. In order to get me to come to work, the company would just have to give me space positive...no way I'm buying my own, or moving, for a regional job.