Why wouldn't you work where you're at? Don't come here this place will slowly drain the life from you. Stay over seas and make way better money and save your marriage.

 

I know someone who semi-commutes to Germany. Kalitta does regularly scheduled CVG/JFK - Leipsig Germany.

 

Holy crap...

...and I thought I had issues to work out before flying for a regional. Geeeesh...good luck with that, amigo!!

 

Not sure about other airlines but I believe that you get something like six round trip standbys for ocean crossing international on Delta. In addition to a crash pad its going to cost you for those standby ZED fairs after your free round trips you can also add international taxes on top of that. Not sure about United/AA systems they could be free, im sure it could be done and has been done but I would probably quit after six months to a year of that.

 

Not that I know anything, but I have got to think that after paying for your crashpad, international taxes, and ZED fares, you'd be better off taking a bucketload of cash and setting fire to it. Your regional salary would probably be devoted entirely to travel costs...

 

We had an FO at Eagle commute from Germany to DFW. He was senior enough to be a Captain though. Schedules have gotten worse since then but before he said he was able to get a full two weeks off every month after shuffling his trips around. He also didn't need the money so not sure how much he just dropped. As a new hire forget it. You would be miserable and wouldn't last long. All your time off would be spent going back and forth.

 

Depending upon the country, this is probably actually true. Departure taxes vary, but even if it's $75-80 out of someplace like Rome or Paris you've just cost yourself a whole reserve day's pay before you even get to work. Then you have the scheduling/days off/crashpad issues that have previously been mentioned. FAR 117 has made it more challenging to stack trips together than before so unless you can get your thirty hours off on a long overnight, you're destined to need a hotel or bunk so you can get your legal day off every week.

Commuting domestically is hard enough, the few people I know who do international (A) Don't mind being gone from home for two weeks at a time (B) Are very senior, and (C) Did not start as newhires making an international commute. If you're already well-established, off probation and off reserve and have some schedule control, and commuting to JFK or ORD, then maybe... Not having multiple flight options really will make it tough in the event of weather or a cancellation though, and if a flight is full/weight restricted, you may not make it home or to work at all. It is hard to argue that it is worth it. Throw in jetlag and fatigue, and yeah, the likelihood that you'll quickly come to loathe the job is practically guaranteed, and the chances that your marriage will not survive your career goes up tenfold. She may be homesick, but she'd also like to see you occasionally, yeah?

 

i think jumpseat is unlimited on DAL, non-rev has a limit for ocean crossings. You will always occupy a cabin seat while jumpseating across the pond.

 

AAh yes forgot about that.

 

Not sure if anyone has already said it, but a non-company pilot cannot sit cockpit jumpseat international on pretty much any airline I can think of (including cargo operators with the exception of Atlas/Polar).

On first year regional pay, assuming you go home only once a month, you'll basically be spending half your monthly guarantee on taxes and departure fees.

Not to discourage you further, but you will get stuck at least once or twice, and being "that guy who commutes from city xxx in Europe" and having a few call-in-honests/sick calls here and there is not going to look good while on probation.

Additionally, you should be very wary of what you're proposing in light of the new 117 rules on "acclimated." Being classified as a cabin-only jumpseater on a Europe-US flight greater than 60 degrees change in latitude, then having 8 hours in crashpad prior to a trip wouldn't be something I'd want anyone to know about if I had an incident/ASAP reportable thing happen on my trip--you don't want that on paper in front of a Fed. Not sure how they're interpreting non-acclimated commutes but it just seems unwise all around.

Either way good luck and hope I'm not overloading you with negativity--just pointing out some realities and encouraging you to strongly consider not doing this in your first year at a regional.