If I was you this is what I would do.....move to the northeast. Eastern PA. It’s ideal. You can find land for cheap or you can find a small home in a great school district. Flat tax on income! Lots of good public schools. And the best part.....with in 2-2.5 hours you are in IAD, DCA, BWI, PHL, ACY, EWR, JFK, LGA......the only two carriers that don’t have a Jr. Base is FedEx and UPS. That literally covers AAL, DAL, JBLU, SWA, Spirt, UAL, Frontier (do they still have a PHL base?). Then you buy your house off of the lowest paid persons second year pay on MPG. You buget the crap out of your life. This will allow you guys to take COLA whenever offered. It allows you to drop down to 35 hours each. It allows you to not be stressed when one of you loses a job. And it allows the one having the baby to take the whole 1st year off....Don’t buy the big house, the big boat, the big airplane, the big anything. Kids are expensive! And they spell love with 4 letters T-I-M-E. That’s all they understand. If you do this and if you can get some family to move close by then you are in the sweet spot of life. Otherwise build a small addition to a house with an in law suite and either have the grandparents come stay on day’s you have conflicts of schedule or hire a nanny. Good luck. If you can get hired by fedex that’s great but if not move to the northeast.

Commuting stinks, but so does living somewhere that you don’t really want to be. My family would be miserable living near any United hub. I used to live in base and driving to and from work was great, but the second I walked in the door we all wanted to go somewhere else. We moved to the middle of nowhere and couldn’t be happier. The commute isn’t fun, but being exactly where we want to be 14-15 days a month is more than worth it for us. Make your job work around your life, don’t work your life around your job.

As to having kids, that is the most important, and enjoyable job you’ll ever have. The industry is full of stories of two pilot or pilot/flight attendant marriages that fail because they have to bid so one parent is home with the kids and the adults never see each other. I have two friends who started out with 2 pilot marriages. One couple, the wife quit flying when kids came along and they’re still happily married. The other couple were both focused on careers and have been divorced for years. It’s hard to make a marriage work when you are passing in the hall as the other goes to work.

I think that’s what the whole thread is about… how to maximize QOL and time at home to make a marriage and family life enjoyable.

if you’re both doing 1 and 2 days it wouldn’t be that different than many other high paying jobs (which often require travel or very long hours).

I personally couldn’t imagine being away from my kids 4 days in a row every week, so I very much sympathize the the OP’s concerns

This job can put a strain on family life when one is flying, when two are flying it gets exponentially worse. The friends of mine that got divorced thought they could handle it, but the strain and time apart took its toll. The couple where the wife gave up her career wasn’t a sacrifice, as soon as she saw the baby she new what she wanted to do. Delta called while she was on maternity leave and she turned down the interview and never looked back. Kids need lots of time with both parents, not lots of money or stuff. My advice would be to either make both careers a priority, or make a family the priority. The track record of trying to juggle both isn’t that good.

My understanding is all trips are built to credit 5 hours per day, and PBS would want to build you 75 hours of work so you’d be scheduled for 15 days of work each month. The reserve grid is subject to fleet type, so IAH 737 FO could drop with a green grid and IAH 320 FO can’t.

Spirit has only 1 fleet type so the reserve grid is easier to manage. My understanding is their contract requires 4 days off between each trip, and the reserve grid has to start every month with 75% of the days green. If you get one drop approved it would string together 12 days off in a row.

I don’t work at United or Spirit though

Id investigate the sim jobs at FedEx, or a sim job at any regional most pay close to 10k a month and work 5-6 hours a day with 11-12 hard off days. It more than just having mathematical coverage for your kids when your both at work.

You’ll want to be present in their life and school functions.

IMO many airline dads are not present in their kids childhood and just go fly to “earn” for the family and end up divorced, with kids that only call to ask for money.

I’d second this. When my kids were young I stayed super senior as a 737 fo to have control of my schedule. I never missed a holiday, school event, or anything else. I’d also advertise trips away when there was a conflict and take the pay cut. We decided that living where we do and commuting was the best option, but I was still home more than most. Our 25th anniversary is coming up and our kids are well grounded and successful. I don’t have the big house or bank account that others do, but I wouldn’t change a thing.

Great feedback! Everyone has an opinion/experience and its nice to see different ones. The other thing to keep in mind is regardless of company, contracts change and things come and go away. We have discussed who would maybe need to quit while the other works (and most likely come back a few years later once kids are older).

I’d argue that “once the kids are older” means not until they all go off to college. Raising kids is not a deal that only takes a few years.

If LAX based would a reserve pilot have to cover ONT, LAX, and Orange County in the guppy or bus?

No. Those three plus BUR. So four.