The 76 does the work horse flying in Asia and Europe - meaning the shorter, multi leg hub type flying covering regional areas in respective theaters. To get crews to/from those airplanes in theater, they have to DH or CML (paid tix) people around.

The 74 is the trunk route plane, long hauler, however you want to think of it. Much less DH/CML into or out of position than the Z because of this.

There are limited exceptions to both.

Trips between fleets are different because of the type of flying they do. On Z you’ll DH into theater then do hub flying during the week, most of the weekend off, then second week of hub flying before DH’ing back home. Thus, 2 week trips very common. Eg. Monday start with DH to PHL. Tuesday PHL CDG CGN. Now flying nights in Europe (afternoons on us time) Thur night CGN STN, Fri STN CGN MAD, Fri night MAD CGN weekend layover. Following week start Sunday night (Mon am): CGN-MAD, day l/o, then MAD CGN-BCN VLC l/o (day). Same hub stuff next few days laying over in BCN, BUD and CGN Thursday night. Fri night head home time, leave CGN 2am - STN PHL (DH or operate) landing around 8am. CML home whenever you want. Lots of 15hr layovers during trip. Note: you stayed on US day time zone most of your trip

74 is long strings of around the world trips like (SDF HNL HGK DXB CGN SDF) that can be anywhere from 8-14 days long. They have ocean loops: SDF HNL SYD ICN ANC SDF or out and backs: ANC ICN SZX ICN ANC or SDF CGN DXB CGN SDF. Lots of 24hr l/o’s causing continuous circadian flipping. I found Z way less fatiguing than 74 but you work a heck of a lot harder.

Anyway, on Z you are often DH/CML’d into/out of position to get to the flying because it’s the 74 crossing the oceans. The Z tends to have longer trips keeping you in theater while the whale has a lot of variety in trip length (less desirable for commuters…?). It takes 2 days to DH to/from Asia so Z guys can deviate and get a couple more days at home making those trips only 11-12 days = even more palatable.

Schzing! There’s UPS intl flying in a nutshell.

Where’s the “like” button? Thanks for that write up.

Is there any difference in pay on the 74 vs Z for a typical 12 day trip, respectively? I’d assume per diem would be similar, but how about the int’l overrides and credit hour build up, etc? Perhaps Z pays less on the paycheck, but you’re also gaining status on all of those long CML’s, which are business (first?) class. Maybe not CH for CH, but never hurts my feelings to be in the back watching movies while getting paid as if I was up front in uniform. Any other pros/cons come to mind in that regard?

FTV’s post is not wrong but it leaves out the experience a newhire will have. Looking at the Z bid pack now over a 1/3 of the lines don’t even see Asia or Europe. They are a hodgepodge of domestic , Canada , Mexico and reserve lines that are rarely if ever 2 week trips. And certainly have little CMLs or deadheads. In the last award on the z it took about 3 years seniority to hold the last 2 week on/off trip and it wasn’t a pretty one. Junior on the 747 isn’t much better. Either fleet junior you will end up on some mostly uncommutable lines. Maybe 5 trips a month and you won’t be getting the long reserve blocks because those go senior. Mid seniority it gets better but tons of domestic FOs bid over to the Z as soon as they get some years under them making seniority progression much slower than other fleets. Just something to think about

As flyguy said above don’t plan on that schedule for a long time. He gave an example of the most senior trips in the company. Also something to consider. It is not uncommon for the company to reschedule you, especially on Asia commercials. One minute you have a sweet business class seat getting home early and the next you are operating all the way back to SDF. All for a 2 hr premium.

And no deviating on reserve. Food for thought.

there are some dudes that used to fly for Cathay that still commute to HK. From what I hear from some of them, is that are trying the hardest to move back state side.
from personal experience, DO not count on doing what you are planning. After 2 years I only had 1 DH to HK and that was due to my flight canceling, which is rare. Most commercials are to ONT or Hawaii. And even those are super rare for junior pilots.
schedules in anc are horrible for junior pilots. Plan on doing 4-6 commutes a bid period. And if you are on reserve maybe a little less commuting. Also don’t count on the whale. UPS hires into fleets for no apparent rhyme or reason. We have Miami guys being sent to anc and anc guys sent to sfd. They really don’t care where you live, they will put you where they want.
if there is any chance u can move to base, you will be doing yourself a massive favor.
Schedules for junior guys are really not commuter friendly on most fleets, much less anc.
keep ur expectations low and everything will go smoother.
just my two cents. And if you Z plan on being on reserve for a VERY long time, and flying mostly Zmestic trips.

If you live in base on the 75/76 fleet is it possible to do the turn lines and theoretically rarely sleep outside your own bed?

Yes it is...on the airbus also..many do it

That and reserve are the biggest benefits to living in base. Morning turns are kinda rough though. Show between 12-3 and end between 9-12. Guys with young kids seem to typically bid them.

Also expect 3-4 years of seniority before you can hold them.