Originally Posted by SharpieFlight

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?

Originally Posted by FTv3

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.

Originally Posted by hammer pants

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.

Originally Posted by Brakes 3

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?

Originally Posted by FTv3

I did but I am in the bottom 10% and hold these consistently: may I introduce you to VTO and VTORs. Fantastic option for bottom feeders especially if they don’t need specific days off and can just risk whatever is thrown at them. Note: these don’t fall all the way down so you need some bodies below you to start holding them, not all the lines put out are good.

Also, I was explaining the differences between the Z and 74 international flying, not what a newb can hold. Z bids are a mix of domestic and international and even the week on week off domestic on Z goes quite senior. It’s a senior fleet in both seats for good reasons.

Originally Posted by Slim_Pickens

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

Originally Posted by FTv3

To start, no intl trips on Z are 12 days. They are almost all 14 but you might have the option to deviate on a given trip where you can actually be away from home for as little at 11-12 days. Alternatively, you could be rescheduled to return home late and be gone 16.

Pay: perdiem and intl override are the same between fleets. I’d guess Z trips pay slightly higher credit on average for a 14 day trip but probably very similar for an average monthly credit. That will fluctuate over time as well. ANC (74) has a lot more conflict opportunities: first, they can’t backfill ANC conflicts AS EASILY as Z conflicts in SDF. Second, 2 aqp’s (recurrent training) per year provide an extra conflict per year vs 1 on Z. 3rd, always new bodies going into ANC = training displacements.

Noticeably more CML/DH positioning and depositioning on Z vs 74.

I think most people look at schedules, QOL, their preferred niches vs what pays the most on average. The guys killing it live in domicile, bid reserve and don’t get called then pickup JAs on days off, or same with displaced for training and then there’s the conflict *****s. The desperate fly their lines and pickup extra: working harder not smarter….

Originally Posted by MaxFire

Ball park how senior do you need to be on the domestic sdf 75/76 fleet to get a cml on the front or back end of trips…. And even both ends… thanks!