Jet
Well-Known Member
Its been 2.5 years since I was first hired by a regional airline. Before the airlines I worked a good paying desk job for a large company. Now as I look back and after giving up the nice paycheck and home every night to sleep in hotels and fly airplanes, I have absolutely zero regrets. The most important thing I’ve learned in life is that nothing is perfect. This flying job is far from perfect and is not for everybody but there are enough positives to keep me satisfied even after already being displaced, furloughed and underpaid in my recently started airline career.
As I compare flying to my previous life here is what is absolutely priceless to me:
1) Never taking your job home. When you're off, you're off! Work and emails always stacked up in the old job.
2) No Boss! You never have to deal with a boss unless you screw up. My corporate boss was cool but dealing with a boss daily gets old.
3) 5-7 consecutive day stretches off every month with half the month off. This is by far the biggest reason I could never go back to the M-F grind.
4) Promotion is on auto pilot. No need to brown nose and suck up to your boss. When your number is up you become captain.
Schedule:
I am now in the top 40 percent of my base as an FO so I have decent QOL. I can hold a few day trips and a lot of 2 day trips. Now I usually only spend about 6 or 7 nights in a hotel per month. I get a couple weekends off per month and the rest I only work partially. My favorite is actually a late starting trip on Sunday, 5pm report time. To me it still feels like I had the weekend off. The top 10% in base are home every night with all day trips and some with 17/18 days off.
I usually fly about 1-3 flights per day on a trip and every once and a while I fly 4 flights. Here is what a typical 3 day trip looks like.
Day 1: Start 5pm CMH to EWR then 8pm EWR to AUS arrive at the hotel at 1130pm local
Day 2: 5pm AUS to IAH then 7pm IAH to PIT at the hotel at 11pm
Day 3: 5pm PIT to DEN then 630pm DEN to CMH off at 11pm back in base
This trip is worth 16.5 hours of pay. This averages out to 5.5 hours of pay and this is the average you need to keep to have 15 days off and 83 hrs of pay per month. The people that hold 18 days off need to work at least 6.5 hrs a day for 12 days to get paid 78hrs/month. We do have day trips worth over 7 hours, 14hr 2 days, 21hr 3 days, 28hr 4 days but not a whole lot. Most people bid highest daily credit which gives them the most time off. Some people like to relax with easy trips and would rather work a couple more days a month. I try to work higher time trips but I will work more days if it’s a day trip so I’m home at night more.
Here is a typical month:
1 M Work Day 1 of 2
2 T Work Day 2 of 2
3 W Work Day 1 of 2
4 T Work Day 2 of 2
5 F OFF
6 S OFF
7 S OFF
8 M OFF
9 T OFF
10 W OFF
11 T Work Day 1 of 3
12 F Work Day 2 of 3
13 S Work Day 3 of 3
14 S OFF
15 M OFF
16 T OFF
17 W OFF
18 T Work Day 1 of 2
19 F Work Day 2 of 2
20 S OFF
21 S OFF
22 M OFF
23 T Work Day 1 of 2
24 W Work Day 2 of 2
25 T Work Day 1 of 2
26 F Work Day 2 of 2
27 S Work Day 1 of 1
28 S OFF
29 M OFF
30 T Work Day 1 of 3
30 Day Month: 15 days OFF, 15 days Work, 7 nights in a hotel, 23 nights in my own bed
Hotels/Layovers:
The hotels aren’t as bad as the reputation that goes along with the regionals, well at least at my job but YMMV. My company has about 5 awesome hotels that are right in the middle of the downtown district in an upscale hotel, Sheraton, Hilton etc. We also have about 5 hotels that are depressing in a bad area. Most of the hotels are nice hotels but in the middle of nowhere with not much to do unless you get creative and split a car rental with the crew. The average layover is about 15 hours with a few long 24 hour ones and some shorter 10 hour layovers exist.
Pay:
I won't sugar coat this, the pay is the worst part of the job since we aren't paid what we deserve but you can survive with a budget. Straight from my W2's I made $32k first year at one of the lowest paid jet regionals with most out of date contract. This includes a new hire bonus and per diem and not picking up any overtime but I did work a lot on reserve. Year 2 was $37k including per diem with 0 pick ups on my days off.
Recommendation:
I wouldn’t recommend this job to my worst enemy if you plan on commuting. Commuting wears on the soul. Otherwise it’s a great job but it’s not for everybody. I’d also only recommend it to people who can move around at least 2-3 times. If you live in base it’s a good job and with a little seniority it’s even better. Reserve is actually a great thing if you live in base and work at a properly staffed airline but that is something you won't find at a regional these days. The bottom line is that you will never know if this job is for you unless you try it out. Avoid debt and don’t have expectations of getting rich either. After 2.5 years I still enjoy flying and look forward to a river or expressway visual on a gusty day. Good luck to you!
As I compare flying to my previous life here is what is absolutely priceless to me:
1) Never taking your job home. When you're off, you're off! Work and emails always stacked up in the old job.
2) No Boss! You never have to deal with a boss unless you screw up. My corporate boss was cool but dealing with a boss daily gets old.
3) 5-7 consecutive day stretches off every month with half the month off. This is by far the biggest reason I could never go back to the M-F grind.
4) Promotion is on auto pilot. No need to brown nose and suck up to your boss. When your number is up you become captain.
Schedule:
I am now in the top 40 percent of my base as an FO so I have decent QOL. I can hold a few day trips and a lot of 2 day trips. Now I usually only spend about 6 or 7 nights in a hotel per month. I get a couple weekends off per month and the rest I only work partially. My favorite is actually a late starting trip on Sunday, 5pm report time. To me it still feels like I had the weekend off. The top 10% in base are home every night with all day trips and some with 17/18 days off.
I usually fly about 1-3 flights per day on a trip and every once and a while I fly 4 flights. Here is what a typical 3 day trip looks like.
Day 1: Start 5pm CMH to EWR then 8pm EWR to AUS arrive at the hotel at 1130pm local
Day 2: 5pm AUS to IAH then 7pm IAH to PIT at the hotel at 11pm
Day 3: 5pm PIT to DEN then 630pm DEN to CMH off at 11pm back in base
This trip is worth 16.5 hours of pay. This averages out to 5.5 hours of pay and this is the average you need to keep to have 15 days off and 83 hrs of pay per month. The people that hold 18 days off need to work at least 6.5 hrs a day for 12 days to get paid 78hrs/month. We do have day trips worth over 7 hours, 14hr 2 days, 21hr 3 days, 28hr 4 days but not a whole lot. Most people bid highest daily credit which gives them the most time off. Some people like to relax with easy trips and would rather work a couple more days a month. I try to work higher time trips but I will work more days if it’s a day trip so I’m home at night more.
Here is a typical month:
1 M Work Day 1 of 2
2 T Work Day 2 of 2
3 W Work Day 1 of 2
4 T Work Day 2 of 2
5 F OFF
6 S OFF
7 S OFF
8 M OFF
9 T OFF
10 W OFF
11 T Work Day 1 of 3
12 F Work Day 2 of 3
13 S Work Day 3 of 3
14 S OFF
15 M OFF
16 T OFF
17 W OFF
18 T Work Day 1 of 2
19 F Work Day 2 of 2
20 S OFF
21 S OFF
22 M OFF
23 T Work Day 1 of 2
24 W Work Day 2 of 2
25 T Work Day 1 of 2
26 F Work Day 2 of 2
27 S Work Day 1 of 1
28 S OFF
29 M OFF
30 T Work Day 1 of 3
30 Day Month: 15 days OFF, 15 days Work, 7 nights in a hotel, 23 nights in my own bed
Hotels/Layovers:
The hotels aren’t as bad as the reputation that goes along with the regionals, well at least at my job but YMMV. My company has about 5 awesome hotels that are right in the middle of the downtown district in an upscale hotel, Sheraton, Hilton etc. We also have about 5 hotels that are depressing in a bad area. Most of the hotels are nice hotels but in the middle of nowhere with not much to do unless you get creative and split a car rental with the crew. The average layover is about 15 hours with a few long 24 hour ones and some shorter 10 hour layovers exist.
Pay:
I won't sugar coat this, the pay is the worst part of the job since we aren't paid what we deserve but you can survive with a budget. Straight from my W2's I made $32k first year at one of the lowest paid jet regionals with most out of date contract. This includes a new hire bonus and per diem and not picking up any overtime but I did work a lot on reserve. Year 2 was $37k including per diem with 0 pick ups on my days off.
Recommendation:
I wouldn’t recommend this job to my worst enemy if you plan on commuting. Commuting wears on the soul. Otherwise it’s a great job but it’s not for everybody. I’d also only recommend it to people who can move around at least 2-3 times. If you live in base it’s a good job and with a little seniority it’s even better. Reserve is actually a great thing if you live in base and work at a properly staffed airline but that is something you won't find at a regional these days. The bottom line is that you will never know if this job is for you unless you try it out. Avoid debt and don’t have expectations of getting rich either. After 2.5 years I still enjoy flying and look forward to a river or expressway visual on a gusty day. Good luck to you!
