What is it like being an airline pilot captain for a major international airline?

ktsai91 said:
If you are lucky enough to pay your dues early on in your flying career and you finally get to see the fruits of your labor, what is it like to be an airline pilot captain at the top of the pilot seniority list for a major international airline (like Emirates for example)?

Like what would the salary be and what would the lifestyle of a senior major international airline captain be like? Any other perks and benefits?
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If you are a young guy asking this question prospectively, you are asking the wrong question. You need to put it 20-30 years into the future tense. "What will it be like to be ... in 20 to 30 years? I don't know except to tell you this... Very, very different than it is now.
Or, as the investment boilerplate elucidates (oh, so subtly), "Past performance is no guarantee of future results."
 
NovemberEcho said:
Idk, I seemed to have a lot more problems and stress when I had to skip meals to pay rent, or not pay bills for 6 months to pay child support than I do now.
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I hear ya....first world problems and all.

Assigning "silent" as a ringtone and "Roll to voicemail" is key to familial harmony.
 
typhoonpilot said:
Last 737 recurrent was in January and flew it in February.
Last 777/787 recurrent was July, 2016
and you know about the 650 :)

I could take a type ride in the B777 tomorrow, no problem. It's my baby :)

What I am not proficient in to the level I would like to be is the 650. Flying it a bunch later this month though, so that should help.
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Back in the US?
 
Cptnchia said:
FWIW, I'm on track to make close to that this year as a mid level/junior MD88 captain flying on average 85 hours a month or so with one GS a month. Just some perspective on why bigger planes don't always pay more.
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Thus the beginning part of my reply. There is almost zero reason to go overseas now. Back in the early to mid 2000s when guys were furloughed or stuck at $75,000/year regional captain jobs it made a whole lot more sense.
 
Derg said:
This is true.

Oh lord, so true.

The more you make the more you find that you're the only person in your family circle actually rowing the boat.

(as I'm laughing heartily at the memory of my mothers insistence that I pay off my brothers mortgage with my profit sharing check a few months ago)
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I'm lucky that we've mostly done well with the exception of one. Plus my parents believe that we all were given the same opportunity to suceed growing up. So sibling wise...you get what you get and you make what you make of it. So I get no pressure from my parents to help the other my siblings out. We've all pulled the others up at one point or another. Although my parents will be taken care of as much as I and my other siblings are able. They've earned it. My mom wants a new flat screen for Mother's Day and she will get it!
 
scoobs said:
No desire to start over in the US? I've heard flying for the airlines in Asia can be just as bad as the ME.
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I don't work for an airline :)

...but even if I did I would not be real interested in coming back to the USA. It makes a lot of sense for guys 45 and under to do it, maybe even 50 and under. Never say never, but I've fallen into a nice niche and I am going to ride it out for awhile over here.

FWIW, there are two guys I know of who went back to American after a long time overseas (TWA furloghees). One has already left to come back to Asia as a DEC on a widebody and another is looking hard at it.
 
KLB said:
I'm lucky that we've mostly done well with the exception of one. Plus my parents believe that we all were given the same opportunity to suceed growing up. So sibling wise...you get what you get and you make what you make of it. So I get no pressure from my parents to help the other my siblings out. We've all pulled the others up at one point or another. Although my parents will be taken care of as much as I and my other siblings are able. They've earned it. My mom wants a new flat screen for Mother's Day and she will get it!
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That's good!

You know, it has been a while since my last "Your nephew wrecked his car, he needs $1500 to get it out of impound".

LOL.
 
typhoonpilot said:
I don't work for an airline :)

...but even if I did I would not be real interested in coming back to the USA. It makes a lot of sense for guys 45 and under to do it, maybe even 50 and under. Never say never, but I've fallen into a nice niche and I am going to ride it out for awhile over here.

FWIW, there are two guys I know of who went back to American after a long time overseas (TWA furloghees). One has already left to come back to Asia as a DEC on a widebody and another is looking hard at it.
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That's surprising after what I've read on APC. You must work for a great flight department.
 
JDean3204 said:
I'm sure a 33 percent paycut is hard to take no matter what the initial salary is, because we are wired to spend what we make.
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Try 40% pay cut because that is what most of us took in the 2004-08 time frame. Most airline guys I knew were pretty frugal and why some of us were able to retire before 60.
 
Cptnchia said:
FWIW, I'm on track to make close to that this year as a mid level/junior MD88 captain flying on average 85 hours a month or so with one GS a month. Just some perspective on why bigger planes don't always pay more.
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Cptnchia, you and Derg are not working hard enough. My brother-in-law there made $500K+ in 2016 as a 320CA. He did fly a ton of GS's though. Took me over 3 years to make that in the same plane/position just before I retired. No sour grapes here; glad to see pay where it should be for everyone.
 
Springer said:
Cptnchia, you and Derg are not working hard enough. My brother-in-law there made $500K+ in 2016 as a 320CA. He did fly a ton of GS's though. Took me over 3 years to make that in the same plane/position just before I retired. No sour grapes here; glad to see pay where it should be for everyone.
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That's cool but I like being home and am basically lazy. :)
 
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