But it is the most unappreciated job ever. Its always your fault, you never did a good enough job, and people hate you.
Dude...you need a vacation.
Also, cheer up! You're a captain at Brand X flying a badass airplane around - you've got the world by the balls! I would have killed to have been in the left seat of a Saab at your total time, you're in a good spot and before you know it you'll be at a legacy and be literally set for life (barring furlough, divorce, illness, etc.). Take some time off if you're burning out or switch to a medevac job (medevac is awesome, and super rewarding, and your passengers generally appreciate you), but life's too short to feel this way and you won't be able to fly forever. You work at a sweat-shop, I know what that place is about, it's not a bad thing...but it's a sweat shop. It's a means to an end, and it'll be over soon - but it's not that bad. At risk of sounding like an old man, "in my day" there was no "quick upgrade" in the Saab. Think of TM - he was there for damn near 10 years and they only upgraded him when they had a need and they didn't really work with him when he had family stuff happen because they were so short staffed - enjoy what you've got right now, because I promise you it will not last forever, and if you don't like, don't wait around to "pay your dues" that's nonsense, life's too short for that - go do something you enjoy!
I'd highly recommend looking for fulfillment from within yourself in this line of work, don't look for it in the job. I have made that mistake in the past - I love flying, it is/was a huge part of my identity, but it's just a job. Management isn't going to appreciate you, the passengers aren't going to appreciate you for doing you day-in-day-out job, and in your part of the industry, you'll be surrounded by negative people.
Ignore all that. You're flying a badass airplane up and down the coast building your time so you can scoot to something that's more comfortable. Being unappreciated is part of being PIC, you get used to it, or you find a
Also - I'd say the most unappreciated job ever probably goes to the guy who runs the waste-water treatment plant. Access to clean water is one of the most important parts of society, if he has a bad day at work, people could literally poop themselves to death, but do we even talk about that guy? Nope. That dude should get a parade every year, and I don't know anyone who even thinks about him.
Yea I'm not seeing it either. I've been non revving since I was born andnsure we've had to rearrange a few things because we didn't make it to our destination but overall I've had a somewhat decent experience. Maybe folks go in thinking it's going to terrible then when one little thing goes wrong, they have their confirmation bias.
Non-revving is incredible because it's virtually free, flying when you're paying for it? Kind of sucky for what you get at a lot of places. Hawaiian has shown me time and time again they have amazing customer service, Alaska has damn good service, but beyond that it's a crap shoot. I've had excellent luck with DL going to and from Alaska, but had a different experience going to Hawaii on them. AA has been awesome into and out of Hawaii, but some of the stuff into and out of DFW has been...shall we say, hit and miss. United has been a wildly "ok" experience every time I've flown on them, but I'm not going to say that sitting inside a pressurized metal tube for 4 hours is "fun." Riding as a passenger kind of sucks, and friendly customer service agents and flight crews are the difference between "OK" and "hey that was pretty good, I'll pay the extra $15 to buy a ticket again!" People who travel frequently for business
will pay more for a decent environment.
