How much family time does an airline pilot realistically get?
Posted by t_r_a_y_e@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 75 comments
Sorry if this is a potentially stupid question, but recently I've been going through some big changes in life and have been looking towards different career paths.
I want something that I'll enjoy doing and be passionate about, but also a job where I won't work my life away. I never considered flying in the past because frankly I was terrified of it, but recently I flew in a plane for the first time and I've been thinking about it non stop since, and started considering looking into being a pilot.
I've already looked nearby for flight schools, there seems to be a decent one nearby offering both part 141 and part 61, and I've started doing research on how it all works and been watching lots of videos
My original reasoning for looking into different careers though was because I wanted something with lots of free time as I've recently moved in with my girlfriend and we are planning a future together and I'd like a career where I'm not exhausted all the time with no time to actually do anything
When researching I originally saw that airline pilots often get more time off than others, sometimes 3-4 days or even weeks off at a time, and I originally thought that sounded amazing and that being gone for a couple days a week wouldn't be a big deal
But I see that many say relationships are tough as an airline pilot or next to impossible
I guess my question is, why? Sure, you miss some holidays maybe, maybe won't be home in bed every night. But doesn't days or weeks off make up for it? Doesn't it technically give you more time for family than say, a full 40-50 hour work week at many other jobs?
Am I looking at this wrong? If any pilots with a family could chime in, I'd appreciate it
FinalSun6862@reddit
Pilot gf here. Been with my pilot for a few years from flight instructing to regional to now a major. Marriage is in our future if I do say so myself.
It comes down to luck, seniority and if you live in base. The job gives you lots of time off FOR YOURSELF but not necessarily lots of time off at the same time that your family or SO or friends are available.
My SO says he’s always on vacation (flies only a few hours, gets a 30 hour layover to do whatever he wants, then flies a few more hours and then repeats and then he comes home for a few days and is bored because I’m at work and has nothing to do so he just exercises and does his hobbies helps families etc)
Here’s what the schedule is like:
At regional, he got 12 days off a month but always had to pick up trips for money reasons so he had less than that. However he got lucky and had a base that didn’t do many layovers so we saw each other a few times a week for an hour or two. (We don’t live together and I also work)
When he went to a major airline, he was gone for a few months in another state for training and IOE. I had a medical emergency involving hospitalization and surgery during this time and couldn’t rely on him to help me or be there for me because he wasn’t here. I spent his entire training (a few months of training + IOE) in a bed sick, unable to move, he spent it studying and going out with the other pilots to chill and drink at the bar. I know he was in another state but it was rough — I’ll be honest I almost ended it because I never thought I would be without my SO during one of the most difficult times in my life.
Let’s see. Oh yes he also ended up being a commuter on reserve for a while and that absolutely sucked. He was never home, I counted how many hours we had together in the whole month on the days he was at home (since his days off were days I worked) during this commuting and it was less than 24 hours.
That’s depressing, and thankfully we don’t live together and I had lots of things to do and we didn’t have kids otherwise I would have had to figure out child care while I was hospitalized and recovering AND THEN immediately jump into single mom duty.
Anyway, he finally got senior enough to hold our base. He gets like 14-20 days off a month but picks up trips so he’s still around less. Most of the time he’s able to work his schedule to get the days we need off but never weekends which sucks. And he’s always tired when he’s home and goes to bed early because turns = redeyes or nearly redeyes so we only get a few hours together while layovers are long enough with little flying to = time to sleep wake up live life and repeat. Like, he has a better sleep schedule on layovers is what I mean.
But he does have a lot of time of home to do what he wants. That time doesn’t coincide with me or his family or friends though as it’s when we’re working.
But it should get better with seniority. We’re hoping it’ll be a bit easier by the time we have kids. He’ll be more senior then.
norman_9999@reddit
This is so true. Having so much time off, but not when friends/family want it can cause issues too.
Spending excessive amounts of time on your own hobbies just because you can, while still being short of time with your family, which you can't control, can and does lead to animosity and resentment.
It really takes a special and understanding partner, not hold this against you, and make it all work.
FinalSun6862@reddit
Yes but it also means that it’s even more important for the pilot to chip in when they’re around and be present, even more than in a typical 9 to 5.
Like yes you might be tired of flying or from whatever you did on the 3-day or 4-day layover but when you come home, you need to be ready to help around the house (and with the kids if you have any) work was your break and you also have to be ready to spend time with SO and family even if it’s sometimes inconvenient.
One of the biggest challenges I think is that everything revolves around the pilot schedule if you want them around, more than any other job I’ve experienced. So it’s important for both parties to be making efforts to see each other,
Tricky-Age4711@reddit
> But I see that many say relationships are tough as an airline pilot or next to impossible
This probably has more to do with our having the "pilot personality" than it does the nature of the job or the schedule.
Tough_Efficiency_719@reddit
You absolutely can have more time with your family than at a regular job. Keep in mind that working 9 to 5 may have you home every night, but how much time are you actually home on those nights? You're going to spend hours a day in rush hour traffic, so maybe an hour at home in the morning and then if you're lucky, 3 or 4 hours in the evening before sleep. Weekends only to do everything life demands we do.
Airline pilots can and will be gone for days at a time, but when we're home, we are home for days at a time. Sometimes a lot of days at a time. Enough to get everything life demands done, while everyone else is at work, leaving plenty of leisure time to spend doing whatever we want.
It doesn't happen overnight though. It will be a long grueling road to get to that lifestyle. You sound like you may be young though so I suggest having some real heart to hearts with your lady. Not every relationship can withstand the early rigors, or even the late rigors of this life. But if you start it out together you can make it work and it can be pretty, pretty, pretty good.
I host an aviation podcast that really is geared for people like you who want to know what the life of a pilot really is like. However, mods have banned my posts for linking it. So I won't. But you can find it in my profile.
norman_9999@reddit
This is so true. Having so much time off, but not when friends/family want it can cause issues too.
Spending excessive amounts of time on your own hobbies just because you can, while still being short of time with your family, which you can't control, can and does lead to animosity and resentment.
It really takes a special and understanding partner not to feel this way and make it all work.
av8r197@reddit
Living in base vs. commuting will probably be the biggest decision you'll make when it comes to family time at home. Having to commute can add entire days to both ends of a trip. When you only have 3 days off the challenge is clear. Live in base and you will probably have as much or more family time as most 9-5 folks. Commute (even a one-leg) and all bets are off.
TSwiftIcedTea@reddit
Worst case scenario at any 121 airline in the US is you work 18 days a month, each week working 4 days away from home with 3 days off. Each trip starting early and ending late. If you commute then you have to fly in the day before and fly out the day after each trip, effectively meaning you work 6 days each week(but get paid for 4) with 1 full day off. Then at least once a year you go to training either for 1 week if you are just refreshing your existing certifications or up to 3 months if you are gaining new ones. If you don’t live in the city the training center is in then you are away from home most of that time. This is what you can be scheduled. Weather and mechanical issues can delay flights and make this worse.
Best case scenario you work high paying 1 day trips each day that start at 8am and end at 5pm, 10 days a month. Work 2-3 days a week, home every night, with 4 days off. You live in base 10 minutes from the airport so you can go right home and never have to commute. You live next to the training center so when you go to training every year you just drive in each day and are home every night.
The single most important decision you can ever make in this industry is to live in base, ideally the base that also has the primary training center.
Tiny-Astronaut7075@reddit
^ this. First case is me. I live in a domicile for my airline but got displaced 3 time zones away. I am on reserve 18 days a month and commute a day on front and back end. I am home once a week to see my kids.
When I was based where I live, it was amazing.
Dannysonfir3@reddit
Reallyyyyy depends on your objective.
We have guys who camp in the airport parking lot waiting for OT and trips to pop up. Sure they make a killin but at what cost?
Then there’s guys like me(senior FO, didn’t upgrade) who take our 75hr average and 20+ days off a month. It’s probably more like 14-16 days off for guys who are JUNIOR line holders. I also pref bid reserve some of the less busy months of flying and work maybe once or twice.
My philosophy is: You can always make more money, you can’t make more time.
My friends and family who work 9-5s think I’m unemployed sometimes. But, you don’t get to come home for the nights you do work to help with chores, dinner, the kids etc.
It all depends on your objective. There’s a SHIT ton of money to be made if you like to be away but there’s still tons of money if you like time away from work.
And final thought, if you want to make more time at home, find an airline you can live in base or would be willing to move to a base for. Don’t chase big shiny metal on some precedent that you have to big at Big D flying an a350(no shade to them, great airline). I thought that was my course when I started this journey and I soon realized I was a happier person driving to work, still doing what I love, and still making a very rewarding career. I have a best friend that lives right down the street. He commutes to ATL, I don’t and live in base with another airline. He did the math one night bs’ing around and I want to say his calculations(conservative) had him wasting ~7 years of his life just in commuting days.
DM me of course if you want any additional info. Good luck!
Zeewulfeh@reddit
I'm at the teeming masses level, started working on everything after private in 2022. Can't find an instructor job because of just how overpopulated the field is right now. I went out on my airline's internal program to transition to pilot, but now I'm staring at it being possibly a year before I can get a job, the experiences my family had trying to get an instructor job cross-country were an absolute disaster so moving to them at this point is not an option....
The damn ponzi scheme got me.
For the sake of my family, I'm giving up and going back to maintenance.
Dannysonfir3@reddit
To each their own my guy! Money isn’t everything. I mean I’m 35, but sad it even took me this long to realize that life outside of work and money aren’t even in the same convo in terms of importance. Missed a lot of time with my grandparents who have passed, missed a lot of time with my godson whose growing like a weed, missed a lot of golden times with family and parents who are getting older and this is just in the 10+ years I’ve been in the industry. I don’t even have a wife or kids of my own(NBD but just to point out) and I still feel like I missed out on a lot in my life chasing paychecks and boat $$$. I’m Happy now that I’ve reinvented my mindset the last few years and tailored my work ethic to live more life outside of work even though I might not make $500k/yr.
Nobody would work if we didn’t have too but unfortunately it’s the world and reality we live in.
We trade our time for money, our freedom for stability, and call it a life, but most of us never chose the terms.
Zeewulfeh@reddit
That's been the hardest thing. I'm 42. I wanted to do this since was my own kid's ages. I got caught out with 9/11 just starting out and walked away to the Army and maintenance before getting a single flight hour. 2020, I finally got the chance to actually learn to fly, and then in 2023 I was essentially given the golden ticket to the right seat of my employer airline.....and now, here with only 500 hours to go, I hit the wall, reeevaluated everything and realized what I was about to give up in pursuit of the childhood dream.
It's never been about the money for me, its been about the flying part. I already waited 24 years to make the dream happen. Another 10 isn't (hopefully) going to hurt. And who knows, maybe I'll end up 135 instead, where a number of my friends think I would be happier, anyway.
Dannysonfir3@reddit
That’s a great outlook on life. And yea don’t give up on something you enjoy. There’s plenty of options out there to make a great living and you can always have flying as a hobby to enjoy with your kids. Just keep your eyes and ears open and you never know, some part time little flying gig or job might just work out or land in your lap. You still have PLENTY of years left to fly a sweet jet or whatever floats your boat.
Successful_Dark_9054@reddit
If you truly love aviation and want to be a pilot, that won’t be a factor. The second thing is- if a woman truly loves you. She’ll support you and let you live your dreams. And y’all’s kid will do the same. Don’t overthink it
I know couples that are both airline pilots and they make it work. I know a lot of airline pilots and they are home a decent bit. Decent but as in 4 days flying, 3-4 days off. Depending on airline and seniority Don’t let that veer you away from becoming an airline pilot. A buddy of mine gets mandatory weekends off to spend time with wife and kids. Just depends how flexible ur airline is.
Brave-Elephant9292@reddit
A friend of mine worked long haul for Cathay Pacific. We are Australian. His wife had to move to Hong Kong. Yet he would spend one week in Australia and one week in Hong Kong. Great money as he was a check pilot, but luckily, a loop hole in when his contract started allowed his wife to remain in Australia. Still, he barely saw her, and their kids grew up almost fatherless. A lot of regrets when he retired....
Ima-pilot@reddit
Now tell him what percentage of us are divorced.
Silent_Neck9930@reddit
It couldn't be worse than lawyers, bankers, military?
TheEchoChamber69@reddit
Like 50-50 honestly.
I’m gone 14, home 14.
So I’m gone 336 hours, home/awake 224 hours.
A 9-5 by example, you’re gone 8, sleep 8. So you’re away around 320 hours, and home 288 awake hours. So, an airline pilot 30 years of it, will miss out on about 2.5 years worth of stuff overall vs the 9-5, but will likely earn, $8 million more?
inter_metric@reddit
Giving you 15 years at best to spend it all…which you probably won’t. But, hey, congrats. So,some will benefit from all those years in the air.
TheEchoChamber69@reddit
Says you. Everyone in my family lives to be 90s+ even my granddad who killed people in WW2 and the Korean War.
The bad part is when you plan to die at 60, and end up living to 90 😆
And sure, anything can happen but I’m optimistic. I’m also definitely spending money, cars/home, etc.
inter_metric@reddit
Hopefully, you’ll make 100 and in good enough shape!
TheEchoChamber69@reddit
Oh yeah, no doubt. You to man!
OtterVA@reddit
I’m not at work at my legacy 245 days a year. Regional airline job it was about 130.
inter_metric@reddit
How long does it take to get from the house to DCA?
BeeDubba@reddit
I’m a year-two regional FO with two young kids. Feel free to search my profile for the numerous posts I’ve made about this (search keyword ‘nights’). I prioritize nights and in particular dinner and bedtime at home, and seem to average 5-8 nights/month away from home while working mostly during the week.
Living in base is absolutely key to time at home.
My previous job was helicopter in the Coast Guard and my spouse prefers my airline schedule.
inter_metric@reddit
Where is your base?
BeeDubba@reddit
DCA.
inter_metric@reddit
Like living in Washington, D.C.?
BeeDubba@reddit
I live in a suburb in northern Virginia. I've been here 4 years and plan to stay here at least until my kids are grown. Schools are top in the nation, there's tons of stuff to do, and lots of diverse culture.
You can go to a free cheese and wine event at the Embassy of France. Or a protest at the White House. Or whitewater kayaking in the Potomac River. There's literally something for everyone.
We get snow occasionally, and summers are hot (IMO), but no hurricanes, no tornados, and no ice storms.
The only downside is that houses in my neighborhood are going for $700k.
inter_metric@reddit
Tons of time when the next novel virus gimmick comes to town.
PILOT9000@reddit
You’ll be gone a lot more than a couple days per week, especially at the beginning of your career as a junior regional airline FO. Then again when you upgrade and you’re a junior regional airline CA. Then again when you leave for a major airline and you’re a junior FO again. Same when you upgrade again and are now a junior CA.
you miss some holidays ~~maybe~~ definitely. FIFY
~~maybe~~ definitely won't be home in bed every night
A week is 168 hours. If you work 40 of them, that leaves you with 128 hours free.
If you’re gone flying for four days that leaves you with 72 hours free. And you missed being there for your family when the little issues they need you for here and there popped up.
Don’t live in base because you want to commute, or because you don’t have the seniority to bid in your local base? Add more time to being away.
New hire training, changing equipment, upgrades, etc can have you gone from home for extended periods of time, like months, as well.
Because you’re not around to take care of the wife and she’s lonely in bed every night, while the cute guy at work or the gym always has time to chat with her.
Because you’re lonely in a hotel bed every night and the girl at the gym, bar, Tinder, or cabin crew was nice to you, while your wife just blew up on the phone with you because the sink is leaking and she’s cleaning up a dirty baby after she took your other kid to the hospital yesterday for a broken arm and the dog vomited on the floor… and she has to do the laundry, cook dinner, etc.
tehlastcanadian@reddit
So harsh but true
freqentflyer@reddit
This was a dark perspective. Although people entering the profession shouldn’t think it’s perfect, I take issue with a few statements.
Although new-hire, transition and upgrade training can have a many months footprint, a pilot isn’t typically gone for that entirety. In fact, most training programs that take 2-3 months, take that long because there are so many breaks between blocks of activities. Blocks that are long enough to go home for at least a few days.
Also, the math is funky for the hours in the week. If a pilot exclusively flew 4 day trips week after week, they don’t start at midnight and end at midnight.
In fact, the math completely ignores that fact that many pilots work many half days on the start or end of a trip.
I bet the range for days off for all passenger airline pilots across regionals, majors, legacies, whatever you want to call them, whether they fly narrow body or wide body is somewhere between 14 and 17 days off excluding sick leave and vacation time.
Also, I bet that for every pilot who is forced to only have 12-13 days off each month there are at least one or two who have 18-20 days off each month.
The number of days flying or days off ignores all of the partial days at home.
I personally work 15 days this month, but how do you account for the day I reported at 7pm or the days I was off by 1pm and home before my kids got out school?
As for relationships, I have seen many succeed and many fail in this industry. It’s hard to say how many of them weren’t designed for the success or failure they had, not because of the pilot profession, but because of the people in the relationship.
VelocitySUV@reddit
I’ve seen this discussed and want to throw my 2 cents in since I’ve had a long career that didn’t involve aviation until later in life.
To preface this, I am still a CFI and just waiting for the call to move on to the next step.
I’ve worked all types of jobs, I was in the US Air Force, I was in law enforcement, I did rescue standby at plants around the country and I’ve had a cushy state job as an airport inspector. Law enforcement was possibly the worst of all of them. I was required to work my regular 40 hours and also two 12 hour mandatory shifts every pay period. The job was stressful and I took that anger home bc it was brought home.
The best job I’ve had so far is the state airport inspector job. I still worked 40 hours a week, but not having to bring the work home made it great. I had 12 days home a month bc of 4 10 hour shifts but also had a crazy amount of holidays or “go check a windsock” days.
While in the Air Force, I was single but had plenty of friends that were married. Lots of them ended in divorce but some made it through with hard work and the right mindset.
As rescue standby, I had 30-60 day stretches. It sucked a lot but the money was great.
As a CFI, I’m gone more than the airport inspector job but not as much as the law enforcement gig. Not the best, not the worst.
All I can add is that it’s what you and yours make of it. Understand what you’re getting into and know how to work around. Christmas on December 23rd instead of 25th. Stuff like that. Good luck to ya.
Aggressive_Clue6173@reddit
My stepdad a pilot, saw him plenty. The seniority you gain over the years piles up- start early!
onetwentyeight@reddit
Enough for multiple divorces
N60OSU99@reddit
Lots of variables, as you can see. At the end of the day, however, living in base is the single biggest quality-of-life enhancer out there. IMO it’s not even close.
opsman25@reddit
It really depends on what you want once you have the seniority. I flew with a captain that lived local and only bids short call. for the trip I flew with him a few days after Christmas that year he had flown 124 hours.
I’m not senior in my seat and I have had months with 16-21 days off. You just need to be creative.
wayofaway@reddit
Seconded, in base short call is pretty good at a legacy. The path to getting to a legacy can be pretty tough.
I am typically home 20+ days a month. For instance I did 5 hotels last month and a few of the "work days" were spent mostly at home until an evening sign in.
nadi207@reddit
This job is what you make it on that front. You can have 20 days off and be home a lot or you can be the guy who voluntarily works for holiday pay while telling me his daughter wanted to hang out on Thanksgiving but the money was too good to pass up. Don’t be that guy.
t_r_a_y_e@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the response, with that info though I also want to ask how much control a pilot has of their schedule when they're just starting off at an airline? Even when just starting out, can you still have that many days off?
The reason I ask is because me and my girlfriend are starting to have long term talks out what our lives will be like with kids in the future, and if I were to go to flight school then become a pilot in a handful of years, I wouldn't mind working overnights and having to sleep in hotels a few nights a week, but I also want to consider how much control I'd have in those first years to make sure I'd have time to start a family as well
Sorry in advance if I'm asking some loaded questions, I just want to take everything I can into consideration before I even consider paying the cost of flight school
Rainebowraine123@reddit
When you're just starting out you're going to get whatever is left and work a lot. Seniority helps.
Ok-Selection4206@reddit
At my company, you would get a minimum of 14 days off a month. You might not get the exact days you want when newhire Jr., but you would get 1 block of 14 days, or work basically 1 week on 1 week off, repeat. Most airline pilots that are married have kids. You figure out what works. I would take my 14 days off plus 1 week of vacation for 3 weeks off in a row in the summer with my daughter out of school. Camping, road vacations, boating, etc. I also would bid the first 2 weeks off at the beginning of the next month to have 5 weeks off in a row. I could do that 4 times a year. Live in domicile and bid reserve when the kids are young. You might be in the house 25 days a month on reserve. Some guys never fly. Our VP used to say, " You guys are like pigeons. We have to throw rocks at you to get you to fly"
Rainebowraine123@reddit
That's a pretty great starting situation. Mine is minimum 11 days off and basically no vacation the first year.
Ok-Selection4206@reddit
Yes...I don't work at a regional. We are guaranteed 14 days off. 1 block or usually 2 blocks of 6 or 7 days off.
nerferderr@reddit
First years?
Little to none. In fact, depending on where you've decided to live or not live, you may have to commute to your base a day before or after your scheduled flights. Making your time off less because now you're commuting to work.
Seniority is everything in this profession.
dokari_for_u@reddit
Is seniority means year of experience or number of flying hours on that aircraft?
I see a lot of mention so asked.
nerferderr@reddit
Date of hire at one company.
Seniority varies by company, seat (FO/CA), aircraft & base.
theoriginalturk@reddit
How many people on the seniority list were hired at Delta in the past 5 years?
BigJellyfish1906@reddit
It’ll take about 10 years to get to a point where you’re at an airline with good control over your schedule. Could be longer given market stability. There’s a LOT of luck when it comes to how long it takes to get to the promised land.
bottomfeeder52@reddit
50/50
MachoTurnip@reddit
The secret to maximizing family time is to have a family in each city you visit
SurroundSex@reddit
That's incorrect. Just in the major hubs.
MachoTurnip@reddit
That’s just speaking practically. I’m talking about maximizing haha
NonVideBunt@reddit
Depends. Live in base and drive to work with good seniority. 20 days a month off or more. Double commute to your domicile on reserve… you’re never home.
NewPersimmon3569@reddit
Remember there is a trade off. More money=less time. At least for 10-15 years because seniority dictates your life. Reserve life can suck if you are a commuter and you could be looking at 2 months on reserve or 6 years depending on how the economy is. If you have a family and don’t live in base and your stuck on reserve you may work less days per month but will lose more time with them since you won’t be home at all during that time. If you live in base it will be more tolerable as you will be home more. I tell you this from experience and why I left the airlines.
Mike__O@reddit
You're going to be gone 12-17 days every month. That's how it is. Expect it. Plan for it. If you can't handle that, you need to find another job.
Yes, I'm aware there are exceptions, and "it gets better with seniority" but that's not the guarantee. The guarantee is you will most likely be gone 12-17 days every single month. If you can't handle that, or your marriage can't handle that, you need to find another job or prepare for your marriage to fail. It's that simple.
Can_Not_Double_Dutch@reddit
Depends if you live where you are based.
I'm at about 10-14 days home a month
Somebody that lives close to their base, maybe 20-25 days home depending on their trips.
redwoodbus@reddit
This month - away from home 1 night. 6 day trips. 8 days total.
That is about 2/3 of full salary. I traded the other work away. I could have worked less if I wanted to make less.
Narrowbody CA. I possible to do while climbing the career ladder.
Noktomezo175@reddit
Also depends which of your two families you like more. So pick the better one to see more often.
Reasonable_Blood6959@reddit
I’d like to add to what the others are saying. The best thing about this job is that when I’m home - I’m home.
Once I get off the plane I don’t have to think about work.
No after work emails, no quick phone calls, no working late into the evenings or on my days off just to get this one thing finished.
That time is my time.
AA5A@reddit
My typical month is 11-12 days working. I bid 4-5 day trips to keep my off days consecutive.
FightingIlliteracy@reddit
Family?
JM120897@reddit
I'd like to ask to ask the same question but from an Europe perspective
mbgalpmd@reddit
You can have a browse of PPJN and it will likely have the roster system of the airline/s you're interested in listed.
In Europe it broady breaks down into three categories:
slickjamtaw@reddit
Like many things in aviation, it depends.
If you work for one of the low cost carriers then you return to base every day unless something goes wrong. If that base is where your family is you will see them often, if you are commuting, less often.
With one the legacy airlines it will depend on which fleet you are flying, on wide body you will be away more compared to narrow body.
csc012980@reddit
Ever play musical chairs? Thats what this career is. Music eventually stops and you can be left without a chair (stuck very junior or furloughed) There’s no steady progression. Ebbs and flows.
We’re in quite a hiring wave now but eventually it will slow and people will spend more than a month or two being at the bottom of the seniority list. I’ve flown with guys who were home a handful of times for xmas, birthdays etc. Guys who’ve been stuck at the bottom on airport reserve for years.
I’ve also flown with guys who camp out at the top of the FO list and barely work while sacrificing higher pay.
The real question is—can your significant other handle your being gone on special days and for longer periods of time? If they’re truly independent and self reliant, then navigating the tougher schedules should be ok, even if stuck there for a bit.
GuppyDriver737@reddit
It really depends on what your goal is. If you want to make it to a Major, you have quite the road ahead of you with little to no schedule flexibility. You are going to be the junior man as you progress your way up. CFIs don’t get paid much, then you get your first airline job assuming they are hiring, you become the junior FO at the junior base. Then as soon as you can hold captain, your the junior captain at the junior base. Then you either slowly work up the seniority list and life can get a little better, but then you get hired by your Major airline. Guess what, Junior FO at the junior base. As you gain seniority, now at least you have choices, you can stay a senior FO or become the junior captain again. This is all assuming things go as planned, you have to factor in timing. Talk to anyone from 2000-2013, they have horror stories of stagnation, furloughs, and enormous pay cuts and quality of life.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, but I also got through the tough parts of it without kids. For about 5 years I made about 20 dollars an hour, which is really like 10 because we “work” about half the amount as a normal 9-5 person. I lived in middle of nowhere USA to get it. 3 leg commuted to see my wife. And now finally at my Major life is amazing. I have 17 days off a month usually, I’m home most nights, and make a lot of money. The journey to get here is not easy though.
If you goal is to become a senior regional captain, you can do that and have decent QOL, but the pay isn’t as good as the majors, and regionals have a knack for going out of business, so guess what? Start all over as a junior FO at a junior base.
MJC136@reddit
This month I had about 21 days off, but now I only have 13. I like picking up overtime too much. But I’m making 10k extra because of it.
Suspicious-Toe2053@reddit
All depend on what airline you’re at, if you commute and your seniority!
Milktoast27@reddit
Anywhere from 12-20 days off depending what point in your career in terms of seniority, company and fleet type. Average legacy schedules 17 days off on a domestic fleet. Then you can try and manipulate from there.
LowValueAviator@reddit
It’s choose your own adventure right now. I can drop most anything, unpaid. Pilot shortage was a lie to bait suckers.
That said, at times between being based somewhere awkward to commute from my home city and an extremely poor contract vis a vis reserves, I’ve found myself in my own bed less than 4 days a month with no ability to drop anything and 0400 reports on day one, 2359 release on day six.
NuttPunch@reddit
A normal 9-5 is going to get you about 8 days off a month. A little more if you count Friday evenings. You are home everyday. You also work everyday. It’s normal, it’s linear.
Pilots are on two different extremes. You’ll either never be home, or you’ll be home so much your wife will question if you still have a job. Upfront, you will work a lot through training. Then the regionals. You can get an okay schedule at the regionals with a better schedule anywhere above regionals.
Seniority will determine the level of working. However what is more important is if you commute or not. If you aren’t commuting, you’ll have far more days at home.
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
Sorry if this is a potentially stupid question, but recently I've been going through some big changes in life and have been looking towards different career paths.
I want something that I'll enjoy doing and be passionate about, but also a job where I won't work my life away. I never considered flying in the past because frankly I was terrified of it, but recently I flew in a plane for the first time and I've been thinking about it non stop since, and started considering looking into being a pilot.
I've already looked nearby for flight schools, there seems to be a decent one nearby offering both part 141 and part 61, and I've started doing research on how it all works and been watching lots of videos
My original reasoning for looking into different careers though was because I wanted something with lots of free time as I've recently moved in with my girlfriend and we are planning a future together and I'd like a career where I'm not exhausted all the time with no time to actually do anything
When researching I originally saw that airline pilots often get more time off than others, sometimes 3-4 days or even weeks off at a time, and I originally thought that sounded amazing and that being gone for a couple days a week wouldn't be a big deal
But I see that many say relationships are tough as an airline pilot or next to impossible
I guess my question is, why? Sure, you miss some holidays maybe, maybe won't be home in bed every night. But doesn't days or weeks off make up for it? Doesn't it technically give you more time for family than say, a full 40-50 hour work week at many other jobs?
Am I looking at this wrong? If any pilots with a family could chime in, I'd appreciate it
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