Originally Posted by bacca9

Your friends must be very senior. I worked at an LCC for four years and mostly only had 9 or 10 days off a month that weren’t touched by flying or commuting unless I used PTO. The most I ever credited in a non-vacation month was 87 hours. For junior guys, almost no trips were commutable on both ends and they were rarely scheduled to exceed min credit.

Originally Posted by C17B74

Yup, Majors, LCC are great for planning a very lucrative future and stability as best you can in one of the most unsure industries in the world. Young, planning for a real family it’s time to work for a living and most flying isn’t work comparably speaking of course. ACMI is not for everyone by any means but it offers so much dependent on what you enjoy in life. If you just go by numbers $$$ etc it totally makes sense looking at other outfits from the outside. Slave to youngsters at home, elderly needs, in-law needs, spouse requirements/strength/independence (inability to function on their own) ACMI will not bode well for you especially if that’s your jam so it’s not recommended. If you have a superior other half and/or support system you can do your job effectively and efficiently; therefore, ACMI flying is quite the opposite of mundane point to point rinse repeat every few hours, every day, every other week and you get well paid for it. It’s not all roses by any means, but many of us get our travel done well before 65 when venturing out won’t be that easy and on your dime and time. I have family in Europe and the Far East so there’s one caveat. Speaking for myself I truly enjoy going to so-called “work”, having breakfast with friends in Korea, dining with our folks and FedEx/Brown buds in Japan, chilling with fairly senior buds from the Majors at Dukes in Hawaii (they hate it, same carousel runs, but it’s fun to see them), chilling at our favorite eat sites in Hong Kong (not for awhile now), hanging out on the beach in Australia or even killing time with the crews favorite beverages wherever and so many other places. ALL PRE-PANDEMONIUM!!! Just for myself, it’s free travel with friends and 2 weeks of vacation at the house with my favorite person and our(her) dog. Time zones, long blocks of time away, $, retirement, there are always issues wherever you are dependent on your priorities. I planned my retirement, have no planes, Ferrari’s, ex-wives (so far, extended family anchors, etc. Day 9 at home typing this, 7 more before I leave for 16 days (it’s not always this nice) but 14 is my norm chilling at home with some housework. This really is the “I would quit my job, but I would lose all my rest/travel/authentic food benefits, etc.” for me specifically. Hotel manager gave me a tour 2 weeks ago of the ball room where the Nuremberg Judges ate/drank/were merry all night long during the trials. It’s been amazing and I will continue as long as it or I last.

Originally Posted by Zudd

Not sure why, but I really liked this post. Goes to show you that everybody is different, and everybody needs different things. You sir, seem very happy and I applaud that! Money isn't everything...

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Originally Posted by Zudd

Not sure why, but I really liked this post. Goes to show you that everybody is different, and everybody needs different things. You sir, seem very happy and I applaud that! Money isn't everything...

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Originally Posted by MoarAlpha

I’ll know when I turn 65 if that was the right choice.

Originally Posted by MoarAlpha

The money is still good. My second year I made $187k on my W-2. I did 6 days of OT over the year.

Third year will be about the same but will less work. With this new Jepp scheduling software I’m holding 15 day lines and I’m not even that senior. I might make a little more than second year with no OT.

Just like you said, everyone has different strokes that work for them. I myself am like the poster you commented on. My wife is very independent and has her own career. We have no kids. She can work her schedule around mine and I can confidently say we get enough time at home together that when my 14-16 days a months are up I’m ready to go back to work! If any of my situation was different, I could totally see why people would want a more traditional schedule.

I absolutely love it here. I do have my apps out at Brown and Purple simply for financial reasons, but nowhere else and I have a lot of time left in my career. I’ll know when I turn 65 if that was the right choice.

Originally Posted by C2078

1375 hours of credit, obviously Per Diem doesn’t count. I guess doable 🤔

Originally Posted by tommy2times

The money is still good. My second year I made $187k on my W-2. I did 6 days of OT over the year.

How did you make an impressive $187k second year? If so Kalitta is one of the top 5 paid airlines around.
Money talks and if that's the case I am putting an application in.

Originally Posted by maxjet

Probably counting perdiem, which is 12,000+. You really don’t use much perdiem when you are on the road during normal times. Hotels always had nice breakfasts and food is pretty cheap. There are also some soft credits for hazardous areas. When I was there I saw some Pilots bid lines that they knew would be double crews and probably have IOE on them. Internationally, the student doesn’t count. Because they were just an extra body they got lots of sleep in the bunks. Called dozing for dollars.