Originally Posted by globetruck

I’m a junior 737 CA - about 73% overall in domicile, about 90% of line holders (737 DCA), hired / furloughed in 2008.

I formerly was a senior 737 FO (10-15%).

Best pay: line holder CA. It’s impossible to fly less than 90 hours so pay is great. It’s easy to break slightly over 100-110 credit hours. Junior line holder CA is kinda like flying all your FO trips at 50% add pay.

Best QOL: senior FO. As a senior FO I could turn a week of vacation into 2+ weeks off. I could senior man and on average, my pay was about that same as a junior/reserve CA. But unlike a junior CA I never worried about getting any specific days or even weeks off. I could hustle and make junior CA pay or I could slack off and fly 9 days in a month with no vacation, but get min FO pay of 70 hrs.

Worst QOL: CA on reserve gets old quick. 18 work days per month. Every month. Rolled days off and flown into FDOs. Lots of used short calls and field standbys. Ever changing circadian rhythms. I probably could have added a couple hours of pay by volunteering for FSB or SC but I didn’t because I nearly always got used. I probably could have aggressively picked up trips and made > 73 hrs but I didn’t. And there ain’t nothing like driving to the airport at 9pm, getting called at 1030pm and released to go home, try to sleep, and show for a 10 am 4 day. Or landing from a redeye, getting called at 3pm and told to show at 430 am. I’ve had 1 day trips turn to 5 day trips. “Visiting Reserve” is the 7th level of hell.

Junior CA line holder QOL is a mixed bag. In all honesty, I am mostly able to avoid the trips that I really don’t want (BWI redeyes). But I get a ton of low credit 4 day weekend trips and a ton of extended 24-36 hour layovers in places like MEM or MAF. Every single weekend. Every single weekend. All weekend long. All the time for the next several years - I’m totally not complaining - just stating the obvious. And I get 89.9 hour lines whether I want them or not, which leaves me little wiggle room for trip trading or premium pick ups. Looking at the monthly PBS awards, that trend is likely to continue till I get a couple THOUSAND numbers more senior.

In spite of all this I’m incredibly happy as a CA and I really do enjoy the left seat. But I urge those 1-5 year folks to think carefully because they’re potentially upgrading to be on CA reserve for several years and then be a junior line holder for several more. Within that timeframe, they’re giving up those years of widebody FO or senior narrowbody FO - both of those categories have their advantages.


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Originally Posted by Ottopilot

I crossed the Atlantic 12 times last month. 93 hours flying. 6 3-day trips. I’m a line holder. They are short and building line values high.
Newark 756.
It will vary based on base and fleet.

Originally Posted by airplanes

Is 18 days flying pretty common on The EWR 756? That sound like it would get tiring in a hurry.