Regional Airline Pilots?

Question

hey I got a question for you regional guys. I'm a ramper who just started flight training. I'm looking at the regionals as a career choice in the near future. I'd like to know if you can bid your schedule to have block days off. Like lets say I work for 4 days, can I have 5 or 6 days off(in a row) and then I go back to work? The Reason why I ask is, I have a Girlfriend in Costa Rica, and I'm thinking of living their for some time. My quality of life would be great also, housing is cheap and lots of sun. The Good thing of being a Pilot is, that you can commute to work. Also Can you bid for less hours once your senior or a Captain?

thanks.

Answer 1

First, as a FNG (effing new guy) you'll be at the bottom of the bid pile, which means you usually get a schedule no one else wants. Senior pilots get to bid better schedules (including reserve) but getting a predictable 5 or 6 days off in a row as part of a normal bid is very uncommon in a regional airline, and the only way you'd probably be able to put that together would be to trade shifts with someone else, which requires the approval of the scheduling office. That's typically a lot of extra work for them since they have to recalculate how that affects flight and duty time limitations for both pilots, and if there is a domino effect with other personnel as well. The best people to answer your question is scheduling / dispatch at the airline you're currently working for. Now, as for traveling to and from Costa Rica, you'd probably have to leave at least a day early in case of travel complications (full seats, delays, cancellations). Unless you can hit connecting flights exactly right, you'll probably lose a day traveling on each end of your time off. If you're late more than once in your first year (probationary period) because you're commuting, that's grounds for dismissal. Even senior pilots don't get more than 3 strikes before they're out. I've played the commuting game a lot and it is stressful.

Answer 2

You can certainly bid that way.

However, you and everyone else at your company will be bidding for the same thing.  We all want long blocks of time off work.  The reality is, you'll almost never actually get it.  Maybe a couple times a year if you;re lucky.

After a few years, your seniority will allow you to hold better and better schedules, meaning your odds will improve.  And just about the time you have enough seniority to hold the kind of schedule you want, you'll be upgraded to captain (if you want to be anyway) and you'll return to the bottom of the pile.  The downside is that there is a lot less movement on the captain side as all the old-timers aren't going anywhere until they retire.  The younger people more on to majors, but that means you'll only make it about halfway up that list.

Typically, my work blocks are 4 on followed by 3 off.  Its not long enough to go to Costa Rica but its long enough to take a  couple days off to unwind.

Oh, and international jumpseating TO the US is a big no-no.  Its possible, but its very difficult to "jumpseat" because all crewmembers must be listed to the DHS 24 hours in advance.  That means you will be traveling as a non-revenue passenger and subject to plenty of fees and taxes and will have almost no priority.