Good, Bad, and Ugly of Flexjet????

[Grey Ghost]

anyone have any info on schedules, upgrade time, and QOL???

 

[finnjl]

16 on, 12 off every 28 days/13 cycles per year

around $40000 first year FO pay

around 2 years for upgrade

work is pretty good, I have not worked a full rotation since the begining of summer (there must be a lot of lr45 FOs, captains have been working more from what I hear)

26 days a year vacation until 3 years then 39/year

seems good to me but I am sure there are people that will say it sucks and I am sure there are better places to work

I will let someone else put the ugly stuff as I really can not complain about it as I have been getting paid to stay at home. I will probably feel different when I am sitting in a hotel xmas and new years eve night bored as hell in the hotel farthest away from everything while my family is at home but that is aviation

Oh yea, I hate it when they put us in Ramadas and some Holiday Inns I wish they would just stick to the hilton brands, that is annoying and it makes me mad. Hotel quaility is lacking at times. That is my biggest complaint about this job.

 

[DirtyBeech]

I generally bid down to 15 day lines and almost always get it. Schedule wise I get about half of what I bid for which isn't too bad. I had season football tickets this year and only missed one game to work. I did manage to get both Thanksgiving and Christmas off this year so it can happen.

Floating rest and the breakfast/lunch catering would be my two biggest gripes.

 

[Grey Ghost]

so is it something like 7 on 7 off or is it like an airline's schedule??? i.e.5 on 2 off, 6 on 3 off, 4 on 4 off.....

 

[finnjl]

4,5,6 day trips
an example
4 on 3 off
6 on 5 off
6 on 4 off

i personally like
4 on 3 off
4 on 3 off
4 on 3 off
4 on 3 off
but PBS never seems to give it to me and I am not exactly a junior FO

 

[doylehargraves]

Good--Paycheck always comes
Bad---Paycheck isn't enough
Ugly--The size of the Learjet cockpit

 

[Pacific]

Just to clarify; vacation is 10 days paid per year taken at 5 days at a time.
These paid vacation days are surrounded by 4 unpaid off days on each side equaling 13 days off in a row but 5 actual paid vacation days.

 

[Flyingdog1]

Just to clarify; vacation is 10 days paid per year taken at 5 days at a time.
These paid vacation days are surrounded by 4 unpaid off days on each side equaling 13 days off in a row but 5 actual paid vacation days.

Correcto! Where NJ gets 7 days paid vacation periods.

 

[rumrnr78]

I hope this helps you:
I know a pilot hired in Feb 06 that upgraded on the Lear in Oct 07. Not bad for upgrade time. The bad: have to fly the line in the 300 at FO pay until the 45 tail number shows up early next year. Not sure what that is about.

Hotels are pretty good with the occasional Sleep Inn or whatever when you are in the boondocks.

Pacific is right about vacation so even though you have a lot of time off, first year pay will limit your options. A working spouse will really be a plus here!

Commuting on the company dime is better than the ol' dice roll I used to do to get to work but, make no mistake, it is still commuting. Trying to grab some shut eye on the first flight out with a screaming baby gets old fast. I think there is now a premium paid for early morning trips on the first day. I sure could have used that!!

You will fly with great people who know how to speed drink for that 2 hour window

I never figured out PBS and somehow got a series of 5 on 3 off a lot. Not fun but better than my previous regional schedule.

Put everything on a AA citibank card and you rack up mileage fast; Platinum challenge baby!

If you get the 300 you will be busy, but what a machine! That airplane rocks!

You will work hard and sometimes the schedule will stink. It is, however, better than any regional job out there and second to NetJets in the frac world. Probably better than a lot of smaller corporate jobs because of the stability factor. If management offered a working agreement on par with NJA I think it would be a place to work until retirement. Sadly, that is wishful thinking on my part.

If you understand, "it is what it is" then you will have much success.

Cheers-rum

 

[DirtyBeech]

so is it something like 7 on 7 off or is it like an airline's schedule??? i.e.5 on 2 off, 6 on 3 off, 4 on 4 off.....

It depends on what you bid, and what your seniority is. During football season I wanted weekends off and generally got them. My last couple of rotations looked like this:

6 on, 5 off
5 on, 5 off
5 on, 4 off

At the worst you are guaranteed 2/3's of time worked as time off meaning if you work 6 you are guaranteed 4 days off. It's all up to the system though. Like I said, I managed to get the holidays off and scored an 8 day off period in one of my upcoming bids. How that worked I don't know, but I'll take it.