Nope. Been in Part 91 corp outfits for 10 years and never had a hard day off (excluding vacation). It's the nature of the beast. However, if you're overstaffed (unlikely), than you can give one week off to each crew per month (this requires you to have 2 extra pilots). Hope this helps. Unfortunately, it is just the nature of the bussiness we are in.
We are to be avail 8-6 daily, reachable by phone/text. Pop ups are non-existent to rare. Been a few more in the last 6 months than usual...
Come Friday 6pm if you are not on a trip, the weekend is yours - again just be reachable in case something changes for Monday, etc. You can be away/drunk all weekend, we dont care, just be reachable in a reasonabe amount of time - LOL.
There is one duty crew each weekend - same thing, be avail 8-6.
We also have a few days per month when you request to be last called.
New Hires start at 4+ weeks vacation. Can be requested one year out, first come first serve. As far as I know, never has one asked to be moved
We have a pilot do scheduling - this works out in the pilots favor as they can request trips, etc without harassing ops, management, etc. Lots of deals get made to work around days off without burning vacation. The whole schedule is online so it is all visible.
We also do a large percentage International, so trips tend to be crewed/scheduled far in advance.
Average work days (flying, trng, meetings, etc) are 12-14 a month and 275 flight hrs a year.
Is it perfect? - far from...but not many complaints.
You will never get rich in this business, but you have to have a life. QOL is key to surviving in this business IMO.
GOOD LUCK, pick your battles wisely - many are saying those of us with halfway decent jobs in this business right now should consider themselves lucky - Im starting to agree....
Previous employer gave 4 guaranteed days off a month. It was always Thu.-Sun. because it was a holdover from the early days when they flew every weekend without exception.
There were also a couple of "blank" days where you would be the last to be used if something came up. I was scheduled over my blank days but usually it was a long Int'l. trip that got dumped on us after the schedule was made up.
Another holdover was that if you were the crew at the top of the schedule or "it is your week to fly" you flew. I flew 11 days in a row once--passing through home a couple of times, even laying over a couple of different nights while no one else flew. I still never got the logic of that one. But, as it was explained: "it's your turn to fly". Ok.
But, that was rare. It just added a little mystery to my life. TC
4 scheduled a month with lots of other days off but not scheduled off, plus 42 days vac after 5 yrs. on the other side, may have to fly 10 days in a row, but rarely do.
You get to bid for 4 planned days off by the 15th of the month prior. You must take either a 4 day weekend (Fri thru Mon) or a 3 day weekend plus another weekend day off. You cannot take off on Tuesday thru Thursday (when most of our flying takes place). There are also periods during major holidays when you have to take a whole week of vacation to be off, you cannot use a planned day off then.
What is a planned day off? It is a day when you can "plan" to be off, but they can be taken away if the schedule requires it. The only hard days off are vacation, but sometimes those are taken away too, I mean re-scheduled.
We us a rotating schedule of hard weekends off. Out of every 6 weeks, 2 are hard weekends off. We aren't overstaffed by any measure. 6 pilots (+CP) for 3 planes.
We get 5-7 per month. We are on call every other weekend with the other weekends being either a 4 or 3 day weekend off depending on the rotation. Our crew days off schedule comes out every Novemember for the following year so you know your days off a year ahead of time.
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