Whine Lover
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2005
- Posts
- 1,497
This has been covered many times. Everyone has their personal opinion / preference. This is only MY experience and/or opinion. Ya'll are welcome to yours...
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I've worked for two airlines:
-One Cargo/Freight
-One Pax
The freight job ended up being half day and half night flying. And I only flew, on average, 7.8 days per month over my six year tenure as a Freight Dog.
At the pax job I generally fly, on average, about 14 days per month.
Short and sweet?....I'll never fly freight again.
Why?...Read the thread about the mice dying early when they had their body clocks jacked around.
I can tell you from experience that pulling that all-nighter will make you feel like you are hungover without even having had the pleasure of the drunken debauchery prior. It's no fun, and you start to dread going to work on those trips that you know you will be up all night.
If you don't die early, after years of feeling like Krap...you get to collect the "Pot of Gold" at the end of the rainbow. ( Retirement ) Good Luck with that Lottery. That's how it is at ANY airline. BUT realistically, you will have less of a chance of making it to 60 when you mess with your circadian rythms constantly over a period of years.
Also, as somebody previously mentioned, it really does suck eating dinner and watching all the other crews heading into the hotel bar. Then, when you come down to the lobby at 10pm they are stumbling out and ready for A) the Room Party with the FA's, B) Letterman / Leno, or C) rubbing one out if the Room Party doesn't "work out".
You, on the other hand, WANT to go to sleep...but you are drinking coffee so you can stay awake and fly with 2 old,fat guys so you can get to the Hub / Sort and tap your toes from 2-6 am. Only to repeat the process so that you can get to some hotel at 9am and try to get some sleep with the maids banging around in the halls and all the doors slamming as people leave to check out.
Some of my buddies from my previous life stayed in night freight...their wives / kids / financial needs / mortgages forced them too.They are at: ABX, FDX, UPS, DHL and a handful of other outfits. They are all good enough friends to tell me the TRUTH : "I don't like my job. The money is great."
On the other hand here's a good example you might learn from:
My buddy was an Emery DC-8 Captain. He was Senior enough to hold Postal Contract flying which afforded him the luxury of mostly day flying. However, there were many times he had to fly the regular Night Hub. He was making about $140-150,000 / yr.
All I ever heard from him was how he hated the thought of going to work most of the time. Finally, I told him.."Shut up. YOU are the one who has flown for three freight airlines, why do you keep doing something you don't like?"
He quit and went to work for Spirit as a $30,000/yr DC-9 FO.
He has never been happier. And, he certainly looks better due to having lost 30 pounds and getting to sleep on the "right side of the clock".
IMHO:
"Night Freight = Right side of the pay scale. Wrong side of the airport. Wrong side of the clock."
And remember...Two "wrongs" never make a "right".
YKW
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I've worked for two airlines:
-One Cargo/Freight
-One Pax
The freight job ended up being half day and half night flying. And I only flew, on average, 7.8 days per month over my six year tenure as a Freight Dog.
At the pax job I generally fly, on average, about 14 days per month.
Short and sweet?....I'll never fly freight again.
Why?...Read the thread about the mice dying early when they had their body clocks jacked around.
I can tell you from experience that pulling that all-nighter will make you feel like you are hungover without even having had the pleasure of the drunken debauchery prior. It's no fun, and you start to dread going to work on those trips that you know you will be up all night.
If you don't die early, after years of feeling like Krap...you get to collect the "Pot of Gold" at the end of the rainbow. ( Retirement ) Good Luck with that Lottery. That's how it is at ANY airline. BUT realistically, you will have less of a chance of making it to 60 when you mess with your circadian rythms constantly over a period of years.
Also, as somebody previously mentioned, it really does suck eating dinner and watching all the other crews heading into the hotel bar. Then, when you come down to the lobby at 10pm they are stumbling out and ready for A) the Room Party with the FA's, B) Letterman / Leno, or C) rubbing one out if the Room Party doesn't "work out".
You, on the other hand, WANT to go to sleep...but you are drinking coffee so you can stay awake and fly with 2 old,fat guys so you can get to the Hub / Sort and tap your toes from 2-6 am. Only to repeat the process so that you can get to some hotel at 9am and try to get some sleep with the maids banging around in the halls and all the doors slamming as people leave to check out.
Some of my buddies from my previous life stayed in night freight...their wives / kids / financial needs / mortgages forced them too.They are at: ABX, FDX, UPS, DHL and a handful of other outfits. They are all good enough friends to tell me the TRUTH : "I don't like my job. The money is great."
On the other hand here's a good example you might learn from:
My buddy was an Emery DC-8 Captain. He was Senior enough to hold Postal Contract flying which afforded him the luxury of mostly day flying. However, there were many times he had to fly the regular Night Hub. He was making about $140-150,000 / yr.
All I ever heard from him was how he hated the thought of going to work most of the time. Finally, I told him.."Shut up. YOU are the one who has flown for three freight airlines, why do you keep doing something you don't like?"
He quit and went to work for Spirit as a $30,000/yr DC-9 FO.
He has never been happier. And, he certainly looks better due to having lost 30 pounds and getting to sleep on the "right side of the clock".
IMHO:
"Night Freight = Right side of the pay scale. Wrong side of the airport. Wrong side of the clock."
And remember...Two "wrongs" never make a "right".
YKW
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