Flying jets for a living is a total blast. It's hard to beat the feeling you get when advancing the thrust levers for take off, greasing a landing or just stepping into the cockpit to start the day in general. However, while there are many perks to this life, there are some cons. So, let's get into it.
Note: As with the last article, this is primarily written towards those in the US (although many concepts still apply to other airlines).
It Takes Awhile To Get Here
It takes a lot of time and money to be eligible for an airline job. In the US, the minimum amount of flight time required to be eligible for the job is 1500 hours (along with some other requirements). Depending on where you train, it can also cost well into six figures to complete all of the training. However, you can actually spin this in a positive way because this high barrier of entry ensures a better paycheck for those who do get to this point. So while it takes awhile to get here, it's worth it in the end and the investment pays itself off.
We're Frequently Gone
This is probably the most obvious reason why this job is difficult. Spending half the month - or more - away from home can be pretty tough if you've got a good circle of friends or a family. Often times you'll work weekends and holidays, so we have to celebrate these events on alternative days. Obviously relationship issues can be exacerbated by being gone, so it's important to keep communication strong and figure out what works best for you and your significant other.
We're Not Paid For Everything
Let me elaborate a bit. We start getting paid when the main cabin door is closed and the parking brake is dropped, and we stop getting paid when the door opens and the parking brake is set. What this means is that we don't actually get paid during boarding, during delays, and so on. As you can imagine, that's potentially quite a bit of time spent not actively being paid. I've come to accept that this is just how the industry works, and I also try to think of the job as a salaried position even though it is hourly. When you look at what we make yearly (as of 2022 this is generally between $75,000 to over $250,000 a year depending on airline and position), it's easier to accept.
Commuting Can Be Tough
This is very much a resolvable issue because you can alway move to where you are based. Commuting versus living in base can have a huge affect on your quality of life in general. If you commute, you're away from home much more and you're pretty much locked into flying your assigned schedule. If you live in base, you can easily pick up quick trips here and there on your days off and you can be home right after completing a trip. Some airlines will incentivize their people to pick up trips by paying double or even triple time, so the opportunity to make money is significantly higher if you live in base. As a commuter, I prefer to maximize my time off so I almost never pick anything up unless I'm already away from home. That's not to say I can't pick up extra flying; it's perfectly easy to do, but it requires more planning and I'll lose more time at home.
Seniority
The industry runs on seniority. Essentially the longer you work for a company, the better your seniority. When you have great seniority, you'll get great trips and have more time off. You'll be far more likely to get the time off that you want as well. Why am I putting this down as a con? Well, when you first start off at a company, you get what's left of the schedule after it's already been picked clean. You have lower priority over time off, and you're more likely to be working weekends and holidays. So really, this starts out as a con but works out in your favor in the long run if you plan to remain at a company for a long time. This is usually the best practice because the second you move to another company, you start right back at the bottom of the seniority list.
Reserve
Being on reserve is probably the worst part of being new at a company. This means that you don't get your entire schedule for the month right away. Basically, you are on call for a certain number of days per month and the airline can do whatever they need with you to make sure their flights are being completed. This is especially hard if you are a commuter because you'll need a crash pad in whatever city you're based in. Once you've been at an airline for a little while, you will move from being on reserve to having a regular line schedule. This is where you know what your trips will look like for the entire month, making it easy to make plans on your off days. It's also better for commuters because you can try and bid for trips that start late in the day and end in the morning, allowing you to avoid having to book hotels the night before or after a trip.
All this being said, I know some people who live in base and purposely bid reserve so that they can hang out at home and collect a paycheck. So if you bid for reserve on purpose, it might be a good thing!
Medical Certificates
For obvious reasons, we must be medically fit for duty. Each year, I go in and see an aviation medical examiner who is qualified to issue me a medical certificate. When you hit 40 years old, the frequency increases to twice a year. This allows me to keep my wings from a medical standpoint. Unfortunately, each year many people temporarily - and permanently - lose their ability to fly due to medical issues. Some people may never be eligible for an airline career as a result of pre-existing medical issues as well. Some airlines are supportive of their employees and offer alternative ways to work and there are insurance companies who can provide support, but you can imagine how financially devastating this could be for a family reliant on aviation. For this reason, it's important to stay as healthy as possible by doing everything in your control to live a healthy lifestyle. It's also important to keep yourself in a good financial position so that you can support yourself should you lose your medical. Many pilots also have additional streams of income just in case something happens with their medical certificate.
Closing Notes
The beauty of this list is that most of these cons go away with time and by living in base. So if you think about it, there aren't all that many cons to flying for a living! It's important to consider both the positives and the negatives of this job, especially with how high the barrier to entry is. For me, the enjoyment of the job outweighs these cons, but it will be up to each individual to decide what is best for them.
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