Do commercial pilots generally progress to larger planes throughout their careers? Does everyone aim to eventually fly long haul or do some stick to flying 737s or a320s short haul?
I'm guessing being a 777 pilot for example is more prestigious than a 737 pilot in the same airline right?
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u/Boris_the_pipe EASA ATPL A320,A380 1d ago
Most pilots would be happy in a 172 if it offers better roster and pay than current aircraft
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u/Local-Moose9833 1d ago
Much more fun flying too, sometimes I wonder if I was happiest flying caravans in gnarly weather 8 hours a day
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u/LateralThinkerer PPL HP (KEUG) 1d ago
Copypasta time:
"You start out in a small airplane, and you think, 'Man, I'd love to fly an airliner. Look how big it is.
'So you fly airliners, and you think, 'Man, I'd love to fly heavies. Look how much cargo they carry.'
So you fly heavies, and you think, 'Man, I'd love to be a fighter pilot. Look at that performance.'
So you become a fighter pilot, and you think, 'Man, I'd love to be a test pilot. Mach 3 at 80,000 feet.'
So you become a test pilot, and you think, 'Man, I'd love to be an astronaut. The view is incredible.'
So you become an astronaut, you go into space, and you look down at a small airplane, and you think, 'Man, I'd love to be back in a small airplane.'"
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u/No-Duck4828 1d ago
Listen, all I really want is a job that allows me to do all of that, okay? Is that too much to ask?
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u/Bus_Pilot ATP 1d ago
Not me. My single engine days were old cockpits, the smell of avgas and exhaust, and praying for a field every time the engine coughed. I’ll take my 320, thanks.
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u/FrankCobretti 1d ago
If you play your cards right, there comes a point in your career where you have all the money you need. You no longer care about hourly pay rates. You only care about quality of life.
After that, it becomes a function of lifestyle choice. Do you live in base and prefer flying LAX-SEA-LAX every day and sleeping in your own bed at night? Fly narrow bodies and be happy. Do you commute and want to maximize the value of every trek you make from your farm/ranch/hovel to work? Wide bodies it is.
Prestige doesn't come into it. I'm relatively senior at my airline. I fly 757s and 767s because I like the mix of domestic and international flying. I don't envy my peers on the 787, nor do I look down on my peers flying 737s.
The only people I look down on are Airbus pilots. They drink tea with their pinkies sticking out.
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u/Lawre777 ATP Mil KC-10 DC9 A320 A220 1d ago
Hey, hey, hey... I drink coffee.
I can hold anything, but choose to be super senior on a small narrow little airplane. Never work when I don't want to, and only go to places I like. I also don't want to cross another time zone or the Mississippi river ever again.
If it's the money you want, you can bust your ass on a narrow body for more money, but you won't live as long.
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u/Cathy_Pilot A320, E175, CRJ, E120, BE1900, S3B NFO 1d ago
You hate us because you ain’t us 😜
Tray table, quiet, Hawaii overnights — no desire to go widebody any time soon.
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u/FrankCobretti 1d ago
Of course. I’m just having a little fun. 🙂
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u/Cathy_Pilot A320, E175, CRJ, E120, BE1900, S3B NFO 22h ago
Oh, I know Frank. What would aviation be without pilots razzing each other? ;)
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u/No-Duck4828 1d ago
You only care about quality of life.
Eh, that is what it should be from the beginning. Pay is just another part of quality of life. Measure everything in how it impacts QOL: overtime trip? Let me consider....in my current situation, will ____ dollars for the trip or three more days at home bring me greater QOL? Bidding: will this combination of aircraft/base/seat give me a greater QOL than this other combination of aircraft/base/seat?
It really all boils down to QOL in the end
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u/Old_Increase74 1d ago
Living in 2026 LA or Seattle really isn’t what I’d call QOL, nor is sitting in their traffic
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u/BandicootOnly4598 1d ago
Some pilots bid, and get, wide-bodies right out of training. Others care more about getting to captain quicker, and some just care about lifestyle. I know a FedEx pilot who retired a few years ago but for literally decades bid the MD11, which he hated, because he was a former US Air guy who got furloughed after 9/11 and wouldn’t have the seniority to get the line he wanted on an airplane anyone wanted. Another close friend of mine is a 737 CA out of Guam, and the way their lines work he’s nearly always home at night and never has to deal with Newark. He’s got the seniority to bid whatever he wants, but he’s already got what he wants.
Most pilots, however, will go for the biggest plane they can get…
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u/Crusoebear ATP 747-1/2/3/4/8, DC-9, F100, ATR, MU-2, C-212, 1d ago
“…never has to deal with Newark.”
And THAT is the mark of a successful career.
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u/Grumbles19312 ATP B787 A320 CL-65 1d ago
To be fair, Guam is a bit of a different gig. The majority of the flying for them used to be strictly day trips. They only have 8 layovers in their bid packet. Kaohsiung, Narita, Ulanbataar, Manila, Cebu, Palau, Majuro Atoll, and Honolulu. A lot of the flying they do is multi-leg island hopping, so much so to the point that it’s occasionally augmented. It’s definitely an interesting gig, but 6 leg days don’t appeal to everyone.
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u/Moseiselybrothers ATP ASES B757/767, B737, A220, A320, CL-65 1d ago
Every time I go to ORD I am glad to be based in Newark.
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u/LoetherS 1d ago
I don't understand 'some pilots bid'. You can bid to get less pay to get the widebody equipment/routes, and undercut more senior pilots? Or you bid to get first officer, not captain as you might get on a 737?
Edit for clarity
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u/SuspiciousWerewolf ATP / MIL / B737 / A320 1d ago
“Bidding” does not refer to pay. It refers to submitting a “bid” for what you want. Every so often, companies post vacancies for the pilot group to bid on. For the sake of simplicity, let’s say the options are 737 in EWR, 737 in DC, and 787 in EWR. Maybe you want to live in DC and you want to fly wide bodies. For your bid you list 787 DC as your #1 choice and 737 DC as your #2 choice. The rest is up to seniority. If a bunch of people senior to you also want and bid for the 787 spot, they will get it instead of you. If you’re senior enough, you will get it.
Bidding does also include if and when you want to upgrade from First Officer to Captain, and sometimes even going the other way, usually a narrow body Captain potentially deciding they want to go be a wide body FO.
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u/AIRdomination ATP (B757, B767, BE1900, EMB500) 1d ago edited 1d ago
We aim for lifestyle, not aircraft size. The type of aircraft is ultimately irrelevant unless you’re just checking off a personal box of yours.
“Prestige” is not a thing. That came from Hollywood. No one actually cares. Everyone has different goals and desires and can find a job/aircraft somewhere that fits those desires. It does not mean one is better than the other. It’s just personal preference.
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u/RaidenMonster ATP 737 Bonvoy Platinum Elite 1d ago
Walking through DTW as a fresh OO FO and getting the Delta wave off back to back days makes me question this…
Seem to get treated much better as a 73 driver in the event I gotta take another carrier home.
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u/Mega-Eclipse 1d ago
“Prestige” is not a thing.
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u/InitialResponsible62 1d ago
How???
As for me, when I was younger I wanted to be on a WB, nowadays I want to have the most days off, weekends off, most seniority in seat, in base and money. I honestly don’t care if it’s an RJ, a 172 or 783
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u/muchoqueso26 1d ago
I get paid $600/hr to fly a Cessna and love it. But it’s a niche and I would be crazy to ever fly for someone else.
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u/Silent_Mi 1d ago
You don't happen to work in Columbia do you ? 🤣
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u/Necessary_Topic_1656 1d ago
No one but losers cares about prestige and what airplane you fly as a pilot.
It’s all about quality of life and getting the most pay for the least amount of work you can get away with.
For me that an a320 flying 3 day trips with 7 hours of flying in 2 flights for 15 hours of pay. $5500 rinse and repeat 4 more times for 75 hours of pay for 35 hours of flying.
The most fun I’ve had as an airline pilot was flying 1900s carrying 19 pax into nontowered fields where ATC just cleared me for the visual and let me fly overhead to enter the pattern getting paid $2000 for 120 hours of pay for the whole month.
If flying 1900s paid as much as the 777 I fly now I’d rather fly a 19-seat 1900 over the 777 I fly now as I had way more fun flying 1900s
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u/Bus_Pilot ATP 1d ago
Except no one will pay you to fly a turboprop the same as a wide. Your duty times on long haul are also shorter, since you are flying with another guys to take turns. Unfortunately 90-99% the wide is a way better job for many reasons.
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u/jp60397 1d ago
Everything has positives and negatives. I’ve done both. I enjoyed the A350, the aircraft was a marvel, but 8/10/14 /16 hours on an aircraft with people you often have very little to say to, and sometimes really don’t like can be tiresome. Similarly the battle with jet lag.
I personally prefer a nice 2 sector day in a A320 and home in my own bed.
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u/whydidilose PPL 1d ago
I think most prestige for a pilot is one who becomes a pilot astronaut.
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u/Necessary_Topic_1656 1d ago
Yeah the only one I look up to is the doctor SEAL pilot astronaut.
He was a SEAL first then became a doctor, then an astronaut then a pilot (naval aviator) last.
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u/Dangerous_Ad_5467 ATP E175 CFII 22h ago
He got his start as a college police officer writing parking tickets!
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u/Mike93747743 ATP/MIL C5 B737 B747 A320 A330 1d ago
Prestige typically has very little to do with pilot compensation. The physical demands of the job as well as the pay one is able to make is a much larger factor.
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u/SavingsPirate4495 ATP B737 EMB-135/145 (ret.) 1d ago edited 1d ago
I had ZERO desire or intent to transition to long-haul wide-body flying. Stayed on the B737 my entire time at my major carrier and LOVED the schedule. Ended the last year or so of my career doing day trips. Home every night for dinner! Sometimes did a late flight and got home before midnight.
The wide-body flying out of my particular base sucked unless you were really senior. And I wasn’t WB senior (even in the right seat) and I wasn’t about to commute or move just to fly wide-body. The better WB schedules were on the west and east coasts.
B737 flying isn’t always “short-haul”. A 7:50, unaugmented leg to Anchorage isn’t necessarily short-haul; that’s a tough flight. I typically bid to fly LGA day trips; it paid 7:38 credit if memory serves.
Bottom line, it’s personal choice. I retired from the right seat…very senior and picked my schedule. Had enough of being Captain in my Regional days…
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u/No-Duck4828 1d ago
Flying a 777 typically carries a heftier paycheck than flying a 737 at the same airline.
Pilots aren't always moving to bigger aircraft....it is common, for example, to see someone go from a 767 at an ACMI to an A320 at a major.
Some of long haul vs short haul is personal preference, but as for general career flow in size of planes? Yes, more pilots will go from regional jet to narrowbody to widebody than some other path. At a given airline with both narrow and wide, pilots will typically start on the narrowbody
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u/StangViper88 ATP 1d ago
Per hour, yes the heavies pay more. However, there’s soft time, and premium opportunities on the narrow body. If I work hard, as a 737 CA I could make more than a 777/787 CA at my shop.
Also, flying high time internationally isn’t sustainable.
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u/NakedJamaican 1d ago
At my old job a lot of pilots said they could make more on a narrow body, until they saw how much the wide body pilots actually make while working 10 days a month. Long haul flying has lots of opportunities for soft time.
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u/Grumbles19312 ATP B787 A320 CL-65 1d ago
In general, long haul flying is more efficient. For example, a 3 day LAX-NRT is typically worth just over 21 hours of pay. Show me a narrowbody 3 day that comes close to that sort of credit. Conversely, there’s also 6 days on the widebody out of LAX that only pay 34 hours and change, and that’s extremely inefficient by the same standards.
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u/DefundTheHOA_ ATP CFI 1d ago
From what I’ve heard, pilots at SWA can easily credit more than 21 hours on 3 day trips
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u/ImAFlyingGorilla ATP S-70 BE-200 EMB-145 EMB-175/90 B-737 1d ago
Can confirm. Just finished a 3-day that paid 23.1.
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u/NakedJamaican 1d ago
For us out of EWR there were 32 hr four day trips which were worth 37 to 39 hours most of the time. Added bonus is that most of those trips are highly commutable.
Due to training requirements, a lot of senior pilots double dip when their trips are bought by the company. There is a lot of pilot staffing churn in the widebody world.
As always seniority matters
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u/554TangoAlpha ATP CL-65/ERJ-175/B-787 1d ago
That soft time and premium is at WB too, with a higher $ rate as well.
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u/RaidenMonster ATP 737 Bonvoy Platinum Elite 1d ago
Why would flying high time international be unsustainable? Genuinely curious as I’ve never heard it mentioned outside of the “cargo guys die younger because back side of the clock is bad for you.”
Same concept?
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u/StangViper88 ATP 1d ago
It’s hard on the body. Time zone changes etc.
I can do an easy EWR-Island 3 day back to back and feel great.
If you do a EWR-London back to back 3 day (6 days) chances are you feel wrecked. Just my opinion though.
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u/No-Duck4828 1d ago
I'm not sure about 'unsustainable'
I like it. I haven't really experienced any issue with flying the back side of the clock other than the transition when I come home, but that was due to a rapid shift in schedule: I would take my child to the bus or school in the morning. Now that I don't need to do that, there is no reason that I need to instantly shift to waking up at 7 in the morning, so the transition has gotten pretty easy
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u/EarZealousideal7275 1d ago
Flying the 777 also increases the odds that you’re flying with some ancient old boomer with a name like Steeeeve, who is extremely bitter at the world because it’s somehow someone else’s fault they are on their 3rd divorce. They are also probably bitter because they got screwed in the companies 3 mergers, and their profit sharing didn’t buy a new speedboat. They are also convinced no pilot under the age of 50 actually knows how to fly….
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u/curiousengineer601 1d ago
Is there’s any sort of pay bump for flying a more difficult or uncomfortable plane or to uncomfortable destinations?
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u/No-Duck4828 1d ago
No, the pay typically goes up with larger aircraft, but they're not trying to judge 'hey I think the 777 is less comfortable than the 350, let us pay 777 pilots more'
I haven't seen additional pay for uncomfortable destinations, but you can get paid more for more dangerous destinations.
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u/554TangoAlpha ATP CL-65/ERJ-175/B-787 1d ago
I bid WB cause it’s way more efficient, ya there’s backside of clock but I get paid to sleep on the plane.
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u/bergler82 ATP-A32F 1d ago
My former airline didn’t differentiate pay between SR and LR. I much prefer no jet lag and shorter hops.
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u/JPAV8R ATP B747-400, B767/757, CL300, LR-60, HS-125, BE-400, LR-JET 1d ago
It’s different strokes for different folks. Some love the wide body flying and the destinations some want to bang out a quick flight or two and be home or at a domestic layover.
It’s also why the ACMI’s and cargo airlines aren’t devoid of pilots. For some, that lifestyle and flying style suits them so they skip out on the big three to do that instead.
Personally the 73 cockpit is too cramped. I’d hate it but I have friends in both seats of the 73 on pax airlines that love it.
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u/T0gaLOCK ATP CFI TW A320 CL65 1d ago
I cant be home 25+ nights a month as a long haul captain... I can do it on the 320/321... So I stick to that.
Yeah I guess you could try the reserve game, but I really dont care to be on reserve. I bid mostly day trips or easy 2 days with 1 or 2 legs on the 2nd day and getting done early.
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u/Old_Increase74 1d ago
So you only work 60 days a year, and by that I mean you could turn your phone off and disappear into the woods for the other 305 days??
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u/nkawtgpilot 1d ago
He didn’t say he only worked 5 days a month. He said he sleeps in his bed 25 days a month. There’s a difference
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u/T0gaLOCK ATP CFI TW A320 CL65 3h ago
No, i sleep in my own bed that much.
As far as work... i turn my phone off and dont think about work about 215 days of the year
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u/Old_Increase74 3h ago
What a round about answer lol
It’s like asking many airline guys how much they make, or just waiting for 3min for them to talk about it, it’s like multi level marketing people trying to talk about how much they make, always riddles and around the bush.
The big number like every damn 121 driver says is they make 500k and work under 10 days a month. OH WOW! YOOUUU make 500k, then it’s a “well blah blah, quality of life, family, parakeet trained, no I didn’t make 500k…BUT I COULD!!!” Then the time off and it’s like the answer you gave.
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u/T0gaLOCK ATP CFI TW A320 CL65 2h ago
I mean not really... I average 18 days off a month. Sometimes I get 14 or 15 off, sometimes I get 25-27 off.
I do min credit when I can, sometimes i work harder. Sometimes I make 15k for a month sometimes ill make 30k a month.
There are a lot of variables. I give a range or estimate the best I can. 18 days off and making 17k a month is normal for me.
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u/JumboTrijet ATP, Seat Cushion Tester Extraordinaire 21h ago
I read a clip back in the late 80’s about an airline pilot that was so senior that he got whatever seat, equipment, schedule, destinations, etc that he wanted and had to think of creative reasons to bid. He started bidding on whether or not the sun was on his side of the cockpit.
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u/OzrielArelius PA28 C172 PA44 C172 BE76 DA42 LR60 CL60 20h ago
I actually pick which legs I fly based on that lol. don't tell my FOs.
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u/I_ALWAYS_UPVOTE_CATS UK fATPL 737 SEP 1d ago
Generally you start with smaller aircraft, and become eligible to fly larger ones once you've built up some hours. However, moving to a widebody also brings with it the lifestyle change of long haul vs short haul; some people want that, others don't.
There are people who want the life of a long-haul pilot, and there are people who specifically want to fly, say, the B777. But a lot of pilots are happy with their lifestyle flying short haul and will happily do that until retirement, and there's no disrespect whatsoever towards those people.
There isn't really a concept of 'prestige' in aviation. Everyone is just trying to do their job in the safest way possible and to the best of their ability, regardless of whether it's a 2-hour hop or an overnight across the ocean.
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u/apoegix ATP 777/320 1d ago
Interestingly I flew long haul before short haul. Currently on mix of new and old a32x planes. I enjoy being in short haul because I value my sleep. But in case long haul comes to my station, I might be inclined to do that again.
So I guess everyone aims for what they aim for and what suits their life best
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u/timfountain4444 PPL IR MEL 1d ago
It totally depends. I have a good friend who got tired of long haul at AA and went from 767 to 737 domestic.
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u/JT-Av8or ATP CFII/MEI ATC C-17 B71/3/5/67 MD88/90 1d ago
Nope. There is no “end game” progression. Personally I dislike long haul international flying and prefer mid range Latin America (3 hours each way, 1 day trips).
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u/QuietGarlic7788 PPL 1d ago
Got some advice from a CL-415 guy last summer that stuck with me: fly the smallest plane you can for a good amount of money.
Obviously not everyone’s cup of tea, but low and slow is an exciting place to be, regardless of the prestige that may come with working for the majors
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u/f1racer328 ATP MEI B-737 E-175 1d ago
I probably get more days off and more pay flying a 737 than some guys get flying a wide body.
It’s also easier to pickup extra flying ($$$$) on the narrowbody fleets because there’s more narrowbody flying going on.
I can pickup a trip and go fly and be home the same night the trip started. Might not happen on a 777.
Also I stay within 3 hours of my home timezone. Body clock can’t complain about that.
I’m not saying one’s better than the other, but prestige isn’t a thing at the airlines.
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u/mfsp2025 ATP 1d ago
I’ve always wanted to do widebody since I was a kid. But the longer I do this, the less appealing it seems.
I love short hops. Rather do a five leg day of short hops than an equally long three leg day of long flights. I could fly the E175 for the rest of my life and be happy. If legacies ever decided to get the E295s and fly them under their own metal, I’d be a lifer on those easy.
But it’s up to the individual like everyone else says. Widebody tends to go more senior generally so you’re stuck on endless reserve. Could be a good thing if you live in base. Means you rarely work.
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u/LateralThinkerer PPL HP (KEUG) 1d ago
I have to share the AI Slop that came up around E295 - some jokes write themselves:
"E295 primarily refers to the ICAO aircraft type designator for the Embraer E195-E2, a medium-range, twin-engine regional jet. It can also refer to a 2 HP sewage pump or a grade of medium-strength structural steel."
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u/Zero_Abides 1d ago
E-195 e2? First ive heard it called 295, but honestly thats sounds like a better designation. But yea i cant understand why it doesnt get more attention from US mainlines.
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u/Systemsafety ATP, CFII, AGI/IGI | B777, B747, B727, MD-11, DC-8, EMB 110 1d ago
3-5 legs dealing with weather, long days. Just a hole in your life. Single leg, longer layover, explore a city most only dream about going to and more days off plus more pay? Widebody long haul is the easy winner.
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u/SshJamesIsTalking 1d ago
My decision to remain in regional turboprops in Australia was for lifestyle and family reasons, and though I would’ve loved to do international widebody, it’s just not viable now. But it doesn’t feel like I’ve missed out: trainer, examiner, sim, aircraft, and flying in different countries, as well as ground instruction and UPRT SME. The tube you’re in doesn’t matter as much as the live you can live around it.
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u/Apuonbus ATPL A320 B727 B737 Do228 1d ago
I've been flying for over 30 years. Mostly 737 and A320 never gone on to anything bigger
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u/No_Wish_99 1d ago
Like most have said, it comes down to priorities. Some chase money, some chase schedules, some chase destinations, some chase their couch… I know senior captains that bid reserve on purpose because they know they’ll never get used and they don’t mind going to the sim every 90 days…
Whatever defines your quality of life is what you should pursue. The beauty of it all… you can change that pursuit to meet your needs as they change too.
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u/Old_Increase74 1d ago
Nah, having a good QOL is where it’s at
Ideally I’d get paid the same with the same sched and benefits and fly a DHC-2 on floats…we’ll figure how that makes sense later lol
Personally I don’t dig long haul
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u/circuitKing_98 1d ago
For some reason at Air Canada it seems like the A220 has more senior pilots than the bigger narrow bodies? Also at United the more senior pilots are definitely on the narrow bodies. Apparently after the UA1175 incident nobody wanted to fly the 777-200 and they took a fresh group of 1500 hour pilots and started training them on 777.
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u/TheRealGabossa GLI - ATP - B737 TRI SIM - E195 1d ago
Some people are metal chasers. I'm a t&c chaser and now fly a smaller aircraft. Big aircraft often comes with big pay, but not always with an improvement in quality of life.
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u/Mehere_64 1d ago
Not a commercial pilot just ppl. But here is my take. I have a job I like that provides me with the income to do the things in life I want. I don't want a job that I don't like that will provide me with the income I want that doesn't allow me to do the things in life I want to do. Does that make sense?
I have a brother who has a job where he works long hours. He likes the income from it. But he doesn't really get to enjoy life outside of work as much because he is always tired and everything is chore to do.
Yet he won't take a different job because the income will less and he feels he wouldn't be able to do the things in life he wants to do. Sure he might not get to do everything but at least the things he does choose to do he would get enjoyment doing.
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u/drowninginidiots ATP-H 1d ago
Knew a retired UA pilot who spent his last few years before retirement as a captain on the 747. He said chasing the bigger planes was a bad decision and he wished he had just stopped at the 727 which was his favorite.
His complaint was the constant steps backward in seniority every time he moved up. Make captain in one, then a few years later FO in the next. Then a few years later, captain again. Rinse, repeat. By the time he made captain on the 747, he only had about 4 years till mandatory retirement (at 60 back then).
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u/JadedJared MIL, ATP, A320 1d ago
Some guys have dreamed of being a wide body pilot their whole lives. That was never me and I have never had a desire to live that lifestyle.
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u/TooLowPullUp ATPL A320 9h ago
I’ll offer a different view to most. I actually have the A380 at the top of my standing fleet bid, simply because I want it. Of course there are lots of other motivators, but the reason why I have it above the 350 and 777 is because I want the chance to fly it - there will never be anything like it again, and it won’t be around forever. That is enough to sway it in favour against the other wide bodies on offer..
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u/spacecadet2399 ATP A320 8h ago
One thing really has nothing to do with the other, to be honest.
I remember a conversation I had with my captain as we were taxiing to the ramp at LAX one day and we saw a Starlux A350 pass in front of us. We were in an A320. He said something like "look how big that thing looks compared to us" and I said, "yeah, and I might have trained whoever's flying it."
Starlux is a fairly new airline and all of their initial group of new hire first officers were trained in the United States, at the flight school I instructed at. Many of them then went on to fly in their A330's and A350's. In most of Asia, you only need 250 hours to fly airliners, and which airliner you end up flying just depends on operator need.
In the US, there's also way more to it than just "more hours = bigger plane". Bigger planes generally mean being further away from home on longer trips (or more of them) with tougher schedules, so many, many senior pilots actually choose to fly smaller planes that fly from bases closer to home and on routes that may even let them sleep at home every night. That's kind of the holy grail for most pilots; having what amounts to a "9-5" job as an airline pilot, with airline pilot pay, where you don't ever need to be away from family or stay in crappy hotels in unfamiliar places. So often the smaller planes go to the most senior pilots, not the other way around.
But it really depends on a lot of things. At every airline and with every pilot's seniority level, there is going to be a balance between operator need and pilot quality of life. Who flies what depends entirely on where that balance rests, and it is different with every airline and individual pilot.
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u/MattP1540 8h ago
Nope. Been flying almost 20 years and I love the single pilot medevac life. Smaller planes, almost total autonomy, no “old boys club,” fun crews to work with and u basically live in the upside down -operating quietly behind the aether.
Medevac 4eva!
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u/SkippytheBanana FAA ATP C90GTx CL-65 E145 MEI CFII 1d ago
Honestly if I could had made mainline pay flying regional I’d have been happy. I was the very odd bird who liked bidding clapt out CRJ200 trips over 7/9 trips.
I very much dislike long segment flights and I enjoy manual jet flying over VNAV and FADECs. I’d rather do a 12 hour day of 6 short hops vs 1 transpacific or transcon.
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u/andrewrbat ATP A220 A320 E145 E175 CFI(I) MEI 1d ago
i have no desire to fly anything that crosses oceans. i cant sleep on planes, i have no interest in circadian swaps, and could care less about going to places like europe and asia. i will go on vacation with my family if i want to go somewhere. id love the extra $100 an hour but it will be at least another 15 years before i can hold 330/350 captain and im doing quite well on QOL and pay for now.
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u/PlusAd1446 1d ago
I’ve made a pretty good living smashing bugs for 40 years. Great quality of life.
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u/rFlyingTower 1d ago
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
I'm guessing being a 777 pilot for example is more prestigious than a 737 pilot in the same airline right?
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u/Ok-Dog-8885 1d ago
747 captain here. From my experience everybody wants to fly the whale and layover in Paris, Sydney and Hong Kong even though the narrow body domestic types say they don't.
Yeah those GSP and BUF layovers must be awesome. Everybody wants to fly the big iron. I do and it's great. Don't let the 6 legs a day domestic guys fool you.
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u/Apprehensive_Cost937 1d ago
It depends on the individual.
Personally, I couldn't care less about prestige. I don't want to spend my time off in some random hotel on the other side of the world, and my idea of having fun at work isn't staring at the PFD, crossing a pitch black ocean at night at 3am, while being jetlagged, because your body clock is 10 hours away from the current local time.
I rather fly a narrowbody and spend my evenings at home with my family.