Hi, Im new to this forum. Im 41 years old. I hold a Masters Degree equivalent in my field. Intrigued by the changes industry and potential opportunities that may present themselves in our current context. If I went all-in from zero experience, what is a realistic picture of the type of career I could have over a potential 20 year career? Earnings? Major Airline possibility? National? International? Thank you all in advance on this forum for your feedback.
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Joshua,
At 41 years old you could be starting at a regional by 43. From there you would have 22 years full of opportunities. Now it all depends on how well you do in your training, if you have a bachelors degree, if you interview well, if you have no incidents, accidents or issues with law enforcement.
With those boxes checked, then it’s up to you. What airlines you get hired by, what bases and aircraft are available to you at the time, your seniority, etc.
My point here is, there are so many variables. Some in your control and others not. However, with a good work ethic and a strong resume and the hiring climate remaining like it is, you should have the opportunity to pursue any kind of flying you want. If you want to check out the current earnings of any position at any airline, go to airlinepilotcentral.com. The pay is pretty amazing but with contract negotiations on the way at many major airlines, it’s bound to go up from there.
Hannah
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thank you so much Hannah for this insight.
Joshua,
There is a detailed post in the FAQ section that addresses this topic, check it out here: Am I too old to be an Airline pilot?
Just as an aside, the majors will ask what kind of college degree you have, there will not be a box for a master’s equivalent. You either have a master’s degree, or you do not.
Chris
Thank you so much Chris! Yes, fair point on education. I have a 4 year undergrad degree and a 4 year master of divinity degree. Saying “equivalent” only confuses the matter! Thanks for the feedback. Yes, undergrad and masters. Thanks again for the link
Anytime. Let us know how else we can help you.
Chris
I am reading so many conflicting accounts of work/family life balance.
Some paint a picture that you will not see your family days at a time. Others, paint a picture that’s reasonable and manageable.
I live in Houston, near IAH & Hobby. In the off chance I were to land a job at an airline who has a home here in Houston, what would my work life balance look like in my first couple years?
Is it possible to be home at the end of each day (as one forum described) or should I plan on being home every couple of days?
Thoughts?
Joshua,
Not sure where you were reading that but you will not be home every night if you’re an airline pilot. Period. My airline Hawaiian, was one of the few airlines that had day trip operations and 2 yrs ago that changed and we now have overnights. While many airlines do have 2 day trips that will reduce your time away, as you can imagine most people want to be home as often as possible which means those trips go senior.
Long short you should count on being gone about 15 days a month (more at the beginning). Airline pilots travel, that’s part of the job description and it’s not going to change. That doesn’t preclude you from having a home life but again you will not be home every night and you will miss some holidays, family events, ball games etc etc. It’s part of the price of admission.
Adam
Joshua,
I have always found my schedule to be rather conducive to family life. Sure, there are events that I miss and weekends that I am gone, but overall, I think I am home way more than most working people are and my home time is truly that, my time.
It is definitely not possible to be home every night. By the very nature of our job, we travel to far away places and that often involves spending the night.
Chris
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Very helpful Chris. Thank you. Odd question, given my current career, do newbies ever get Sunday off? Or should you expect typically in your first few years to be working consistently on and over weekends, given how low one would be in seniority?
Adam, thanks for this response. Much appreciated.
No worries Josh.
Just to jump in on your question for Chris, I’ve been at my airline 9yrs and I can finally get some (not all) weekends off.
One thing to consider is if quality of life and time home is your priority, there are things you can do to improve your situation. You see while everything is based on seniority, there’s actually 2 kinds of seniority. There’s system (or total) and then there’s relative. Now you’re system seniority is your seniority within the airline in relation to every other pilot. Your relative seniority is based on your seniority “relative” to others on your plane, in your base and your seat (Capt or FO).
I fly for Hawaiian and we only have one base so that’s out of the equation. But my total seniority right now is just better that 50% or midway. Based on my system seniority I could be a super senior 717 or 321 FO or a pretty senior 330 FO. I can also be a better than mid seniority 717 Capt, a fairly junior 321 Capt and I’m really close to being a junior 330 Capt. I’m a 717 Capt because that gives me a good balance of pay and schedule. If money was most important I’d bid 321 Capt (or 330 when I can) but my schedule and QOL would go down dramatically. If my schedule were most important I’d bid one of the FO slots and have a great schedule but with less pay. As you progress up the food chain you’ll have more and more control and then it’s up to you to bid based on your priorities. Make sense?
Adam
Got it! Makes a lot of sense. Man, without this page, there is no way the average person could ever research all of this…
Thanks so much!
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Josh,
You can expect about 3-6 weeks away from family during initial training and then typically 3-4 nights per trip away, which turns out to be about 18 nights a month. When you’re junior, expect mostly weekends and holidays. Once you get senior you can start to take back control of some of your weekends.
Glad you find what we do here helpful! That’s what we hope for. Let us know how else we can help you.
Hannah
Josh,
I also wanted to draw your attention to the schedules section of the forum. You will get a good idea of what it’s like at various stages of this career between the 5 of us.
Tory
Joshua,
Newbies will work almost every single weekend, if not all of them. It took me several years to be a blessing to hold weekends off as a Captain, and even then it is not all of them. If you are asking for religious reasons, I can tell you that there is no exemption for such.
Chris
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Thank you all
Very helpful
Hi Joshua,
Thanks for your posts and questions. I’ve been reading them and I think I might be coming from the same career background as you and I too am considering a change of career. I’m 37 and thinking of being based in DFW, TX. If you’re further down the journey now I’d love to hear about your experience. I tried to see if I could find an email to contact you but replying appeared to be the only way. Either way thanks for your questions and thanks to everyone who has contributed answers.
-Korey