To those who are still weighing options before taking the plunge, for what it's worth these are a few of the big points I considered before making the move:
- where do I want to live? If you're in Sydney or Melbourne, cost of living is high compared to even a jet FO salary. If you want the US to perhaps be a permanent move, property and living in general is significantly cheaper stateside, and taxes are also lower. The way I justified the move with regard to where I live, is that my own family was always a day's travel from any of the major cities, so what difference is there if it's one or two days travel? So moving to the US is not that much more of a stretch for me at least.
- career prospects at home? If you want a command with any of the big 4, you are looking at 8-20 years to left seat, depending on where you go. Do you have the time to burn waiting for it? After all, the left seat is the salary range you need to live comfortably in Syd or Mel. Reaching your maximum earning potential is even further away if you have to stop off at a regional first.
- Once you have a left seat, what then? Where does your career progress to from there? Are you happy flying domestic for the rest of your career, or will there be widebody opportunities? Will move to another airline, or is this airline a career destination?
- If you make the move, how will it play out for you? If the move isn't permanent, then you get your command time and head back home to join a seniority list, or use that time as mentioned above to chase big money contract work.
- What if you can make the move permanent ie greencard? If you can stay in the US, then there is opportunity to progress your career quickly, get to a major, or if not at least a narrowbody for a LCC where command time varies ~3-5 years. If you want to make it permanent, how will you get that greencard? It is also worth comparing maximum earning potential for a US captain vs an Aussie captain as there is a big difference.
I would also like to point out that there are no right or wrong answers to what you should do, and I am not necessarily suggesting any option is better than the other. These are just some of the big questions that I had to ask myself honestly and try to answer realistically. Based on my answers I took the plunge. So far it has been a great adventure.
If anyone wants to chat about what it all involves, feel free to pm me.
Happy hunting.
Socks