d192049d, before you enter the fray and cause a massive derailment of the threads intention, and I'm sure you'd know this if you were experienced in 'the job', block hours are not to be equated with groundlings '9-5' plus overtime working hours. Block hours, just to make sure you and all the other shocked outsiders are aware, are the hours from push-back to brakes-on back on stand.
I am aware of this Danny as my partner flys and has done for 17 years both Long Haul & Short Haul, so I feel qualified to comment...
The last time I had to defend this was with a certain paedophile who was pretending to be an aviation expert and entrepreneur who insisted that the only time pilots actually worked was from push-back until the autopilot was engaged and then the opposite at the other end. Flight crew also have to report for work at least an hour and often longer, especially in long haul, before the scheduled time of departure. In case you may not have thought this through completely before posting your statements above, you must remember the time that it takes to turn around an aircraft on multiple sectors and also the time it takes a crew to finish off their duty at the end of their shift.
Again I am aware of this for the reason already stated which is why I still maintain you need remain grounded when discussing your working week by comparing it with the 9-5's as you term it. By the way what is that and why mention the word paedophile in the context of my post?
It is still slightly amusing when you get pax who assume that you are going to get off the a/c after they have left and will, a la 'Mile High' (tv farce), be spending the next few days in a drunken, mass orgy with your fellow cabin-crew in a five star resort hotel. From the tone of the post by d192049d, it would probably be fair to assume that the mention of 60, 80 or 100 block hours a month is the total hours worked. I respectfully suggest that those who feel aggrieved at the hours we work go and look up the meaning and the difference between 'block-hours' and 'duty-hours'.
It may be amusing but having attended a number of such parties down route I can testify that they do happen with the exception of the orgies. As to what this has to do with my post I do not know as I never mentioned anything about this. Calm down Danny my post was meant as a commercial world context to help stop you all feeling hard done by.
Oh, and before I forget, you too can have cushy job like ours with minimal working hours and all the associated glamour by doing exactly what we had to do... scrimp and save, remortgage your life, do the studying, training and all the tests and exams before the catch-22 slog of trying to get on that bottom rung of the employment ladder and then suffering the seniority system and terrorists that cause you and your colleagues great career harm with their inconsiderate mass murder using our tools of the trade as their weapons of mass destruction!
Danny I would admit complete admiration for all of you who have made the sacrifices you have, that said slightly off topic and perhaps a sign of a little anger in your response me thinks. However it is not just the flying world where such sacrifices have to be made and most careers have the long tortuous path to the top you describe
The simple answer to anyone who sees our 'whingeing' as fortunate when compared to their mundane 9-5 existence is to tell them to get off their @rses and get a licence!
Have a licence and fly for fun when I have the time. Perhaps not so high but just as enjoyable.