To some of us in the US, 83 hours of block is normal. Backside of the clock flying normal. I have not had overtime pay since 1989. That is no BS
A very easy month for a lot of us is 78 hours.
I am not slamming anyone, just pointing out that SOME not ALL the gripes on this thread seem pretty normal to some of us.
Don't know what you are suggesting by "guys of our caliber" but I am just stating what is mostly normal here in the USA. I know pilots at JM that are shocked when they see how much we fly in America.
You who are used to flying low block hours would die here.
I don't know who you work for but you have a crap contract if all that is true. What is your overtime threshold or min guarantee and how little do you fly if you haven't had overtime in 20 years? Yeah I flew 80 to 95 hours a month back in the US as well but I never flew backside of the clock and the longest sectors were 4 hours. The most time zones we crossed were three and, if there was backside flying, there were very specific restrictions and extra pay for it. How many red-eyes do you do back to back with a day trip in between? I would argue that that never happens back home.
I would rather fly 4 sectors during winter out of NY than an India turn around that starts at midnight and gets back at noon, that stuff is brutal. I wanted to do long haul but ended up doing regional flying at all times of the night on a widebody.