I thought a degree may be an advantage when applying for promotions, eg. Command, alongside appropriate flight hours and licensing?
No. It is not a consideration for Command.
Getting a shot at Command is still seniority based in most airline companies. That is, having several years of unblemished (some may say unremarkable) employment history. Follow company rules, don't be creative, pass all your checks, and you will get the opportunity to qualify. Note I said opportunity to qualify, you would still have to pass the tests
A fellow with 1000hr on type and 2 years in company and a PhD will
always run second in opportunity to qualify, to a guy that has a Year 12 education, an ATPL, company minimums and 5 years in company with nil significant events on his/her employment or training files. Always.
Now as to who would make the better Captain, well.....
My concern is, do pilots really get to communicate with passengers?
Yes. Over the PA, speaking from a script found in the company Operations Manual. You are warned not to make jokes, as they may be mis interpreted. It is also better to not make your PA while the movie is running. The PA will interrupt the morning news and the movie and irritate the pax.
Direct contact with passengers has been all but eliminated. In fact, it is actively discouraged. See
Air Transport Security Regulations 2005 at paragraph 2.39 (c)
I get a thrill out of flying, but also out of working with people.
You might want to refine that a little more.
Embalmers enjoy working with people, too.
Doctors also work with people. A&E specialists see healthy people permanently smashed up and disabled by stupid events like car accidents and domestic disputes. Oncologists often watch nice people slowly die. GP's often have to write medical certificates for time wasters, and be careful not to be hoodwinked into prescribing narcotics and analgesia to well spoken and nicely dressed drug addicts.
Medico friends of mine complain about inequities in workload and remuneration. Just like Pilots! Surgeons and anaesthetists in public hospitals often earn less than physiotherapists employed by professional sporting clubs. However it is also possible for a medico to earn ridiculous amounts of money, the penalty however is that they are usually very, very busy people. One friend wore the title Mister, way above a mere Doctor. However to earn his $400k salary would involve starting work at 6am, knock off at 6pm to have dinner with his family, then back to the office from 8pm to midnight to do his paperwork etc. Six days a week. Not my cup of tea!
So it aint all bread and circuses there, either.
The great advantage that a qualified doctor has, is that he or she can work for themselves, for the government, as a locum, or form a business or partnership.
An airline pilot has to work for an airline. And there's only a handful of those.
There is really only one thing that you ought consider before dedicating all your spare income until you are 25, and your entire working life to aviation -
Would any other occupation be second best, for you?
I've had to share flight decks with w@nkers, report to managers that were buffoons, fly aeroplanes maintained by gorrillas. Etc. Met a few nice people along the way too.
The one thing that keeps me in my seat is the view I reckon I'll have tomorrow morning at about 7am, of all the cars bumper to bumper on the freeway heading to work. To spend all their working day in little boxes with maybe no windows.
I'll clean up my ship, accelerate to 250KIAS and grin at them as my magic carpet climbs me to 33,000 feet.
You have to want this job. You won't survive all the sh!t that comes with it if that basic desire to fly is not driving you.
Good luck with your decision.