I am new. I am not an aviator but I fly as passenger on helos to my oil rigs. I am always fascinated with an airline pilot's life. I have a brother in law working in the Far East as a pilot and it is he who directed me to this forum.
I must say I am truly shocked how airline pilots accept such terms and conditions as made out in many threads in this Pprune website! I always thought my brother in law earns heaps with all kind of fancy perks. I was shocked he travels cattle class and only gets upgraded reluctantly to business when available. Unless this website is a massive disinformation site, I must say you pilots got yourselves awfully shortchanged.
I commute to work 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off initially. After 10 years, I have enough seniorty for 2 weeks on and 3 weeks off option. I can still remain on a 2 weeks on/ 2 weeks off, but my " volunteer option " of not taking the 5th week off entails a double pay. I don't want to go into the details about my renumeration. My brother in law was so tired of arguing with me that he showed me his full so called commuting contract and I am truly amazed that airline captains with the kind of responsibilties thrusted upon them, would accept such terms and conditions!
Get out of that industry and join the shale oil companies in Alberta. I received a Canadian offer that was really good to tempt me to venture to the landed wilderness instead of the watery wilderness that my offshore work takes me to very 2 to 3 weeks.