You are partially right ItsMeFromEarth, but from that perspective its not exactly hard work flying over the ocean on CPDLC neither, is it. One of the two can even take a nap.
I believe you are missing the point though. Its spending all that time up in the air that cumulates fatigue, irrespective if you re at the controls or not. Thats why there are limits on flight time, and most CAAs consider the entire flight as being logged.
At the extreme, you could theoretically spend some 150 hours every single month flying. I would certainly not send my familly with such a crew and I m sure you agree that after a few years like that, the only thing you would need is a coffin.
