Life on the long haul fleet, especially Triple is better than the SH, having said that, there are plenty of guys that visit home at least twice a month, OK, its only 3 day spurts but this is NOT ADVERTISED as a commute contract by THY, what lies the agencies ply to get recruits is another matter. Schools are expensive but they are anywhere outside Europe, even DOHA, Qatar and Bahrain so that issue can be generalised . On the plus side living costs are much cheaper than elsewhere, and NO you don't need to live in a dump, that's a personal choice. Crew planning do work you hard according to their rules which seem banana shaped at times. All this business about moral high ground, pride and self respect is smoke and mirror stuff that went out of the window 10 years ago when the profession permanently changed for the worse, it ain't changing back, accept it..
Even Easyjet, BA and other " respectable" airlines crews complain about fatigue, it's here to stay. Yes, we could all down tools and walk out, who will feed the kids and pay the bills? the problem is the " moral high ground" has a cost no-one is prepared to pay.. As for Unions, I was in BALPA for 20 years and I can't think of one single thing they did for us other than collect 1% of our salary, look at recent events, NAS, caved in, only AER Lingus won the battle in 2009, everyone else crashed and burnt. As for incompetent management.. show me an airline where they are not! The wake up call is for the delusional protagonists that think the " old days" will return.. as for balls.. no point in having big ones firing blanks
