Friday, November 8, 2013

Travelling

I had almost a week off between trips. Most of that time was spent traveling with my family. My daughter is quite the experienced flyer.

I need to update her logbook, she really has one, I think my daughter has been on over 60 flights now.

It's natural to assume a family with a toddler in an airport is frazzled or confused. Most families travel once or twice a year.

A few months ago my wife, daughter and I enrolled in Global Entry. Along with Global Entry approval we were given TSA Precheck. There are likely very few 3 years olds in either program.

Almost every time my daughter goes through security the "agents" comment on how well behaved she is. My daughter just walks through and waits by the end of the belt. I guess that's good behavior?

Once on the airplane she sits down and waits as we put on the CARES harness. We then read a few Curious George stories until we can whip out the Ipads. She's only been loud maybe twice on a plane. We are always tweaking our system. Everything is checked except a backpack for my wife and I. We have snacks, books, crayons and toys inside.

Beyond the flight we drove over 500 miles visiting family. The benefit of unlimited travel is definitely a perk to the job since our family is so spread out.

Right now I'm on day 4 of a 4 day trip. I have 4 day trips all month. It's not the ideal schedule but it works.

My airline is getting ready for the new rest rules for pilots. Our flight attendants don't get the new rest rules. As a result we are playing musical flight attendants.

In the past I had the same flight attendant for the entire trip unless they called in sick or had vacation. It was nice getting to know the people I work with. That's history.

I've had 5 different flight attendants on this trip. Each night we bring one in to the overnight and take another one out.

The Captain I'm flying with is a guy I haven't flown with in 4 years. He traded into the trip when he saw my name as we enjoyed flying together. It's just like old times. Truly a great trip.

As winter is approaching I'm thinking I need to bid more southerly. Currently in Fargo, North Dakota. It's cold. Supposed to come back next week. Two weeks from now I have a 20 hour overnight in Florida. Looking forward to that one.

Back in 2007 when I left ALLATPs my fellow CFIs chastised me for not going to an airline with a quick upgrade. Back then there were a lot of regionals with 2 year upgrades.

Well things of course slowed down. After 5 years not a single friend had upgraded. A few were really upset as they planned on upgrading in 2 years and moving on. They didn't like the airline the chose as it had a low quality of life contract.

Just this year the upgrades have started. One friend at Expressjet upgraded after 6 years 11 months. Another was just awarded after 6 and a 1/2 years at Air Wisconsin and Republic. I'm hoping mine is coming in the next year.

 

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