Considerations

A is near ready to begin applying to real, actual airlines. It's funny to hit this milestone because it always seemed so far into the future. He's been working 7 days a week for weeks now. I can't remember the last time he had even a 1/2 day off. I do the best I can to help him out (including suprising him with snacks at the airport on the weekends occasionally) and don't expect too much of him at home and we seem to be doing fine. It will be a relief to get through this, but the next stage, him gone for weeks on end for training is going to be just as difficult. In a different way though.

He's got some thing lined up on monday to talk to an airline that is considering doing onsite interviews at his school. He volunteered to be trotted out like a show pony to talk about the program and his training and all that stuff. His training partner volunteered too. It's a regional that's hired guys out of his school previously, but never interviewed there. I'm leaning against them myself, I've heard some mixed reviews about them.

In a few weeks another airline will be doing onsite interviews at his school as well. Again, he and his friend signed up. I think they are still short in hours, but it will be a good experience for them. And at best, they'll be issued a conditional offer based on their continuing to instruct and gain the hours. Again thought, I'm not sure it's an airline "we" want to go with.

Maybe it's just the control freak in me, but I insist on having a say on what airline he finally takes a job with. It's going to effect me in a big way after all! Not only where he'll be based, but where we might live, how much time he'll spend commuting (if we go that route), whether his health insurance will cover all of us or just him, how long he might be on reserve and where, upgrade time... so many details to consider.

And I really do think that you have to look at things holistically. One airline might pay $2 more per hour, but not cover health insurance for dependants and in the end, wind up costing you a few hundred per month. The additional hourly salary may not make up the difference. How happy are we going to be in Newark vs. Salt Lake City vs. Houston? Is it worth it? How long can we anticipate being there?

We are still trying to decide whether I will stay here in Jax while he does his reserve training or whether we will go with him. On one hand, it's nice to stay where we are settled and have friends. He can commute back down here on his days off. On the other hand, he may have very few days off and I would prefer to be able to live with him and see him as much as possible instead of the few random days he can get down here. I guess too, it depends on the city he ends up doing his reserve time in as well.

So much is still in the air and we all just kind of have to go with it.