Just to settle a discussion! Do airline pilots work lots of hours in a month. Does it depend on seniority ?

Question

Or does it depend on the airline?

Answer 1

The total hours they may work is regulated, there is a cap, but some airline pilots will end up working more hours in a month for a variety of reasons (including weather related delays, mechanical delays, etc.) and some may pick up extra flights to cover for other pilots who call in sick, or pilots who must be re-routed to cover flights when flight crews aren't able to make their connections.

Seniority allows pilots to have more choices over the days they select to work and the amount of trips that are included in their selection.

The airline's scheduling department makes up what they call rotations for a month (which include so many flights per week), and pilots can select from the various rotations to get days on or off that they desire (or flights to certain cities).

Due to the large number of pilots employed by an airline, the odds of getting your first choice are probably not high, but become greater the more seniority a pilot has.

Regardless of seniority, some pilots want to work as many hours as possible, and others might select rotations that have fewer paid hours (either because they want to fly to particular destinations, or because they need more hours/days off in a particular month).

Answer 2

We do work a lot of hours in a month. We are limited to actually flying only 100 hours in a month (1000 hours a year) but we are at the airport for around 300 hours in a month. Yes it does depend on senority as the more senior you are the better schedule you can get and the more days off you will have. Yes, it also depends on the airline as some airlines are better at producing productive schedules which also gives you better days off.

Answer 3

Here's a good website that talks about how many hours pilots can fly. I know the amount of hours can be strictly regulated depending on the routes they're flying, maybe a pilot can offer some first-hand information:
http://avsim.com/geoffschool/airlinecourse/flyinghours.htm