Anonymous asked: I am considering a career as an airline pilot or cargo pilot and I attend mass every weekend. Do the airline companies allow you to attend mass on weekends? - Doug

It’s not the answer you want to hear but in a word, no. Unfortunately airlines don’t care about your religious beliefs. This job will make you miss a lot of things; birthdays, holidays, and weekend gatherings are all spent either in an airport or a hotel (at least at first). I’ve worked many weekends and almost every major holiday for the last two years.

The only thing that matters in this business is seniority and until you’re senior enough at your particular company to bid for weekends off (or at least Sundays off) you’ll have no guarantee. Depending on the company you work for and the growth or movement that’s occuring in the industry at that time, moving up the seniority ladder enough to bid weekends off could take months, years, or decades. Then when you finally gain enough seniority to upgrade to captain you start over back at the bottom of that list. This clock also starts whenever you change companies, regardless of your previous service time. Of course you could get lucky every so often and be on an overnight with a church near your hotel, but I would say the chances of that are decidedly unlikely (you might make it to mass once a month with that method). The day will come when you are senior enough to bid for every weekend off, but it will take a very, very long time to get there.

This industry is 24/7 and it’s at its most busy when normal people are off work and traveling (i.e., weekends and holidays). It’s a job where you really have to learn to be flexible and sort of roll with the punches. You also need a support structure with people who are understanding of your situation or you’re likely to get AIDS (Airline Induced Divorce Syndrome). It can be a rewarding career and if you play your cards right you’ll have much more time off per month than a typical 9-5er. However, that time off will not necessarily be at convenient times or locations. Sorry to be kind of doom and gloom but if your lifestyle dictates that you must go to mass on the weekend, I can’t say I’d recommend this career for you. Thanks for the question though and best of luck to you.