suranyi

I would love to be able to do mileage runs as you guys can. But I wonder how you find the time?

I mean, I work five days a week in the office. I have only a couple of weeks vacation per year, and I'd rather use them to go someplace I WANT to go.

Weekends are the only time I have to spend with my girlfriend. She doesn't like flying,
but will go with me on a trip if there's a point. I definitely can't afford to take her all the time.

What about your situations is so different from mine that, seemingly, you can take a few days off whenever you want?

Ed

tom911

Some of us work 4-day work weeks, and get almost 10 weeks a year vacation

davistev

I believe North Americans have the least amount of leisure time of all the "privileged" (some say developed, first world, rich) countries. 2 to 4 weeks is the norm.

European countries and places like Australia have a minimum one month off per year (even for hamburger makers). Many have 6 to 10 weeks off a year. Life is different outside of North America. People have stronger labour laws and therefore greater benefits.

I worked for a US company ONCE. Never again, too many meetings, too much talking, *****ing, showing off and no one listening. (At least for the Mob I worked for). Everyone an expert - no one actually knew how to do stuff with their hands (engineering).

Interesting state of things. I believe the Aussies have something called "Long Service Leave" 3 months off after 10 years work. Is this still true and do they still get a 17% loading during their holidays?

superunknown

I only get 3 weeks/year but work a lot of weekends so I get comp time rather than overtime. Have nearly 50 days comp time in addition to my vacation..so it works out well!

afrugal1

First, welcome aboard, suranyi! Next, "..almost 10 weeks a year vacation.". Way to go tom911!!

As stated before, I really dig the red-eye runs. You can knock out the Saturday night stay requirement as well as catch a quick return flight the following Sunday morning. This can lead to some sluggish Monday mornings back at the job, but it is well worth it.

Happy Trails!


[This message has been edited by afrugal1 (edited 10-24-2002).]

FWAAA

With 52 weekends in a year, I don't think 3 or 4 for mileage runs is excessive time away from family. You can surely get away from your gf 3 or 4 times a year, can't you?

Doesn't she have some interests that don't interest (or involve) you? My family stopped questioning such minimal time spent on mileage runs when they saw how nice P, F and J travel was.

As well they should, since I'm the one spending several weekends a year in a middle seat in coach to accumulate miles.

What? Middle seat in coach? How could that be? I missed a Sat night redeye last weekend (LAX-MIA) due to an aborted takeoff at ORD (ORD-LAX) that caused me to standby for all my flights on Sunday. Ouch. I was lucky to get middle seats at the back of super80s. But I did get home.

Actually, heavy business travel (for work) is liable to exact a much larger toll on your relationships with spouse and kids than an occasional mileage run.

SeaMeFly

as a flight attd of 7 yrs, I get 21 days off a yr plus I only fly 2 weeks of a month. Now see if you can beat that!!

landspeed

Depending on where you live, mileage runs can easily be done over a long weekend with, IMHO, enough time to enjoy your destination, especially if you take advantage of 3-day weekends.

For example, from the East Coast of the US-
Thurs night- I can take an overnight flight to Europe. From JFK, there are flights to LHR that leave after 11pm, so I can work a full day. Assuming Monday is a holiday, I then have Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Most of Monday. I can take a flight leaving LHR late afternoon or evening, arriving JFK on Monday night. That's one day off from work and a full long weekend.

Beyond the cost/time issues, it's a mindset thing, especially with International travel- JFK-LAX is ~4950 miles r/t, JFK-LHR is ~6904. It's only a few hours difference, but it's a hurdle for some!

tom911

I love comp time Our center would not survive without lots of overtime to cover vacancies and gaps, and the employee (fortunately) retains the option whether to take time or money.

I'm at the San Jose Airport right now on the way to Orlando on a $104RT (plus taxes) fare.

PETEFLYS

My situation is I am self-employed and take off whenever my schedule allows.
You will find many people here incorporate there runs with there work schedule and use paid holidays, long weekends and comp time for those in the corporate world.
There are others who I have found are retired or have very flexable work schedules that allows them to fly often.
Then there are those who do it as a hobby

aussieinsf

Yes, it's true, most unionised or government jobs still offer this feature - generally 8-12 weeks after 8 years service. There is also another wonderful thing called "leave loading" where you get an extra 17.5% or 20% pay during your vacation - just to recognise that you generally spend more while on vacation. Not many jobs back in australia that have this feature though.

Typical aussie vacation is 4 weeks. I work for a us non-profit and we have 4 weeks as our standard.

channa

Where do you work, and is your company hiring? Shoot me an email if you don't mind.

drtravels

Currently I get 365 days a year off. Does that win?

hauteboy

I officially have 4 weeks a year.. but my job has a lot of flexibility and I'll sometimes do 4-day weeks (make up for it by allnighters though).

[This message has been edited by hauteboy (edited 10-24-2002).]

tom911

The 911 in my screen name should give a hint (I'm a supervisor in a police/fire communications center for a city of 116,000).....if you know where Six Flags Marine World is, you can probably guess the city, and yes, we continually recruit, as does just about every comm center in the Bay Area.

Would be glad to e-mail you, but no e-mail address in your profile