seadog83

Haha. Yes and no. My position is more that whether I have no job at all, a "menial job with perks", or a 100 hour a week professional job, my living situation wouldn't change too much. Aside from how I'd be spending my days, so why kill myself and cope with less free time, for big bucks that wont change anything beyond a number in my bank?

Essentially, remove money from the equation and what do you do? Basically jobs that you would do for free. The mere fact that the vast vast majority of people retire, says to me that all things being equal, they would rather not be getting up at 700 and heading to some building where people tell them what to do. On the other hand I suppose, I've met many higher up and executives where their job was literally their entire life, entire identity. To me *that's* incredibly sad.

Given my current creeping boredom, and the familiar high stress/headaches/lack of free time with the professional jobs which I'd prefer to avoid, a part time one which offered some novel perks seemed like a good compromise. For instance, I was also tossing around the idea working on boats. Seems like a decent schedule with rotation, and lots of travel. This is something that I would and have done for free on a casual basis.

But yah... based on what's here may have to nix the baggage handler idea.

darthbimmer

Wow, you've really got it all figured out. Your view of the world is so simple, so clear, that I'm not sure why you need us at all. ...Maybe you just wanted an audience for your gloating?

onobond

That's just unbeliavable, given your educational and professional background, you just seemed the perfect guy for baggage handling

KoKoBuddy

Not sure how much a baggage handler makes, but I assume it's not much. Wouldn't it be better to find another engineering job with no travel but lots of vacation time? Then with the difference in income between that job and the baggage handler you can afford to travel all over the world during vacation time. I guess what you have to do is look at the math and see if the reduction in pay is worth the free travel. You're also sort of making it a choice between working 100 hour weeks vs menial job. There's a happy middle with a 40 hour-ish professional job. People often feel like they have to make work their lives. You really don't.

Pdnecro8617

Just to chime in here, I am not an engineer (attorney) but I took a federal government job for precisely this reason. I do standard 40 hour weeks with every other Monday off and get tons of vacation time while still earning good money. I tend to average 3-4 international trips a year of at least 1 week and sometimes 2. Sure, the work can be drudgery sometimes and I will never get rich off my salary (well unless I break the law lol). But to me it beats working those 100 weeks in a firm chasing the big bucks.

You also know yourself better, for me its good to have a schedule of sorts. I dont think I would do well as an early retiree even if I have the money (I dont right now) to do it. To each his own though.

manneca

I was going to suggest going to law school. I loved practicing law; just hated the clients. Lots of people graduate from law school with no job prospects and lots of debt. But with an engineering degree, I think you'd be very attractive to employers. For me law was fascinating, I loved the problem solving. And believe it or not, engineering is a perfect background for law school. A lot of law students can't think through problems--seeing where this case differs from that case and why it matters. Engineers ought to be able to do that.

A business degree might also work coupled with an engineering degree. Work for a consulting firm.

I'm leaving next week for South Africa, Mauritius, Madagascar, the Seychelles and Ethiopia. I'm retired. I'm burning miles for the air to and from Africa and using points for the hotel in the Seychelles. I put away a lot of savings while I was working. I also used every minute of my allotted vacation time while I was working. In Jan I'm off to Bangkok, Myanmar and the Maldives. Staying at the Conrad Rangali in the Maldives on points (otherwise is over $1k a night).

My suggestion--find something you love to do and make as much as you can. Make sure it has a decent vacation policy and sock a lot of money away for retirement. Travel as much as you can now. Learn the ins and outs of ff and hotel programs and credit card points and maximize you vacation outlay.

I have thought that I should have been a FA, but I'll tell you I wouldn't do their job today. It looks miserable. And I think you'd get really bored handling baggage all day, not to mention having no control over your life. (I have a feeling if you felt that way about your engineering job, you'd really feel that way as a baggage handler.)

You mentioned kids. Are they no longer in the picture or was that a future concern?

Good luck!

Taoyuan

I recently graduated with a computer science degree, got a pretty decently paying job for someone my age, and most of that still feels pretty daunting. So I understand where the OP is coming from.

I agree the baggage handler thing is not what he needs though.

DENviaLAX

Having worked as a ramper and sharing what I'd consider a similar mindset to you in terms of lifestyle and priorities, I think becoming a part time ramper (or other airline position) wouldn't be a bad idea for you. I can't speak to Air Canada in particular, and I'm sure experiences also vary greatly depending on not only the airline you work for, but also the airport in which you work. That said, I definitely enjoy the work and certainly the benefits that come along with it.

Pay isn't great, especially starting out, but it's also not bad either. At least among the four major US airlines (I have no knowledge of non-US airlines), all of them pay around $30/hr at the top end (around $13-15/hr starting). Granted that's after some years of service, but not bad for a part time job, regardless. I also know of many guys who have taken home 100k+ a year doing baggage handling work. So while the pay doesn't seem like priority for you, it is possible to make decent money, and with relative ease.

Scheduling wise I imagine there is a lot of variation depending on who you work for, and also how big of a station/operation it is. My experience, though, was having an absurd amount of flexibility in when and how much I worked. Starting out I only had two weeks of paid vacation time (senior guys maxed out at seven weeks), but we were able to trade away our shifts (essentially unpaid time off) any time we wanted. Only rule being you had to work 50% of your hours per month. But when part time, it ended up being only 40-something hours per month. Work three or four long days per month, and that was enough. Granted you wouldn't see much of a paycheck, but if you're just there for the benefits, then who cares?

Which brings me to my final point, the benefits. Seriously cannot be beat for a part time job. Not just the flight benefits, but also medical, dental, vision, retirement, etc. All the things that cost a ridiculous amount to pay for out of pocket, all provided for next to nothing, even for a part time employee who works (essentially) not even two months a year.

As far as non-rev travel goes, sure it has its downsides. I know a lot of people who work in the airline industry and barely fly (or still buy tickets when they do), simply because they hate the stress that comes with not having a confirmed seat. But as long as you're open minded and a bit flexible, it's an amazing perk. I've flown hundreds of thousands of miles on standby, and have never had any major issues. Never been stuck anywhere, and really haven't even been delayed all that much. Again, the key is flexibility. I've taken a dozen or so international trips, and a good 75% of them have been in either business or first class. A big reason for that success rate is because of usually picking destinations based more on looking at load factors in the days leading up to the trip, rather than having a specific tripped planned and it being "<insert city> or bust" kind of thing. Which may not be for everyone, but I actually love the spontaneity of it.

Not to mention the job itself is actually quite fun. To me you can't beat working outdoors and doing something active. Way better than sitting at a desk staring at a computer screen all day, in my eyes. And if you're someone who likes aviation, getting to be so up close to airplanes is quite cool. As with any job, it can become repetitive after awhile. But I do honestly think it's a great job for anyone who loves travel and is at a point in their life where they have the freedom and flexibility to take advantage of the free flights.

TravelerMSY

I've given this serious thought over the years.

I'd imagine the sweet spot is working as little as possible for an airline as a part-timer. Especially one like Delta that makes it relatively difficult for revenue pax to upgrade to business and the cabin goes out with empties a lot. I'm almost always on mileage tickets anyway, so the same flights I get on with miles- I'd be likely to get on as a non rev as well. I'd have to get used to being on the zero dark thirty flight to the hub every time, though.

I'd also want a big stash of miles and points so that I could always have an anytime mileage ticket home in case I didn't get on and was tired of waiting. On another carrier, of course, to keep from violating rules against holding confirmed space while listing for standby.

Another interesting option I've seen listings for DL at MSY is for summer seasonal work. Give them the summer full-time working the counter or ramp (ugggh, hot and humid!) then get full flight benefits the rest of the year. Of course, you're on call for peak times when they need additional staff. Any ready reserve agents on here that can comment?

I'm also tempted by telephone reservations jobs from home. AA always seems to be hiring, but you have to live within x miles of DFW, either for technology reasons or because they want to be able to call you in. MSY is too far!

I imagine all of this is a better deal for a companion of an employee with a lot of free time than for the employee.

WRCSolberg

If money is no issue for you, I'd become a pilot and work my way up the ranks. Plus, once you get your commercial, there's a ton of stuff you can do that don't include flying metal tubes of irritable passengers.

I loaded planes for UPS in college, so I wouldn't want to be a baggage handler, which is much more physical than what I did. Then you get older and things start to break and not work as well as they used to and it's not much fun. You don't want to be a physical mess by the time you're in your mid 50s. I've seen it personally, and it's not a pretty sight.