An airline pilot’s “office” is, by its very nature, a mobile, jet-powered, on-the-go workplace that is rarely in the same location from day to day. It only stops for brief periods throughout the day and in to the night, for when it’s sitting, it isn’t making any money, and money is the driving factor in the airline business.

Most airline route systems are comprised of “hubs” and “spokes”, with routes being generally designed to bring people from outlying, smaller cities to larger hub cities and then from the hub to their destination airport. Pilots generally fly multiple legs per day between cities, and usually end up at a spoke city for the night, so they can fly a flight back in to the hub the next day and continue on with their schedule.

Typically, airlines have several crew bases in their system. The number of pilots required per base is determined, among other things, by the amount of flying that originates at that base. In each crew base, and system wide throughout the Company, pilots are ranked by “seniority,” based on how long they’ve been employed by that particular airline. Seniority to an airline pilot is life’s blood. It governs everything from the number of days worked in a month, holidays off, vacation, and even which crew base the pilot is assigned. There are basically two groups of pilots in each crew base, the Captains, and the First Officers. Both groups have seniority within their “seat position” (Captain or First Officer). It’s not uncommon for a First Officer in one particular base to be able to hold the position of Captain in another base. When a pilot’s seniority can allow a “promotion,” they will typically switch to whichever crew base they can hold the highest paid position. So you see, a pilot can literally be flying out of one base for one month, and an entirely different one the next. A pilot can be involuntarily moved between bases as well, based on the needs of the airline at any particular time.