What do you think are good reasons to become an airline pilot?

A love of flying.

Getting paid to do what you love.

A love of people, desire to serve others and see to their safety. (But of course this would lead to many careers including nurse, doctor, social worker, fire fighter, flight attendant, etc.)

A love of things mechanical/concrete - love of the physical over the abstract - desire to apply intellectual interest in flying in the real world. A love of big machines and seeing stuff happen.

A love of travel / seeing new, often out of the way places.

A love of and respect for procedures, rules, and authority, even when you think you have a better plan. (This applies to airline flying in particular. I think there is more flexibility in, say, hauling cargo in the bush.)

A desire to make your office somewhere other than the office, and a desire to work in places and times that the 9-5 crowd doesn't. Time off when other people are stuck in the office. A feeling of freedom. (Not sure the career actually offers this, but it's part of what attracts people to it, I think.)

A love of precision / perfectionism. You derive great satisfaction from making a machine do exactly what you want, following a procedure to the letter, etc. (One pilot explains this perfectly in describing an approach he made at the end of a 747 cargo flight: "Arrival routing then, as now, is usually over Point Reyes, descending to cross over the SFO VOR (on the airport) at 10,000 to 12,000 feet, speed 250 knots, then a long, eastbound descent over Oakland, then a right teardrop reversal to join the ILS to 28R at SFO. Easy enough, but I like to play little games, and set myself little challenges. My usual game on this approach was to make several things happen. One was to cut to idle thrust beginning the descent, and never touch the thrust levers again until 1500 feet on final. Then I do everything very smoothly, playing altitude, airspeed, flaps, and the all-important reversal turn to arrive at precisely the 3D spot in space that was my target. Variables are the altitude at which the descent begins, the distance either side of the VOR, when flaps are extended (five steps, each with a maximum and minimum speed, some of those with small "windows"), where the turn is started, angle of bank, airspeed in the turn, etc. In all those years, I never did it perfectly, but I used to come awfully close a lot" (http://www.avweb.com/news/pelican/188536-1.html ).

A love of life-long learning, about weather, safety procedures, efficiency, routing, psychology of decision-making, etc.

A desire to constantly improve, and the humility to be subject to constant scrutiny in the form of performance evaluations, flight checks, etc. The personality to see these as constant opportunities for self-improvement, to get better and safer at one's craft.

An ability and desire to take (and comfort with/enjoyment from taking) calculated risks (and in this sense I mean more with your career than in the airplane, because there is a risk that you'll invest a lot of time and money and then get knocked back to the bottom of the seniority ladder one or more times in your career, though in the airplane risk management is a key skill too: you need to be able to understand when you've adequately covered off the risks of a certain course of action so that it's safe to fly the next leg, attempt the approach, etc.)

Edit: One more reason would be if you're bullish on the aviation industry. If you see a looming shortage of airline pilots in the next couple of decades, then it makes sense to get in now while nobody else sees it. But this would apply to any industry. Get out your crystal ball and then get into an area before it becomes hot. But it is possible (just possible) that the low pay and insecurity will eventually drive away enough pilots to result in a shortage, and then the market will drive up salaries. Ultimately, you shouldn't choose any job just based on salary—I've spent too much time in well-paying jobs wishing I were doing something else—but some job security is nice.

Allow me to correct you - the low pay is in flying for commuter and regional airlines. The national and major airlines still compensate their pilots quite well, especially as compared to almost any other segment of aviation. However, what you must go through to become a major airline pilot generally means many years earnng low pay and struggling to make ends meet. And then there's an inordinate amount of uncertainty in the industry too. Not just now days, but the entire history of airline flying.

I never made it to the majors and eventually became so disgusted with the regional carrier I was working for that I quite and pursued other types of flying. Had I stayed at that carrier I'd be making a high 5-figure salary with a decent schedule, but I'd probably have multiple ulcers and a bitter attitude. I know an ex-Navy pilot with all the right credentials and experience too and he never made it to the majors either. If anyone had a high chance of it, he did. That's the way it goes sometimes.

I don't wish to paint a wholly negative picture, but in my opinion, it is better to enjoy your job than to earn a high salary. The desire to be free from the financial worries that engulf about 90% of the population is a primary driving force behind becoming an airline pilot today. Fewer and fewer people do it for any other reason. A lot of people pay lip service to "loving to fly", but not that many seasoned airline pilots really love their jobs. When I was flying floatplanes in Alaska almost every major airline pilot I met who was on vacation there said they'd trade jobs in a minute. While that may have been true as far as job satisfaction goes, only a very small percentage would have traded paychecks.

I've had an interesting career and done a lot of types of flying that most pilots only dream about. However, added up, my entire income over 24 years has been less than what a senior airline captain makes in about 4 years. I've also found myself involuntarily unemployed nearly 1/5 of my career too. Every time you start over, guess what? You pretty much begin at the bottom of the pay scale and seniority list, no matter what type of flying you're doing and howmuch experience you have. The only exceptions are in very small niches within the industry that aren't easy to get into..

Why do I keep flying for peanuts? Why does an unknown artist paint or a unknown musician compose? Because I really DO love to fly. Even if I had known in advance the course my career would take, I'd probably still have done it. That's MY reason, but you need to find your own.

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If you want to be a military pilot officer or to fly for one of the major airlines, you MUST complete a 4-year college degree. There are some people who post answers on here who will tell you that you don't need a degree, but they are behind the times. What John B says puts it in a nutshell: there are many aviation careers, including some that are very rewarding, that do not require the degree, but if you want to fly for the major airlines, you must have the degree. The airline hiring executives are not even talking to people who do not have 4-year college degrees, and, of course, you cannot be a commissioned officer in the US armed forces without the degree. And all military pilots are commissioned officers. So one way or the other, you will have to get the degree or settle for a career in charter, instructing, cargo, or some other career track. Some of these are lots of fun, if you have the disposition. Your degree can be in any field; just get that diploma. It's good if you learn something in the process. Airline hiring executives are currently really interested in pilots with degrees in business administration, accounting, and law enforcement, as well as the traditional mathematics, science, and engineering fields. By the way, there is a simple reason why the crew executives nowadays insist on the 4-year college degree: the aircraft systems and flight procedures are growing more complex every year, and they want to know that you have the learning ability and study skills to be able to assimilate complex material in a timely manner. There's no way around this, so just go for it. Good luck!

You really love flying. Even then, have a backup career. I can't tell you how many airline guys I know who really love to fly and yet hate their job.

Another reason is so that you can see your country, or the world, on somebody else's dime and while getting paid for it. This is a temporary reason because it doesn't take long to have seen all the places you want to see. This is only a valid reason if you know you will not be an airline pilot forever and only want to do it for a few years.

Travel benefits are a pro to this career but I don't think that is a big enough pro to warrant all the negative aspects that come with airline flying.

If you check the figures, middle eastern airlines still pay and will keep paying huge salaries to their pilots ( beginning at 6500 USD per month ).

So the thought of doing something that you like to do and getting paid to do it plus enjoying life in air and in ground really lures you. ( imagine playing video games all day, even though u are an amateur, and you receive a huge paycheck for playing them :P )

Some people say its glamorous to be a pilot.

Some people like me just want to get behind the scenes of civil aviation and look, know and be a part of what happens there.

What else?

Though its not going to be a walk in the park to be a pilot... there are more than 100 passengers behind you whose lives depend on how you and ur co pilot manage the plane.

Being a military pilot on the other hand sucks, particularly in India for the time being, as they are less paid than civil section and have to stay with the air force for a particular amount of time, 15 years to 20 years in India.

I honestly do not see any good reason to become an airline pilot in this day and age.

If you like flying that much, become a doctor, dentist or lawyer, buy an airplane, fly for fun.

I just retired as an airline pilot. I got hired in 1968, and retired in 2008.

All was wonderful the first years, until the oil crisis in 1974.

Many airlines went out of business in the 1980s and 1990s, and many pilots out of work.

In the USA, a newly hired pilot salary can be as low as $18,000/year.

Work for McDonald's - you will be richer - and not be frequently unemployed.

I could write a book on "reasons NOT to become airline pilot"

Uh well the only reason I want to be a pilot is because flying those planes ARE COOL! I don't care about the pay.

Successful= Being Happy with what YOU do.

There are a few airlines taking zero time candidates. You won't find out here because these wannabes have YA as the ultimate answer.

I do not think it is the "love of the job", cause all my co-pilots hate their life....

If you gotta fly, you gotta fly... If flying isn't a burning passion, get a job as a CPA or MBA...