Justdoinmyjob

Just to give you an idea. 2001 South hire. SNN 96XX. 58%ish 7ERB in NYC. I fly domestic transcons with an occasional Carribean/Africa trip. My bidding may play a role in that, but you can forget consistently holding Europe or anywhere nice until you get around 40%ish in category. With that said, on reserve you will get better trips than me when that senior FO calls in sick. So you got that going for you.

Personally, I'd bid 737/A320 as a new hire if I could, M88 next. That would give you the best chance to gain seniority in category and get a quicker handle on QOL.

Gack727

DON'T defer that is for when your win the coin flip in a football game! Get your number and then try to work with the company on your personal issue. Delta will help you out!

Stinsat7

Yeah that's I meant, thanks.

Oberon

I figure I'll get enough international experience to decide if it's something I want to do long term. If I decide I'd rather stay at home I'll bid off it when I can or maybe I'll get displaced anyway. I live in base so even the worst schedule isn't going to be terrible.

Part of it is I haven't been anywhere. My wife and I went to Thailand last year but other than that I haven't been off the continent. I figure I'll get to go somewhere cool (or not) every once and a while.

gloopy

Thats the thing though; the 7ER of 2014 isn't the 7ER from 2007. It is a permanently shrinking fleet of mostly domestic, including red eyes, with lots of horrible malaria belt international. Yes there is the Paris-First Class-International trips embedded in there, but at your seniority level they are a pipe dream, big time. You will occasionally get one, but rarely. Just as you get close, guys will pile in on top of your number pushing you down for a long time. Additionally you face a pretty good chance of being forced to do 2 major training events in your probation year.

And all for what? A couple of good TOE trips plus the occasional reserve lottery win just to see if you like it? Unless you're in your 60's when you get hired, premium international will be available for you for most of your career when you can do what you want, when you want, on your terms. What's the rush, and what's the appeal of being junior in a mostly domestic category with very slow relative advancement and a high chance of displacement just to say you fly "international"?

If the positions go to new hires, someone has to do it, so I get that. And there may be cases of someone being able to be based at home or a much better commute on the ER versus another plane. But there is a reason why the plug positions on a plane that far up the ladder is forced to new hire class drops. Because in most cases it sucks and sucks big time. Beware and bid accordingly. This is not your father's ER anymore (old commercial reference, not talking about your actual father).

gloopy

You get pass benefits you know.

Srsly though, you can go wherever you want, even as a JSer, just to "see if you like it".

And other than the random luck of the draw, its better to see if you like it when you have the seniority in a few years to actually bid the good stuff. JMHO as your bid won't effect me in the slightest. But if domestic cabin fever is your motivation, be very, very careful bidding the ER as its mostly domestic anyway, the intl you get could be the worst in the system (by far) most of the time, you could be sent through training twice in your probie year…all for a very small number of prime EU/Asia trips as the upside. Is that really worth it?

Stinsat7

I appreciate the advise from the Delta guys on here. Hopefully down the road I'll be able to contribute in kind.

What are your thoughts on the 717? Looks like 25 of the 88 planes are online. Is it correct to assume that as new planes come online that the seniority list will be filled with mostly new hires? How many current DL pilots do you see migrating to the 717? My primary goal is schedule and QOL. Thanks.

BlaneO

Same question, better seniority/QOL for a commuter... 71 or 88?

hockeypilot44

88. It's mostly 4 days and a much bigger category.

gloopy

Its probably fair to say that, although it won't be purely linear. You will occasionally have a few bid on top of you for QOL. But the 88 and the 717 should provide the best advancement in the short term, followed by the 73 and 320 in that order I'd guess.

As for 88 vs 717, that's hard to guess precicely. One thing that could make the 717 a little more challenging for advancement is how the company decides to deploy it. If they open more bases with it (depending on when) it could slow or stop advancement in current bases for a while, especially when the fleet is small like it is now. Even with all 80 something on property, if its divided across 4 or more bases it could get a bit more limited. Either way though it should be a good choice like the 88 is for the most rapid advancement.

You will really start to see it move a year or two after you start, as new hires just senior to you see their freezes expire and guys get pay table hotfoot and immediately jump to anything a buck an hour more (I've seen guys bid away from their home base to inheret a tough commute for something that pays around 10/hr more on paper! ) but if you can stick it out past that point you can ride the wave to the catbird's seat and sit fat and happy, ready to pounce on your ideal seat/seniority level once you can hold it.