sailingfun

Gloomy lives in a permanent state of bummed out. Keep in mind that this forum is not represenitive of what you will find when you start flying the line at Delta. In fact many of the posters here don't even believe what they post or they would have long ago left for greener pastures. Sent you a pm about NY ER flying.

HTBH

I'll ask the same question as a guy who might try to do it from DC. Which airframe do you think is best for being on reserve to start with and then eventually to try to get commutable lines after the time on reserve ends?

sailingfun

I think for what you are discussing the MD88 in NYC is the best choice with the current options. I would however consider the 717. The next 717 base to open is supposed to be NYC. If it picks up the shuttle as rumored you could have a great quality of life flying it and living in DC. Nothing like layovers at home!

gloopy

Lol, nah just trying to take the romance out of a paper airplane and let a future new hire know what they're getting into. There's been more than a few pilots with stars in their eyes upon first realizing they could get the ER right out of indoc, but like I said, there's a very, very good reason something that far up the chain is forced to the plug. Its a great plane, a great overall category and has some truly awesome flying and variety. If you have some seniority you can leverage that big time. I just don't see what all the rush is about. That flying will be there for your entire career, ready and waiting for you to pick your seat/seniority combo on your terms.

I totally get the draw of wanting to live in base. If thats all that was available in DTW when you have to choose, then its a no brainer. DTW ER sucks a little less than NYC ER at the plug level though. But if you can get DTW ER that quick, you could easily get DTW 717, 737 or 320 and actually build seniority pretty much the entire time you're on it. If the occasional primo EU/Asia trip (that you'll be doing as much as you want for as long as you want anyway eventually) is worth the many negatives being junior on that plane brings, then by all means bid it.

rahc

Honestly the 88 or 320 NYC would be pretty easy as far as RSV. When you have a short call day, you can use the first 2 hours of the period as part of your commute. So basically any SC period from 6AM on is commutable. You can also get released 2 hours early on the back end of the SC period. The US Airways shuttle runs til about 9PM I believe.

I was a DC commuter, the BOS shuttle would be a similar commute. The JFK options for BOS are much greater than what DC has. So someone that does that commute would have to chime in.

The only problem I noticed was the trip construction. There is a ton of trips that have early sign ins or late check outs on the 88. I think the same is with the 320.

If you don't mind the JFK reports, the 737 trip construction seems to have tons of trips the end in red-eyes, and quite a few later reports.

I'm sure the BOS commute is the same as DC. When on JFK reports, typically I commute into LGA and cab over. Usually there are quite a few crew members on the commute to the Marine terminal and you can split the fare with them. The Kew Gardens cab usually has one waiting at the terminal. Gerneral Cab also has a crew rate around $18.50. With Boston you have the luxury of having mainline flights to JFK and also JetBlue whereas the DC commuters have to deal with RJs.

Other planes would work in NYC as well, but the 320 and 88 tend to have more LGA reports. the ER and 737 tend to have JFK reports.

You'll probably hold a line quicker on the 88.

If you have more questions feel free to PM me. Hope this helps

gloopy

What are you talking about? I'm a realist and at times even a company cheerleader. Its a great place to be and a bright future for new hires and I say that constantly. I just don't get the "Paris first class international" bug that some new hires have WRT being super junior on the ER. I can see the appeal from a populist crew room banter point of view at another airline, but like I said there are many very good reasons that the junior part of an otherwise great plane with over all good flying is forced to the bottom of the list because no one else at the company wants to be junior in the right seat of it.

Like I said, someone has to do it, so if someone gets it there is more than enough to make the best of and its only a one year lock anyway. But if you have a choice, why would anyone choose something 12000 other pilots with an inside look at things have said "no way"? Which, by the way, is literally very represenative of what you will find when you fly the line at Delta, contrary to what you asserted.

I never said it was the worst job in aviation, and I can pretty much guarantee any seat at any base in the fleet here is better than where he's coming from by a country mile.

ShyGuy

For us domesticated pilots (ha get it?), can you explain what places/trips fall under the malaria belt category?

maddogmax

As a new hire at NWA at age 35, I chased the highest paying job I could hold to get my Final Average Earnings up as high as I could for Retirement purposes. (We know how that worked out, although I am lucky to have some left) As a result, I commuted and was junior my entire career. Worst thing I ever did. Having been retired now for 18 months, I can tell you, never swap time with your family over big airplanes, cool destinations or a higher paycheck. Just saying!

maddogmax

Africa. Lagos and Accra for sure. May be others.

ManFlex

As a non-Delta pilot, another factor I would consider is marketability should the unimaginable happen and you are furloughed. A DC-9 type rating of any stripe will not help employment prospects, whereas a B737 and especially an A320 type allows you to 'write your ticket' on a worldwide basis. I know, 'hiring 50/month indefinitely', however I'm sure the guys in 2000 and 2001 thought the same thing...