Originally Posted by
Undaunted
My situation: CVG based and I live close enough to CVG to easily pull reserve for the rest of my career here. I am junior enough to be included in any furlough the company puts out right now. Average pilot age here is mid-50's so advancement will come soon. Will we be bought by another carrier? Who knows!
Any Legacy carrier means I will commute. CLE (Unical) is a 4 hour drive. Delta will likely close the CVG domicile at some point (probably soomer than later), so that means a commute to ATL or MSP or DTW. Sure, a 4 hour drive to DTW is not bad, but that doesn't beat a short drive to CVG that is well within the 2-hour reserve callout I must comply with now. Right now, I have no crash pad. No call from scheduling = free day off.
So, what do you think? Stay at ABX with no commute and the hope of advancing, or make the jump to Delta, Unical or American with a commute?
Right now at Delta you can be converted to a 3 hour call out only 6 times per month. Soon that will increase to 7, but only in months where reserve guarantee is 75:00-80:00. Basically, that's only the busy months. (June, July, August) Reserve guarantee fluctuates at Delta, but is never less then 72 hours and never more then 80 hours. Basically, it averages out to roughly 75.5 hours per month.
So if you're DTW based(which wouldn't be difficult)you could easily sit long call(12 hour min notice for assignment)at home. Some guys who live outside 2 hours from Detroit will drive half way and spend their short call at a coffee house. It's not as good as sitting at home, but it beats a crashpad.
Obviously there is massive attrition scheduled at the legacy carriers, so movement is close. I don't know anything about ABX, so I can't really help you weigh your pros and cons. Just wanted to give you some Delta info. Good luck with your decision.