Originally Posted by
ghilis101
On a totally separate note, I'd like the airbus NYC. I notice its gaining popularity. As a junior guy in my class of 50, should I expect that it wont even be available for me to select?
If you live in or near NYC (or one of the associated high frequency commuter cities) I can see why you would want the base. But the bus in NYC is one of the worst categories in the airline by a huge margin, at least until you get some decent seniority. While you may know a buddy who walked straight into a weekends off line or whatever, unless you time it perfectly, its far more likely you will be and stay junior on it for at least a year or more.
Early reports and late releases are common for NYC domestic, as stated by the company in recent updates. That's how the flying is built. Force multiply those negatives by a small category that was only started to optimistically transfer overnight costs to crews…
...which has surpassed the point of diminishing returns for the company and they realize the operation is suffering because 80%+ of the base are commuters and most of the other 20% are so called "locals" with car commutes that rival many air commutes anyway…
…and they've admitted reluctance to further grow the categories there.
Its a nice flight deck. But so what? Seriously, so what? Its a tiny category that normally sees slow progression at the bottom that thrashes the junior percentile way harder than most. Just when you start to get senior, here comes people piling in on top of you because "the bus in New York" sounds so appealing especially when someone senior can walk in to an OK schedule.
A lot could depend on your class though. If they have 20 positions in it and you're bidding in the top part of the class, and you know you'll walk into a nice chunk below you, that's one thing. But if you can just barely get in, there are usually better QOL choices out there. If you can hold NYC 320, you can almost always hold other categories in NYC as well. The 320 is one of the worst to be junior in though. Its a great plane, but the flight deck isn't awesome enough to make up for the QOL thrashing you will take IF you are close to the bottom compared to other planes. That said, if you want NYC obviously get anything in NYC that you can.