Originally Posted by
TED74
This may, indeed, be all you care about now (or forever)... but my suspicion is that many people asking this same question would do well to think a little deeper about what they should choose. Consider the 1-3 outlook in addition to the 3-6 month near rocks. The volume and pace of movement in every newbie category is immense. Where you sit WRT seniority in the END of your first year (and second/third if you don't care to burn another month retraining in Atlanta) could vary A LOT between categories. Quality of life / schedule control / days at home / line vs. reserve / commutability and even pay could vary widely based on what those of you with a choice pick. If you can reach out to any NEW pilots you know (hired in last year), they're probably the best ones to shed light on what the first year will look like in a category. For many of them, it didn't even turn out to be what they had suspected in indoc.
With so much movement and variance between fleets, the bottom number ("most junior") or "quickest to base xyz" variables may lead you astray from what would actually make you and your family the happiest in years 1~3. I wish it weren't so complicated, but at least you've got options!
The complexity is understandable and a daunting, especially for a guy coming from a single fleet-type airline. As a commuter (at least for the first 1-3 years) I would like to pose the question this way: Which aircraft is going to allow the shortest stint on reserve? Due to geographic location, the East Coast bases (DTW, MSP, ATL, NYC, in that order) would also seem to be the easiest commute.
Just from the outside looking in, it seems 7ER fleet has a lot of movement right now and lot of newhires going to it. But I have also heard the fleet is shrinking so what appears to be good movement now could very quickly stagnate in the near future. The 88/90 seems to be perpetually junior. Would that translate into a better quality of love in the short/mid-term even if it means a commute to NYC? Any insight is appreciated as many of us try to make these decisions with little or imperfect information.