Originally Posted by
Dragon7
First, Welcome!
Second, Great Post and lots of Gold in there.
Third, the Prime Directive is to find a place so you eventually don't have to commute. Understand spouse jobs, reserve units, kids in school. But it cannot be said often or strongly enough that commuting makes this a different job.
Got hired in 2013 and was told we would be lineholders by Christmas in IAH. Didn't count on it and so wasn't disappointed. But classmates who went to 737 EWR pulled that off, and Classmates who went to 757 and 76T or bid to IAD 737 and 757 have had a great ride. West coast folks who jumped on SFO and Lax not doing badly. Denver looked like a 5 year wait, but folks were there in 2. The IAH shrinkage kept me at the bottom of the list looking at the G line with a Hubble telescope, and then a sudden jump into the low 80s. But had moved to base and learned the intricacies of VDO. Which i think may be the best deal going. Another thread...
Finally, a word of Caution. Listen to folks who have been around LCal and LUal and listen to their stories. We now are in a historic hiring period and things are great, and could stay that way. But might want to keep drilling or not count on a widebody FO job quickly and base the mortgage on that.
Again, welcome!
Agree. Both great and informative posts.
The only thing I will add is that the reason Den f/o slots came available was not growth and definitely doesn't predict anything. The bids were simply equalization to existing captains that the company decided not to bump out of den after the 767 base closed and the refugees took cap bids. There hasn't been an actual Captain bid in Denver since 2012. It is very unlikely that there will be any den bids for a while unless the company actually commits to den. Since the merger, the base has shrunk by almost half. As a fwiw...
Scott