[QUOTE=FLY6584;2181689]I'm not sure if anyone is interested in seeing this, but I ran overall system seniority for a guy hired at Delta today vs a guy hired at Southwest 10 months ago. Both with approximately 33 years left of flying. I then compared that system seniority to what it took to hold each aircraft and seat in ATL compared to what it took to hold each seat in one of our junior bases (HOU) and senior bases (MCO) at Southwest.

I was surprised to see that narrowbody progression at Delta in ATL closely mirrors our career progression at one of our junior bases here at Southwest. It also appears that widebody flying will make up a small part of your career at Delta if you are unwilling to sit at the bottom of the list. Keep in mind this is only in ATL though. NYC would be totally different. And also keep in mind this assumes 1% growth per year at Southwest and obviously doesn't take into account another merger/acquisition. I also realize the Delta calculator doesn't take into account front end hiring and is based off hiring for retirements alone.

Hope this helps anyone else trying to figure out what to do!



There's a better website for calculating your potential career path at Delta but you have input your employee number. It was eye opening to see it's forecasts. It's based on current fleets, bases, position, and compares it to the current spread of where pilots are and their retirement schedule.
Here's a recap, if you have dreams of flying a wide body and are over the age of 35, your dream will be crushed here. Unless you have no need to hold a quality schedule, the vacation weeks you desire, and don't mind being junior reserve FO at age 43.
Example I'm 40 for DTW 777 FO, I can't hold it till 2023. DTW 777 CA, not until 2038!! And that's to be the plug. Meanwhile I can be the most junior DTW 717 CA by 2023 and bid in the top 25% by 2026.

So do I want to hold a crap schedule that may not get my days off with the 777? Or do I want to have strong bidding power, hold great vacation, as a Captain? To be honest a quality wide body Captain career doesn't exist here, unless you get hired in your 20's. Even then it will take a long time. Might as well just go to Emirates if you have no soul.

Granted I only spent one summer commuting to New York to fly international, but it sucked. My wife complained that I was constantly tired. Flying mainly domestic now, and it's nice not living in a fog.

IMHO Stick with SWA if it keeps you based near home.