Originally Posted by
Triggs
Just got called for the phone interview yesterday after applying 6 months ago, and never updated, no job fair, no silver bullet. Company rep was upfront about the training contract, and wanted to make sure I was aware of first year pay. Also told me upgrade was 2 yr (didn't believe it), and offered me an interview in 2 weeks. Assuming worst case, (stagnation, and no contract for several years) it would take me to yr 6 FO just to get back to what I'm making now at a narrow body supplemental. I REALLY want to be able to get in on a good thing, but not sure I can endure the financial pain in the interim. The saying "if if's and but's were candy and nuts, we'd all be happy at Christmas" keeps popping into my head.
and FWIW: 9000+ TT, 1000 jet/650 pic, 5300TP pic
The last upgrade class had four open positions in DEN so it was the junior person was I think about 10 years. Look just a few pages back and someone posted the number of pilots who have bypassed (I think it's somewhere around 100). If F9 opens a west coastish base next year (LAS or PHX) you'll probably see a lot of those bypasses taking the upgrade whereas commuting to ORD or MCO they wouldn't.
I can only speak for my individual case, but on reserve in ORD you can plan on taking home a sub-2k paycheck (per month) your first year. And right now reserve in ORD is more than a year. I think you'll fly a little more in DEN and work for less than $2/hr (duty) for your time. A little per-diem goes a long way at this pay level.
If you're prepared to endure the first year things will get better. I know I'll get some pushback for this, but here it goes: a lot of people here think we are in our dark days and are optimistic that better things are ahead. I don't think coming here is a slam-dunk either way as you really have to boil it down to your own individual situation.