Originally Posted by webecheck

United is the place to go for WB flying, but it's not like it's going to be some drastic difference at AA. I would not factor that difference in your equation.

Movement will be feverish at AA soon, but will be at Dal/UA too. The ultimate decision factor based on my experience, and like many have alluded to before, is where are you going to live. If you want to be a WB capt, and your choices are AA or Dal, and perhaps your wife says we can live in DFW or MSP, it's a no brainer. I don't think there will be much difference between UA/AA, but at your age going to Dal will...and again, that's if your ultimate desire is to be a 777ca. Keep in mind, DAL has more WB Capts as a % of fleet makeup (not total numbers) as it's in their contract that anything over 12 hours is 2ca/2fo. If that ever changed to be inline with UA/AA, and the Delta WB fleet stays the same, I doubt a 37/38 yr old hire would ever see the top pay rate at Dal. This will not be the case for a 37/38 yr old at UA/AA.

Hiring for retirements and organic growth are two different things. The same % of the seniority lists will be retired 20 yrs from now, just different curves between the majors. If UA becomes 15k pilots, equal to AA, that's 2.5k of organic growth. I could dive into it further, but imo it's more significant in the beginning of your career (furlough, off reserve, quicker to big jets) but much less significant at the end because that same % ahead of you has retired. If you're moving to base, who cares, bid reserve purposefully.

Commuting, commuting, commuting. That's what matters. If you wish to live in Texas, go to AA. Dfw is a fortress base and about as sure a bet as you can make for a company keeping large bases there. IAH is more of gamble. If you want to live in Cali, go to UA. Sure AA has more in Lax at present, but we are going to grow lax while also having Sfo as a fortress with tons of WB flying.

If you're looking for advice on it, just tell us where it is you intend to live. Commuting is doable in the short term, a career of it will make you rethink things you once thought important. IMO of course.