Originally Posted by
Cozmo
- How bad is life with a long distance commute? Are crash pads really that bad? A big commute essentially adds 2 unpaid days to your work hitch, right?
You didn't say where you live. A lot depends on your how much service there is between your home and domicile. The commuter policy requires a primary flight and a backup flight, both getting you to your domicile in time for your trip or reserve. There is no requirement for the flights to be on United or United Express. Having service by more than one carrier is significantly better than just one.
Some crash pads are better than others. If you don't like one, try another.
I rarely had to spend the night in domicile on both ends of a reserve block. Usually it's just one or the other and, when on reserve, I used aggressive pickup to manage the commute by picking up trips that allowed commuting on "workdays" as often as possible.
What determines what base you get initially? What factors influence that? Do I get any say at all? (EWR and SFO would be long trips for me, and if I understand correctly, that's where most new hires go.)
You bid for the available bases and equipment on the first day of indoc. Seniority in your class is by age so older is better.
Right now, the bottom two guys are SFO then some EWR. LAX comes in next then DCA (which is really IAD as the primary airport). On either the 737 or 320 you'd be able to get any of those four relatively quickly. ORD, IAH, or DEN would take longer. CLE would be difficult.
How long can I expect to be at one of those bases, assuming I don't get the one I want?
There's no way to tell. You'll have the most options on the 737 or 320.
What is the pay for new hires during training, and how long is it?
You make more during training than when you're released to the line. The hourly rate is the same but the guarantee is higher in training.
How does flying on reserve work? How many days are you on call? How far away can you be?
You get 12 days off in a 30-day bid period or 13 in a 31-day bid period.
No limit on distance; just time. Usually 13 hours to pushback on long call (12 hours to show time for a Basic (domestic) trip or 11-1/2 hours for a Global trip). 2-1/2 hours to show when on short-call.
What determines what equipment you are assigned to? Excepting pay differences, is life in any one plane significantly better or worse than life in another?
You bid by seniority on day one of indoc. Most classes have 737 and 320 slots. Some classes have some 756 slots.
Pay is the same in all fleets for the first year. After that, the difference is small for junior F/Os because you wouldn't be able to hold the higher-paying 767 or 764 as a junior 756 F/O. Blended rate is slightly higher on the 737 than the 320 but not enough to make much difference.
I know what a 401k is, but what is A/B/C? Some kind of matching?
From your very first paycheck, UAL puts 16% of your gross into your B/C plan. It is just like a 401k except it is the company contributing instead of you. You can also contribute to the 401k but the company's contributions are not dependent on what you do.
I saw another thread recommending Emerald Coast for interview prep.
I bought the Emerald Coast audio program but did the prep with Cage Marshall.
I'd recommend starting with
How To Land A Top Paying Airline Job by Rick Hogan. It is $9.99 on Kindle.