Originally Posted by
full of luv
Not entirely accurate..... At least at Delta there are MANY choices you have to make, each with significant opportunity cost. You will be able to hold left seat pretty quick if you pick a smaller category and/or base yourself in NYC or LA for example. It will be awhile to bid 777 captain in ATL, but even now a new hire will have amazing seniority portability around the system depending on the base and the companies equipment decisions.
So if LEFT seat is YOUR goal, you will do much better at a legacy than SWA for quite some time. It may not be your dream assignment though, that is why often WB FO is significantly more senior at some bases than the NB Captain positions.
Yeah, poor example on my part. I guess what I was alluding to is that those being hired today will not crack the top seniority bracket at Delta unless they are very young. This is because they have front loaded a lot of their hiring with a very young pilot group from 2014-present.
You’re right, there are junior captain positions there and that does provide those who are motivated with great options.
The point of my reply is that as a percentage of the pilot group, all the big airlines are going to see massive movement in the next 10 years. This includes SW, but to a lesser degree.
A relatively young 2014 hire at any of the legacy airlines is in a very enviable position. The same applies to SWA, but their reward will be delayed a few years.