Originally Posted by Longhornmaniac8

There are people closing in on 18 months from date of hire still on reserve in IAH. It's not moving at all. Just about every FO who can upgrade seems to be waiting until they can hold IAH as a captain before upgrading, but there aren't any vacancies on that side, either.

It's extremely stagnant, and that doesn't seem like it's going to change any time soon. UA is using four 175 carriers in IAH now (again), and they don't seem interested in helping us grow the base. That's not to say it's necessarily shrinking (every month people have left have been replaced by the same number of people, so it's not getting smaller, at least staffing-wise), but it's just stagnant. The last three monthly vacancy bids have seen exactly zero vacancies in IAH on either side, in a time when increasingly every other base has vacancies. MCI is the only other one that seems to have a similar level of stagnation.

To put it into perspective, I live within driving distance of Houston and I'm bidding out of IAH next month to a different base. I am able to hold a line in every other base we have, but only intermittently get a line in IAH. Having a line in a different base with lots of commutable trips is preferable to me then being within a 3 hour drive and intermittently being reserve.

Bottom line: Republic is a great place to work, but if you live west of the Mississippi expect to have to commute. If there are options out there that don't require a (longer) commute, I'd definitely look at those, too.