Originally Posted by
mketch11
Got the invite to complete the hiring assessment. I am currently 1.5 years away from flow at American from Envoy. I live within driving distance to DFW. My wife says we aren’t moving for a long time due to her job, and I am trying to figure out if I should go to Delta if given the chance and potentially commute for another 20 years or wait 1.5years and flow to American and drive to work? Sounds wrong just saying it out loud but to pass on the flow puts a non-military pilot’s chances of getting on AA slim to none. What would the wise folks out there on the interwebs do assuming I would be commuting for life?
I'm in the same boat as you and this is incredibly challenging. I'm very conflicted on which would be better if I am offerred the CJO. On one hand, Delta is the company i would prefer to work at. Its much more professional and the experience is way better for the passengers. Their financials are way better, and the company is so forward thinking that I have a lot of faith in their long term viability. Their pilots also make more and seem to be generally happier than those I know at AA.
At the same time, it could mean a lifetime of commuting, I dont know if i could really do that or if it would be healthy for my relationship. Additionally, AA will retire 50% of its seniority list within the next 10 years. Delta has already hired 50% of the seniority list since 2014, so it would take 20 years to meet that same bench mark. AA as it stands today has me as a widebody captain for the last 15 years of my life whereas that would only happen for the last 7 at delta IF i took it because, once again, i am commuting. I doubt i would want to commute to reserve at 58.
All of this has a giant asterisk on it as Covid continues to spread and restrictions continue to shut international travel down. I don't see AA recovering without some sort of reorganization/restructuring, and if AA maintains my home base after is a giant question.
My biggest thing is I want my next airline to be my forever airline. I wanna look back at 65 and think "it may not have been the easiest ride, but it was a good ride." Things seem so unstable and volatile right now that it makes this choice almost impossible.
A lot of the responses in this thread regarding flow in a year VS Delta today are speaking from a position where they entered the seniority list years ago and got to enjoy the benfits of their seniority. In that regard, we might be better with the high retirement numbers at AA because we will be junior at Delta for a long time. Commuting and junior sounds like a terrible combination, but life at either company sounds amazing. I'm still humbled and grateful I was considered for an interview.
I just really don't know which would be better. Of note, is ALL of my Delta friends said don't wait and come to Delta. Only half my friends at AA said it was worth it to wait.