Originally Posted by
Margaritaville
Make a pros and cons list.
Delta:
Bases in NYC, ATL, DTW, MSP, SLC, SEA, LAX
Questionable cockpit culture especially the RDPs in ATL. Military vs. civilian issues. "Where's your hat, son?" "Put that newspaper away, son". Guard policing and constant ambiguous ride reports.
Horse blankets when it's 90 degrees.
Autocratic management style only a notch above SkyWest. They will treat you like a child. Pilots are the only union. DALPA usually bends over anyhow.
The company is profitable and the pilots make good money. Strong balance sheet. Aging fleet will have to be replaced. Debt will go up.
Arguably the best product in terms of passenger experience. Loyal business customer base (HVCs).
Work rules are okay except their schedules. Reassignment rules worse than a regional. You won't fly what you bid.
210/356 day bid awards and new hire seat locks. Nearly guarantees 2 years in NYC if you're junior.
American:
Bases in BOS, NYC, PHL, DCA, MIA, DFW, ORD, PHX, LAX. You can pretty much live anywhere with them.
Questionable cockpit culture. Legacy US/AW/AA? Older pilots nearing retirement who have had a terrible career and it shows. Flow vs. street vs. military.
Respectful management style that expects pilots to be leaders and take action. Nonpunitive culture.
Management that can't seem to get it together. Are you going to be an LCC or a Legacy?
Massive overhead and bloated management structure. Not profitable but loyal customer base. Decent passenger experience. Has potential to be great.
Massive debt due to refleeting. Most of it is secured debt like a mortgage, not bad debt like a credit card.
Bankruptcy/merger contract over 10 years old. Can only get better? APA is fairly strong compared to ALPA.
Massive retirements. Incredible upward movement. NB CA in less than 3 years WB CA in less than 10.
New hires are getting almost any base. 6 month aircraft lock. You can bid any base in training and will probably get it.
I love some friendly ribbing as much as the next guy, but let me clean up a few of your DL bullets:
With regard to cockpit culture, agreed that ATL has some whack-a-doo's, but the "put your newspaper away" is BS...guys read books, crush candy, and study the overhead panel just like I'm sure guys at AA and UA do.
Fleet: IIRC, about half of our most recent purchase were done in cash...making $6.6B in profit means they don't have to take loans out for everything. so our fleet renewal isn't going to rack up as much debt as people think.
Reroute: I'm a NB guy and I've be rerouted once in last 5 years....key is to avoid ATL...if your trip touches that place, then yea, all bets are off.
NYC: we have noobs going straight to the ER/320/737/717 in ATL.....in fact earlier this year, the plug of the entire seniority list was awarded ATL ER. Yes there are still plenty of NYC assignments but getting NYC isn't the absolute it used to be.
With regard to noobs leaving NY, the seat lock is irrelevant if you are just changing bases....plenty of people bid out of NYC < 1 year point because the seat lock is plane and seat specific, not tied to a base.
The 210 day conversion window is the standard....the 365 is an option, but a) company can only do it once per calendar year and b) the AE has to contain displacements....if they aren't reducing a category or closing up a base, then no 365 allowed. Plenty of stories of guys/gals bidding out to NYC before they were done with IOE. There is also a contract exception to change your plane after only 1 year...the remainder of your new hire seat lock would then be added to the seat lock of your new plane, so if you had 9 months remaining, your new seat lock would be 2 years 9 months.