Originally Posted by
chrisreedrules
Flowing is an option and the prospects of the bonus and MIA are attractive. I don’t want to give up even a month of seniority though. I think the coming recession will at best slow things quite a bit for a couple years and at worst we *might* see furloughs. Delta also seems to have far superior reserve rules than United. And I also think there is value in getting on a mainline seniority list and getting 1,000+ pilots junior to you as fast as possible *if* furloughs were to happen.
Congrats on having your pick of the Big 3. Nice work! It seems to me these days the UA folks are the least ****ed off, but the commute to IAD/EWR doesn’t sound great.
Delta does have pretty decent reserve rules. I’ve even intentionally bid reserve as a commuter and it’s just fine. Positive space commuting is nice too, but of course is not guaranteed to stay. The JS booking system is pretty good though; 5 days prior to your trip you can book the JS beginning at noon. Once you’ve booked it the JS is yours, even if a 30 year guy shows up (only rare exceptions are MEL’d JS, line check, FAA, etc). For junior people this is a markedly better system than what AA has, from what I understand. You mentioned your North Florida location offers 10-12 flights a day to ATL. I can only assume you’re talking about JAX, which does indeed have plenty of commuters, but I haven’t heard that it’s an awful commute or anything. Also far more daily flights from there to ATL v CLT/MIA/IAD/EWR, which frankly makes a huge difference in commuter QOL. Best of luck in your decision!