Originally Posted by
AR1978
In regards to American vs United, I've done some research and would wondering if the experts on here could fact check what I'm seeing. All of this comes with the caveat that there is no crystal ball and living in base is always the best option.
A lot of people on APC are saying that the bulk of United's hiring is done while a good amount of American's hiring is ahead of it, so could that be a deciding factor in picking American over United?
United is trying to grow right now so it appears the current hiring is based off expanding their business where at American they seem to be modernizing their fleet and replacing the Captains that are above 60 and are about to retire. Sustaining their operation at American instead of trying to grow the way United is.
Both UAL and AA are done hiring 40 year old future widebody captains. Americans latest orders are to replace domestic aircraft they retired during Covid, and to buy more RJs. United's orders are to correct years of neglect of its domestic network as well as expand to replace international market share caused by OAL pullbacks during Covid.
American doesn't think it can really grow while United thinks it can. Much of these different philosophies are due to how each airline generates revenue. American has had strong domestic focus, particularly with its usage of RJs while United traditionally had a strong international focus which ended up biting them when US domestic travel came back well before international travel during the pandemic.