Originally Posted by
CL300
Movement on the Z is much slower than domestic, it's one of the two most senior FO seats in the company. I've got friends at the bottom of the Z FO list that have been on reserve for well over two years, whereas their domestic classmates are around 65% flying week on, week off as lineholders. As a bottom 10-15 Z guy, the only advantage is you could hold base lines and trade them away (with a certain amount of luck) for longer international trips.
This is accurate! On the L seat side, 30 below is the bare min to have a palatable experience as you can get into the VTO and VTORs, avoid reserve and BTLs.
Other advantages of going domestic vs staying bottom Z are seniority based: better vacation awards, can bid for decent trips that give you the days off you need, holidays off more easily, conflict bidding. Domestic is also getting more and more day flying. Definitely not all doom and gloom.