Ha ha, When I interviewed at USAir in 1989 they said it was a five year upgrade. That's because pilots hired five years previously were currently upgrading. It never ceases to amaze me how illogical that line of thinking is. there were 3000 pilots hired at Piedmont and USAir between 1984 and 1989. I was at the tail end of that, so while it was true in 1989 that the guys hired in 1984 were upgrading, there was no way in the world that a guy hired in 1989 would be so fortunate.

The same will be true for CAL or any other airline. YOU CAN NOT PREDICT AN UPGRADE BASED ON WHAT SOMEBODY HIRED TWO OR THREE YEARS AGO AT CAL IS DOING !!!! Your upgrade time at CAL could be vastly different if you were hired today versus having been hired two or three years ago. The guy hired two years ago was hired at the very beginning of a major hiring wave. He will be fortunate, you may not be.

You must do the math for yourself. Look at future fleet growth and retirements and calculate the time it would take for you to get half way up the seniority list. That will be the best estimate of your upgrade time.


Typhoonpilot