How is the movement in the PDX base? Slow? What's the most jr captain hire here? How are the trips out of PDX? Sister and her husband moved out there recently and say they love it. Looking to make the jump from F9.

 

PDX is slow, but I've not spoken with anyone based there who doesn't like it. Most junior CA is approximately 8 years (from memory). Seattle is about 4.5. You could drive it on reserve, if you wanted to. Might take a bit to get into PDX, but not terribly long, as long as the economy doesn't crash.

 

Gotcha. Yeah looking to live in Vancouver, WA (border) so if I do take SEA CA vacancy, driving commute won't be terrible. Any reason of why PDX is slow? Can someone based there chime in on how trips look like? How long for a line?

 

PDX is on the small side and unless it gets some growth movement will be very slow. I'd plan on at least a year to get in and 2+ years to hold a line. Good trip mix with trans-cons, Hawaii and shorter west coast hops. We also have the least amount of red-eye flying by a pretty large margin. It's a great base with great crews but very slow movement.

PS: Seattle is currently at 5 years and no upgrades in the next bid so I'd expect that number to climb before it drops. We are getting close to the pilots hired right before Covid so we'll see and 18 month jump once that happens.

 

Kinda feel like I need to reply since I disagree with some of the previous posts. It is true that PDX is smaller, that can be a good thing. Best airport to be based at in my opinion of all our bases. Traffic isn't that bad and the airport is a breeze to fly in and out of. Having said that, I couldn't disagree more with the quality of trips in base. They are in my opinion some of the worst trips in the system. The vast majority of our trips start early(6am ish showtimes) and release after 9pm. It makes up about 60-70% of all our trips. They have a greater tendency to end with 3 legs and long duty days on the last day. Correct about the redeyes, very few, that is good. The schedule are to put it mildly, garbage. An absoulte mishmash of single days, 2 days, 3 days and 4 days. No pattern, just smashed together. If you don't mind driving to work 15-17 days a month, there are lines of strictly turns. Individual choice I guess. I just wanted to give another opinion about the quality of lines and trips. I cannot speak for the other poster, maybe they enjoy the flying, but in the several years I have been based here, the schedules have always been very poor in my opinion. As for Vancouver, I guess it is subjective. Since we moved here several years ago, my wife and I are not fond of living here. Just our personal opinion. You having family here would be a huge help. I'm rambling, but just a different opinion to put out there. Good luck with your decision. If you make it out here, I hope you find it to your liking.

 

In my experience this is fairly universal industry-wide at small (non-hub) bases.

Price you pay for small town and easy parking.

 

Retirements in PDX look like less than 10 per year for the next several years, so factor that in to projected timing. It's also been mentioned in other threads, but right now new hires are going to SFO and LAX, next vacancy bid is scheduled for January so will see if that changes.

 

Good stuff right here, helps me out. Now thinking about driving to SeaTac from PDX/vancouver. Has the scheduling just always remained like that out of PDX? Still sounds better than F9 however. Also, can you talk more about the living situation there? Parents are also planning to move with wife and I along with sister and brother in law already there.

 

Don't speed from Olympia to Tacoma. JBLM has a ton of speed traps.

 

Curious where you are in the hiring process. CJO with a class date? Or on the other end, just thinking of applying?