LGB has no movement, once you get in you will be very stagnant forever. Also there's risk the base will shrink or close... prepared to move east or do a transcon commute for life?

I personally wouldn't couldn't consider JB for that last reason (I didn't, never applied). I would at least talk to someone who's based at LGB.

But there are persistent rumors of an AS/JB merger... it's plausible so it might work out the same either way.

My gut says Alaska if you get the chance to jump so that you never have to worry about the future of the West Coast bases. That being said looking at the most recent snapshot, Q1 2019, Alaska posted $4 million net income while JetBlue did $42 million net income.

https://newsroom.alaskaair.com/2019-04-25-Alaska-Air-Group-reports-First-Quarter-2019-results

http://investor.jetblue.com/investor-relations/financial-information/quarterly-results/23-04-2019

The latest I’ve heard at JetBlue, is hiring ~450 this year and ~500 the next two years after that. JetBlue also has industry leading RJ scope as opposed to Alaska having zero. And with 95 new A321’s/LR/XLR/A220’s scheduled to show up between this month and the end of 2024 there is a lot of growth that I don’t think is in Alaska’s immediate future since the merger happened. Also the Europe flying will apparently be 3 pilot augmented creating a need for a slightly larger seniority list (26 321LR/XLR).

Anyways in your case, I’d still say Alaska so you can have peace of mind about the company’s west coast strategy and commitment. I think you’ll have more hired in behind and therefore, better progression at JetBlue though.

LGB has been going to the last few classes of new hires but I agree it’s effectively little to no movement unless JetBlue announces some master west coast plan or a merger with AS down the road.

That being said, I wouldn’t not apply to JB because of the slow LGB movement. There are only about 8 large pax/cargo airlines (Alaska & JB are two of them) out there that will allow you to earn $170-200k/year after 3-5 years on property in the right seat. Why limit yourself over geography when there are so few “desirable” jobs? You can always leave IF your hometown/coast airline calls. But there is no gurantee even 1 of the 8 will call. If your current job is paying $180k/year and depositing 16% of your earnings into your 401k every two weeks and paying out 2-15% in profit sharing then sure, sit on the side line and narrow your choices down to 4 or 5 out of the 8. But if you are at a regional with no flow or the like with no defined career progression, keep the apps out everywhere I say.

Just my 2 cents.

Edit: you may not be advocating for someone in general not to apply because of slow LGB movement but rather just stating the personal choice you made. My 2 cents is food for thought for those who may currently be on the fence about applying.

LAX is the JR Boeing base now at Alaska. With Seattle behind that.
Reserve will prolly run anywhere from 8 mo to a year in LAX. But the LAX base is growing as well. A lot of folks moving in and out with the crossbidding as well between Airbus and Boeing fleets. SNA is a Co Domicile and will prolly run you a little longer than LAX as far as reserve times. Plus flying between the 2 fleets changes often, seems like there's more Airbus now in SNA, but that is just my opinion, I haven't looked at it too closely. I'm a West Coastie myself and never applied to JB for that reason, that being said, I love JB's aggressive growth plan and wish we had more of it at Alaska!

AnchorDown

I'm advocating that IF you are dyed in the wool West coast, JB would at best be a poor career compared to many other majors, at worst a lifestyle catastrophe.

If you can move East it would be a very good career.

If they merge, you could get lucky. Not unrealistic.

Better than a West coast regional? Too risky for me, but I'm anchored on the west coast.

Is there a box to list driving violations on the application? I didn’t see one.

Then why are you worried about it?

Guessing that is a no. ;) Just wanted to make sure I didn’t miss it. I would hate to have to explain a ticket after the fact.

As I recall, questions like that come up in the HR portion of the interview.

Does anyone have any suggestions on a good interview prep service to use for the Alaska interview?