Opportunity Cost - AA vs UAL?
 

Been a commuter with AA for 27 months while living in CLT. Strongly considering moving to Denver for family reasons. Not thrilled with AA culture/debt and would certainly prefer living in base (still can’t hold CLT). Should I dust off my UAL app and forgo AA seniority accrued or suck it up and commute for the next 20 years? Thx all.

Culture doesn’t pay bills. Cross that off your list.

The debt is there for a reason and its not bc they can’t pay their bills. It’s a business, not personal finance. UA and DL will have significant capital expenditures coming up.

I’d stay. Don’t make an irrational, emotional decision.

Go. Living in base has value. I don’t think the culture will be all that different. Why stay here if you’re not happy.

I agree with mainline, but I’ll add that living in base is key. I can’t read the tea leaves, but I’d say you are pretty damn close to holding CLT.
That said, if Denver is where you need to be and UALs domicile is quick to hold, it doesn’t hurt to explore that option. Just try to do some homework on how many people would be above you trying to get to DEN

No one is arguing this is like personal finance. When the economy tanks again, that debt will be a significant noose around AA’s neck as revenues and profit fall. In bad economies airlines tend to use to debt to survive. Since AA may begin a recession with high debt loads that could be catastrophic for them.

DL, for one, is already in the middle of their fleet transformation and you don’t see the debt racking up at a significant rate.

That’s said, in the grand scheme of things, I think large piles of debt should be considered but not the number one reason for someone to bail from or avoid AA. I think, however, the OP is wise to factor it into his decision.


GP

You’re insane.

How long does it to take to get to the Denver domicile as a UAL new hire? I thought it was several years... seems like Denver is UALs equivalent to Charlotte, super senior and relatively stagnant. I’m sure someone from UAL could give you specifics. By the time you applied to UAL, got an interview, got hired, and started class... maybe add a year from now. So you’d give up 39 months at AA (holding CLT by then?) to start over, take a massive pay/seniority cut (you’re on the very early end of a massive wave at AA) and spend however long commuting from Denver to SFO/EWR? Oh, and you can’t reserve the jumpseat at UAL, so you’re competing with a ton of senior UAL pilots for a ride, and they can bump you off at that last minute if they choose. F that. Why not just move to Denver, stay with AA, and reserve a jumpseat to commute to LAX/PHX/DFW/wherever since you’ll be commuting anyway? Met a guy that commutes to DFW from ASE. Sounds miserable to me, but he loves it.

Perhaps consider SWA if you’re that set on Denver. A buddy of mine got there within a few months of finishing Indoc. You will certainly have missed the early part of the hiring wave at SWA, but it’s a great company to work for (supposedly) and has a great culture, whatever that means (just ask them), and you’ll never have to do another long training course after you get trained on the 737.

Isn’t it worth trying to work somewhere that you could be based where you want to live?

Good luck

What are you talking about? UA never had an entire fleet of planes that needed replacement like American did.

Wut? AA has replaced a much higher percentage of their fleet in recent years compared to UA/DL. That is the main reason for the debt load.