Originally Posted by MartyM

Apply to AA at least and see what happens. If your class date for Delta comes up, go. If you get a CJO at AA quickly, I'd jump over to AA simply to not commute. Living in base makes an enormous difference in QOL.

Originally Posted by LBFO79

on reserve he will have extra 1 to 3 MORE scheduled days off at Delta each month. Reserve schedules are more flexible under their PBS system too. And again, seniority at Delta goes a lot further than the same seniority % at American. Starting in 2022, Delta will be giving out profit sharing again. American will likely lose money again in 2022….they are too inefficient in scheduling practices, and they have lost much of their good-will with labor…..sorry “team members”.

Let’s not forget, Delta has already given him/her a CJO. Just my opinion, but having worked at both, I’d go Delta even considering the commute.

Originally Posted by Mach86

Can you elaborate on the the seniority going further at DL than at AA please. With just over 20 years to run, seniority is a consideration.
Thanks everyone for the responses, and sorry to DNH for a slight thread hijack.

Originally Posted by daOldMan

Not really defending the company because they continually make a critical error whereas they believe that the image of the company is something that it is not.

The company had plenty of prior CJOs from before COVID to fill all classes. Their plan was to just use those candidates to fill all of the classes this year. In the mind of management, AA is the best airline and people will drop what they are doing elsewhere and come to AA. They quickly found out that they couldn't fill classes because most of the prior CJOs went elsewhere and they were not going to come to AA. Since AA was the last legacy to start hiring, we were way behind.

By the time AA had their first indoc class in September, Delta had already hired 150 in 2021 and United had already hired over 600. This is in addition to all of the cargo hiring that has continued throughout the Covid era.

So, now AA has to play catchup.

The other problem that all of the major airlines are having right now is the people with multiple class offers from different airlines and people are waiting until a week before to make a decision. Or, even worse, the people that start class at one airline and leave after just a few days. One of my friends son has offers right now from United, FedEx, and Delta. CJO's at each. He has 2 class dates, both in December, and still waiting for a class date for FedEx. He doesn't know which one he is going to take, and plans to decide about two weeks before the class. At that time, at least one airline will have to quickly move somebody up to an earlier class or have an empty seat.

Yes, AA is struggling right now, but they will catch up. We do have one thing going for us right now. FedEx classes are booked until June and United classes are booked until March. This is AA's opportunity to grab a bunch of pilots that want to start class quickly. AA also has the most retirements, by far, so that is going to help a lot too. There is little competition right now for class dates in 2021 or early 2022 as AA is the only one with seats in the classes still open.

Originally Posted by AAL24

a smart pilot would take the AA class date knowing they will be waiting two months or more on full pay for training. Then when the UAL/FedEx class date opens up quit AA and move to United. 2+ months of pay for doing very little.

I think most are over valuing the retirements at AA. Our international network is on life support. Our total widebody count will continue to decline as a portion of our total fleet count. We start and stop international service on a whim. Unless things change dramatically the future is concerning. I fly with pilots who are in the top 10% of the list still sitting in the right seat. Because they would be flying garbage in the left seat. We have very few 4 pilot operations and most of those are reserved indefinitely for training.

Domestic narrowbody life is Mesa on steroids.

Originally Posted by LBFO79

I would agree with this. Take the American class date, get a free type rating and some decent texmex food in dfw. Then as soon as you get a job offer from an airline that will provide a more stable future, take it and don't look back. Not much of a future in widebody flying at American. The seniority movement is good at all airlines, not just American. At American we have so many more reserves too than other well-run carriers, so you have to be more senior at American (than Delta for example) to benefit from any of that seniority. Pretty much cancels out any greater attrition that AA may or may not have in the future.

Originally Posted by cabbiinbound

is there anywhere to find a list of all fleets in each individual base?

Originally Posted by Dixie320

lax - 320, 737, 787, 777
phx - 320
dfw - 320, 737, 787, 777
ord - 737, 787
mia - 320, 737, 787, 777
clt - 320, 737, 777
dca - 737, 320
phl - 320, 787
lga - 737, 320, 777
bos - 737

Originally Posted by AAL24

Just flew with a guy who has over 30 years with AA. Roughly seniority #3000. Widebody FO. He can finally consistently hold Europe trips as a FO. Asia is too senior to hold reliably since most trips are removed from the bid packet for training (major contract flaw). The relatively small amount of 4 pilot operations at AA make even our Widebody jobs inferior to UAL which has a relatively huge amount of Long Haul Flying. AA management just doesn't seem to have the expertise or desire to compete in the global arena. Once the 321 XLRs are on the property I think there's a very real threat that the entire 777 fleet is parked and the super heavy trafficked routes are farmed out to BA. If you live in an AAL base it's a great option. If you don't it should be far down your list of go to airlines. Unless of course management comes to the table with a reasonable contract offer and our network planners decide to run a real global airline.