thrust

Group 4 FO (787/777) in MIA is roughly about the same upgrade timeline as Group 2 CA (320/737). The general expectation is those upgrades will come down to sub-4 years at least over the next couple years, black swan events notwithstanding.

Easiest way to get a Tokyo trip would be to bid to a base that does that flying (DFW for now). You could do that via the Mutual Base Exchange process or just outright bid it on a vacancy bid.

Jettwinggs

Thanks for your reply.

Just to clarify..when you talk about bidding to a base will I have to move there (to DFW)? I would still like to be based in miami but maybe do one Tokyo trip every 6 months.

NotPhlying

March MIA 787 FO vacancy went to a Jan 2015 DOH. You can try TDY (fly out of a difference base for a month). DFW and ORD fly to Tokyo or at least we used to. TDY isn’t always offered so it’s a hit or miss.

That being said.. 6 years is a long time in the biz, lots will change.

thrust

You can bid for whatever base/equipment/seat your seniority can hold. You don’t have to live in that location. Sounds like you’re not very familiar with the concept of commuting and how the US airline industry works- probably worth doing some homework on your end.

In general, you’re limited to the trips and destinations that your base/equipment/seat flies. I’d imagine that Tokyo has some theater-specific international qualifications required of the pilots that fly there. I’m not 100% sure about that, and am too lazy to look up the specifics. The company will send pilots who could be required to fly to Tokyo (DFW pilots, for example) to training to get that particular qualification. They may or may not send a MIA guy to get the qualification, given that MIA doesn’t do Tokyo flying (until something changes). So if a qual is required, and you don’t have it as a MIA guy, you’d have to get the qualification by becoming a DFW pilot via MBE or vacancy bid and get sent to the training before you could do a Tokyo trip. Once you have the qual, it doesn’t go away necessarily, so you could bid back to MIA and then pick up a Tokyo trip via the Out of Base Make Up process. I wouldn’t expect to get many trips that way, but it’s possible. Or maybe I’m wrong and there isn’t a qual required, and this OOBMU option would be available to a MIA guy right away in theory.

The company sometimes builds trips with double deadheads to move crews around and do flying out of other bases as they need. Example: ORD 787 FOs seem to be used often to do DFW or LAX Asia trips, where day 1 is a deadhead to DFW or whatever, day 2-4 fly to Asia and back to DFW, day 5 deadhead home to ORD. You can deviate from those scheduled deadheads on day 1 and 5 and compress all that flying into days 2-4, which can be very lucrative and goes senior. So ORD pilots have the Asia qual even though there aren’t any actual ORD-Asia nonstops. They could set up something similar for MIA, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Similarly, the company will sometimes use reserves from other bases to cover flying from another- same concept where they’ll deadhead a reserve somewhere else to pick up a trip.

You’ll have a couple years to figure out all of this stuff while waiting to bid Group 4 FO.

Jettwinggs

TDY sounds like a very good option. The only negative I see would be having to look for my own accommodation for one month at that base.

Much obliged..

Jettwinggs

Thanks for taking the time. This is good info, and I certainly do have some homework to do!

NotPhlying

Commuting sucks.. avoid at all cost!

thrust

A hotel is provided for the TDY month. You don’t have to secure your own lodging.

TDYs come and go. I wouldn’t rely upon them to do what you’re trying to do, but it’s certainly an option if you’re in the right place at the right time.

Based on how you spelled “apologise”, I’m guessing you aren’t from the USA. That’s perfectly fine… but just know how the US airline job works (or doesn’t) can be vastly different than other parts of the world.

AllYourBaseAreB

Tokyo is a “Far East” Qualification. You won’t get that in Miami. You might, MIGHT, be able to request to get FE qualified. I only say that because to maintain FE quals as an FO, you just need to work one Atlantic flight every 3 years out of MIA.

Granted, Asia flying is senior. Tokyo specifically gets used a lot for IOE.

Sike

If you really want to see Tokyo, go on your own time. A layover in NRT isn't really that exciting. Fly into HND or, better yet, KIX and go to Kyoto if you want to see Japan.