AA Seniority Calculator
 

Does AA have a seniority calculator similar to Delta’s widget app where someone could have a rough idea for career progression?

Yep.. it’s on AApilots under personal/profile.

MyAAcareer.com

Not sure if someone without an employee number can use it though. Perhaps if you have a friend in a new hire class the same age as you they could run the numbers for you.

Thanks! I may have to look around for a new hire. Just trying to figure out how far I could go if I made the jump.

How old are you

Just turned 42

If you’re interested in Widebody international flying I would suggest UAL/FedEx/UPS. If you want to be a 737/320 CA based in DFW, CLT, or MIA then AA is a great option.

Thank you for the help. I figured being part of the lost generation I probably wouldn’t go too far up the list.

Does that include WB FO? Or just CA?

Just CA. Not sure what the future WB plans are at AA but you'd have no problem spending plenty of time as a WB FO if that's what you wanted even if hired now at 40ish. We still have 20+ 787s not on property yet. However, if your priority is long haul WB flying put the gate then obviously cargo or UAL would be your best bet.

Don't think we have a tool to project seniority to the number unless you're an active pilot here, but it's safe to say you'd be ~2500 by the time you retire.

You can take the age by fleet chart and add it all up, but that would take wayyyy too long. You're right, someone in their early 40s hired today is looking at around 2500 at age 65.

What about age 27?

What would 2500 be holding?

Currently, very junior WB reserve CA on the 78/77 with the current number of WBs on property in LGA/PHL and decent seniority NB CA in most of the system.

Our current retirement projections for someone getting hired here at 40+ is still much better than DAL. At least in regards to hiring for retirements and not growth. Not sure about UAL but I heard from a buddy at DAL that someone hired now in the early 40s wouldn't break 3500-4000 at DAL which is nuts.

It's all a crap shoot and no one knows what any of the airlines will look like fleet wise etc when we are all near retirement. I did what everyone before me told me to do... take the first phone call and then stay at the airline that has a domicile where you plan to live. AA was that one for me. I've been happy. Obviously, if we get more WBs which we will because Boeing owes us more and when a next gen airplane like the Boeing NMA comes or the 321XLR with some fun translant flying, I'm sure WB CA might go more junior.

For what it’s worth, I started at AA at the end of March 2022 and just turned 40 earlier this month. It shows me around 1800 at age 65.

yep. I posted these numbers in a DL thread,

someone hired today at DL will be roughly (based on the first day of the year)

10 years (2032) -9100
15 years (2037) -7200
20 years (2042) -5600
25 years (2047) -3500
30 years (2052) -1450
35 years (2057) -430
40 years (2062) -20

youngest pilot at DL retires in 2063

Sub 250. Most likely sub 2500 the last 10-12 yrs all thing being equal

When I ran the Widget calculator someone in their early 40’s would likely top out a slightly above mid level 717 Capt or slight below mid level 737 Capt. 3,500 sounded about right, going maybe 2/3 up the current list.

At 27 you’d be top 100 and top ~2500 for the last 17ish years

well nice. that should mean I get awarded 78 on this vacancy bid. But I highly doubt this is true.

Yep. At DL if you want to see WB Ca you need to be hired by your mid 30s, WB CA with decent seniority, early 30s

do you believe that Al? 10 years to WB CA? A newhire would need appx 11,000 pilots to retire to hold a WB CA position. Do we have 11k retirements in 10 years? That also assumes we don’t park the 777 fleet over the next decade. I think 20-25 years is best case scenario.

This has to be assuming we receive all 40ish 787s on order in a relatively short amount of time and they are not mostly replacements. If not, this is not close to true other than NB CA which is probably pretty close.

yep totally agree. But I’ll still keep it in my bids. But maybe Isom is getting all the 78’s and a new contract. Just have to make it through summer first right? Haha

A year ago I would’ve agreed that the 787s will be replacements for the 777s but now I think the odds are better they’ll be growth aircraft which will lower the G4 captain plug seniority

Here's the problem with all these seniority calculators that people don't understand. They're dumb technology. They only account for age of pilots and current fleet number as of the day they are used. Sure at the standard lapse rate of pilots making it to 65 and the current fleet, someone in their 40s may only make it to 3500-4500 on a list of 14000-ish (top 25%), but what if I told you that by the time they get there there will be over 20,000 pilots on that list (top 15%) and hundreds more aircraft than today? Also many pilots aren't going to make it to mandatory retirement age whatever that ends up being, none of which is accounted for.

You are correct based on a static model for sure. I was curious and ran some numbers based on a static model of ~3500 to hold WB CA.

For a 2014 hire 15 years
Oct 2021 hire 17 years
May 2022 hire 20 years (we hired a **** ton between the former and latter)

Maybe I’m wrong, I actually expected the number to drop for 2021 hires below that of 2014 hires. Obviously if we actually get more widebodies that would change all of this, also bidding behavior could change this as well as we have a ton of senior WB FO’s, not sure if the younger generation will bid like that or not.

I believe everything the company tells me.

Yeah the calculator is way off. It's not usable. Don't waste your money like I did.

Why would anyone think a calculator would be able to hyper-accurately predict the future by accounting for unknown variables….?

That's what I'd like to know. Because I keep reading "Don't go to ABC air line because you'll only retire at Y,YYY but at XYZ airline you'll retire at X,XXX. You may as well buy a lotto ticket. The legacies are basically the same once you get behind the door. Go to the one that has a base where you want to live and be done with it. Trying to game the system to get a few numbers ahead is a waste of time. Take it from someone who is nearing the end of his career and endured the brunt of the Lost Decade. Your career won't turn out as you expected. Take what you can get.

How many people younger than you is the important part and really the only relevant metric. The part that is worthless is "I can hold CA on XXX aircraft in XXXX". Too many outside variables will change that. However one thing that will never change is the amount of people hired before you that are younger than you.

That's true. Which is why everyone hired in their 40s and later need to temper their expectations. It's unlikely they will ever see WB CA. Too many younger people ahead of them. But that's okay. They can still make NB CA in just a few years and make way more than wherever they came from (LCC/regional).

If AA international ever expands over current levels, which after this recovery is certainly not out of the question, someone in their 40s right now can certainly hold WB CA before they retire.

That might have been the case 30 years ago, definitely not today.

Expand on this thought? More than a sound bite?