I think they are normally limited to 3 year stints in that base. But maybe different since he is an EU citizen

Do you read questions before giving an answer? He asked what could someone with four years seniority possibly do with their schedule. Doubt he’d be bidding reserve as a commuter from EU.

Guys,

Thank you all for the responses. It helped me a lot to have a glimpse of what I might expect in the near future after 4/5 years in the house.

I thought about FedEx as well, didn’t know they have a base in Cologne, but AA is more my thing, not that kind of cargo guy.

Having something between 18-21 days off a month (not in a row, obviously) I think it will work quite well to commute back and forth to Netherland.

Once again, thanks for all the reply 👍🏼

Cheers!!

I'm not on the NB anymore but I was bidding reserve on purpose in DFW because we started to get a lot of 4 day trips. I bid reserve for QOL because relatively speaking you'll be much more senior on reserve. I'd request trips the next day that were in open time that were only 2-3 days and ideally chill ones with DHs or 1 leg per day. I'd usually have no problem getting them depending on which group I was in.

With the amount of hiring and retirements you'll be able to do this very quickly within reason.. within a couple years you will easily have weekends off if you want it etc. The movement that will be coming soon will be pretty eye watering.

When I was LAX based we had someone commuting from Thailand that made it work. Obviously not easy but there are ways to make it work and bidding for blocks of days off, etc.

Commuting from Thailand? Wooow.. That’s such a way longer distance compared to East Cost/AMS.

Thx for letting me know that, buddy!

At 4-5 years, you’d be top 25% FO in PHL 320 and probably top 5% FO in both LGA 737 and 320. You’ll definitely have the ability to bid for the days off you want, bid desirable trips that you know others will pick up from you or (gasp!) can even drop into open time, etc. You’d also have 4-5 years to rethink your commute… ha.

Awesome, thanks for the insights. Any idea what my seniority would look like in 4 years in CLT as well starting right now? (PS: On the Bus, not the 73)

It probably depends on which ACMI. Probably worth staying at Atlas, if its Kalitta probably worth making the move.

I left a decent ACMI to come to AA. Do I regret it? Not usually, but I do often miss the days long layovers in Europe and Hawaii. I don't miss the company aircraft deadheads and pitiful 5% 401K match. If I could have stayed at the ACMI another 5 years to see the countries I wanted to, I would have. But AA called and I grew up in DFW so I decided to come over at age 39. I 100% wouldn't have come here if it weren't for the DFW base. I'm not sure how I'd would have commuted here. Some days aren't much better than a regional. I'm not sure if I'll get to WB captain here. Some say yes, some say no. Maybe my last few years. But now i'm a line holder if i work some weekends or I can sit reserve and get weekends off after less than a year. If you're going to commute I'd think about that long and hard. Maybe wait for the two cargo carriers to call? Another CA from my ACMI to AA and immediately quit to go back to the same ACMI. He's in his 50's though. Not sure his reasoning though. I didn't know him very well but he does start over there.