Fastest path to DFW
 

Getting DFW right off the bat seems highly unlikely. I can’t relocate, so I’ll be commuting until I can hold DFW. What equipment/base combo gives me the best shot at getting back to DFW the fastest? Also, is reserve life easily commutable?

Base doesn't matter other than picking one thats an easy commute. Just choose the equipment you want. 73 is more junior so you'll get to DFW faster on the 73 and I think all bases except PHL have it

737 usually will be faster but not guaranteed.
This last vacancy bid ended up where early 2025 classes missed DFW on the 737 and 320, and they will probably both hold them for the first vacancy bid next year, these are the early 2025 classes. Doesn’t mean anything going forward, but that’s a recent data point.

I would plan on a year for either 737 or 320 DFW.

No specific base will get you back to DFW faster, you either can hold DFW or you can’t.

Nothing about commuting to reserve is “easy” anything. Commuting to reserve sucks, plain and simple. DFW jumpseat listing policy is helpful to ease some pain, you can reserve 8 days out, but you’re still commuting to reserve.

Thanks. Yeah i understand base doesnt matter. Commuting sucks per usual but if i can hold LCR out of say LAX i probably can make it work from DFW albiet kinda sketchy it seems. Idk which has got the easiest commute. I havent commuted in quite a long time lol. Not looking forward to it.

LAX has the most flights to and from

But it will take you a while to even hold LCR in LAX, base is not growing and LCR isn’t going junior there. LAX is also redeye central so keep that in mind, and the majority of LAX trips finish in the evening, making the commute home difficult without needing to take a red eye commute home. And LAX you’re responsible to cover surrounding airports. Not trying to be a Debbie Downer, just letting you know how it is.

I would suggest Chicago over LAX if offered.

Ahhh ok. Yeah real world answers like that is what im looking for..it aint debbie downer lol. Chicago would be good. Probably better option than anything on the east coast. Havent seen ORD on any class drops though, so ideal but not likely to get is my guess.

Drops can be all over; bank on being LGA or MIA for a year, then getting DFW in 2 yrs or less. If it works out better, sweet, if not, its real world expectations like you said. Either way, it's small potatoes, and you'll be in DFW soon enough. Congrats and welcome to the fAAmily.

Do you have a class soon? ORD might be a good option. The last vacancy resulted in about 40-50 more captains than FOs…on the 737. I’d imagine they start filling the gap with new hires. Tons of flights between DFW and ORD…crashpads right off the blue line.

Nothing about commuting, especially reserve, is easy. 737 will be more junior, so get that and the most undesirable base. This will allow you to get long call and proffer for commutable trips. Until we start hiring again, it will be tough sledding. It took my buddy over a year after training to get dfw.

737 either LAX or PHX . Probably hold a line or LC in LAX immediately

Reference point:
LC is Feb 2025 for LAX 737
Line is Jan 2025 for LAX 737

It’s all going to come down to what your class is with this new training spree starting in August. If you’re in the first classes you can see what your class has for base options and then keep a close eye on the trailing classes and watch where junior classes are going, and try to get there in the next base bid. Bottom line is your junior and need people under you, it’s why PHX 737 and ORD 320 was great the last 3-6 months, but that seniority is slowing starting to creep with senior pilots rolling in with the 9/1 and 12/1 bids.

Late Jan CJO here…. Does anyone know where they are in their class assignments? TIA

Will the eventual completion of terminal F lead to more crews based in DFW?

Probably? But AA is going to do whatever is cheapest.

The 8/20 class seems full, latest CJO I’m seeing is 1/14/25. They seem to be filling the 9/3 class, latest CJO I’m seeing there is still mid-January for now. Everyone with January CJOs seem to have gotten the email to update drug screening in late June. I’d reach out to Recruiting if you haven’t gotten any emails to get drug tested or update your app.

The entire airline going into irop for a week for a storm in DFW isn’t enough; they want to build up DFW so any storm shuts us down for a week+

TBF it's rare for DFW to get slammed like it has over the summer. It happens every 5-6 years but it's very atypical. April/May yes DFW can get hit hard with storms.

CLT on the other hand is just poor. Storms happen all through spring/summer, fall can bring 1-2 weeks of sub CATIII morning weather, and winter weather is basically mostly ice/freezing rain.

ATL is far enough south they avoid most of the ice and for some reason avoids most of the TS delays that CLT gets.

huh? I feel like Dallas goes into full meltdown mode a couple times a month and it disrupts the ENTIRE airline. This last one was particularly bad but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen often. No, we do not need to grow DFW even more. Bad strategy and don't give me this we make the most money out of there line of bull****. Look at our balance sheets compared to UA/DL. We are doing it wrong.

DFW is both a major destination market and a major commector for other markets. Growth at DFW cannot come soon enough.

It's big enough to handle both of those. Next flight you work into DFW see how many people are staying and how many are connecting and that will tell you that we have more then enough lift to bring people in and out of the city. The connecting passengers are the problem and is causing all these catastrophic irops. Time to start using PHX and ORD more instead. We lost a LOT of premium customers by whoever made the disastrous decision to shrink ORD a few years ago.

Big enough now.

Planning for tomorrow requires expansion and forward lean. The lessons learned at ORD will not be repeated, as expansion is underway at DFW to support future growth

lol, it melts down a couple times a month.

He doesn’t have the brain power to understand.

True! The amount of APA notifications I receive every month of people junior to me receiving PM/PR/OG trips is quite high (in my opinion). 108 awarded junior to me this month already. Many of them in the 14000 and 15000 seniority numbers. I can only imagine how many senior to me are getting them.

awe, did I hurt your feelings in the other thread? lol, come at me bro or whatever

"come at me bro"

what are you, 13?

meet me behind the gym after school ?

LOL

Why would you getting embarrassed hurt my feelings?

Suss looks out for suss… of course he chimes in advocating for ORD 73 growth, lol. That being said, tend to agree with him here.

But DFW needs to grow regardless, consistent top 3 growing metro in the nation every year. Can’t control the weather. Terminal F coming along nicely, get that 10 year plan moving!

Just a heads up. I’m Bus DFW sitting around 70% seniority and would be mid to low 40% seniority on the 737. We have an awful lot of folks who camp in the right seat of the 73, then bid over to AB FO once they have the seniority required to hold their desired schedule on the Bus.

Fine, I’ll be the one to derail this.. this wouldn’t happen if QoL as a junior CA/FO didn’t suck so bad. Blah blah blah some day son.

Lol Settle down there Francis. That was me making fun of Doggy, who is literally " coming at me" in a different thread because I embarrassed him in another.

Some more data points on this topic:
The junior 32F FO awarded DFW this December was hired May of 2024.
We had a pause in hiring from May, 2024 until early this year so hopefully pilots hired this year will have a shorter wait with the shorter pause.

737 has been faster to get DFW over the last year but a Check Airman told me that when the 32F international and domestic pilot groups were combined at DFW, they were temporarily over staffed which contributed to the delay which should no longer be a factor.

New hires at LAX on the 737 definitely had a better schedule than the 32F more quickly. LCR from DFW to LAX is very easy to cover even if you have to start at ONT, but LAX is definitely easier, (I'm doing it right now). I take the red eye home at the end of pretty much every trip and usually start my trips with a red eye. Currently ORD is pretty junior on the 32F but that may change. I would recommend LAX as an easy commute but can't speak to ORD personally. The winters at LAX are certainly more mild if you have to spend time at a crash pad.

Yet CA upgrades are at 2-3 years time on station…QoL must not be that bad

I mean if you're going to be used and abused as a 2-3 year FO might as well make Captain pay for it. If this pilot group has proven anything, it's that money > everything else.

in what base are FOs that have been here 3 years being abused (unless by choice)? In DFW, FOs that are just hitting their third year anniversary on the 73 are at about 34% or better. If you haven’t figured out how to bid your schedule for QoL by that point, then the abuse is self inflicted.

Yeah on the 737.... that's not the entire airline. Being on the Airbus can be argued is a choice, but with the vacancies only every few months and withholds, that becomes less of a choice.

Anyway, let's not pretend everyone's schedules this summer haven't been @ss besides maybe those holding turns. It's not fun when your whole cushy good quality trip blows up and gets extended an extra day because of delays, cancellations, and RO. Oh and penalty/victory laps almost every sequence.

I guess I’m the lucky one- I get what I bid for. And when I do get reassigned, it’s about 90% in my favor.

My DFW BUS classmates, May ‘23 peeps, are getting destroyed. Back to reserve and being used ALL the time. The other DFW 737 classmates are enjoying a while different QOL.

But you have tray-tables?

Preface: this isn’t a swipe at CRJ. He and I were at Atlas together and I know he has 737 time. More a commentary on the cult of Airbus at AA.

But hey, now we’re talking about the real quality of life issues lol. Get home every once in a while to see the wife and kids? Nah, f that and those guys, can’t fly the 73. That’s for Boeing peasants.

I say all this as a guy typed on both and working on the 320 here. Though in my defense as an unrepentant seniority wh*re (since seniority *is* QOL at AA), I'm in the one base where the 320 is - AFAIK - junior, and I’d fly a clapped out DC-3 or a 414 if it paid $217 an hour+ and got me the schedule I want.

It’s a job - nothing more, nothing less. The particular office? Nearly meaningless. And this job is far better and far more lucrative than many of the alternatives.