Howdy all,

Current 135 charter rat making the jump to 121. I have a January class date with AA and I'm beyond excited to come join ya'll. I've been lurking through the forums trying to get an idea of what to expect as this is my first experience with 121.

Mainly, I'm wanting to know what the best bid in class would be for me to minimize my commuting pains. I'm freshly 30 and live in DFW; no kids, just a girlfriend. I imagine I'll be on the younger half of the class and will have the last pick of equipment and bases.

If you were me, how would you slice and dice this? 737 seems to be better for early seniority progression. Any chance the XLR deliveries affect that? DCA, PHX, and ORD seem to be the best for commuting from DFW, though I see folks plug LAX a lot due to the red-eyes back to Texas.

If there's anything else I should be looking into, please let me know.

 

CongrAAts and welcome aboard! You'll have a great career getting picked up at 30.

Junior guys on both fleets in DFW are right around the 16,000 seniority. At 30, your likely only choice will be do you want the 737 in LGA or MIA though class drops can vary wildly. Seniority progression generally looks better on the 737 no matter (I recently flew with a 3 year guy who came 320 FO to 737 FO and it was a 25% bump in seniority, but that's of course base/time specific). LA has redeyes back, but on the flip side you're responsible for multiple airports and not just LAX. MIA/LGA/DCA also cover multiple airports. As you probably know the commuter policy is the best in the industry and you can book the jumpseat eight days out, so that at least takes some of the sting out of the commute while you do it.

Though you didn't mention training I'll throw it in since you're coming from the non-121 world. AQP is a whole different animal as far as training goes but there's a method to the madness. The sheer amount of material and the specificity of the procedures can seem overwhelming but study what they tell you when they tell you and work with your training partner and you'll be fine. The training department is top notch.

 

Don’t fly the 737. It’s atrocious.

 

Oh come on. It ain’t that bad. Asa DFW fella, he should bid 737 💯. My bus classmates are miserable there and the 737 guys love life.

 

You'll be doing a quarter of the work you were doing flying charter. Even commuting to reserve will be better than 135, at least in my experience. With any luck, you should be able to hold DFW in 6 months or so. There has been a lot of movement lately. Keep in mind that LGA, DCA, MIA, and LAX cover multiple airports, so being on reserve isn't ideal. I did LGA, and it was fine, because it was a revolving door, so I had pretty decent seniority right out of the gate. Good luck.

 

From my experience it’s very different if you were coming as a lower time FO or a higher time/pay 135 CA

It’s all about the CBA with 121

Also you’re going to want to make sure you’re set for walking terminals and be non ferris for the random TSA love fest

 

I also start in January, 135 Frac guy and first 121. I wish you could go sit in a phenom. After 3 years of that and being 6ft 2 the 737 will feel like a mansion.

 

A 737 has a lot of good things to offer, but feeling like a mansion is not one of them 🤣

 

it’s not so much the size, as the 1960’s ambiance/vibe.

I’m 1/2 kidding about the 73. I flew it for 5 years. Got me out of commuting. QOL comes first.

 

Since the 1980s plastic Atari vibe is so much better…let’s be real innovation and aviation are not two words normally used in the same sentence.